When I was in Year eight, my deified graphic design teacher Mr Breen said, “Thou cannot draw, stick to mathematics and biological sciences.” 

I followed his advice, until years later I found myself doodling away in meetings, sketching in front of the television and creating faces from the food on my plate. I joined Grey Eye Society as soon as I heard about it - ready to channel my creative inclination into a drawing that actually resembled something.

The Grey Eye Society is a social drawing group, instead of being marked and critiqued, the casual, intimate format of the classes gives you the confidence to put pencil to paper and forget about the outside world. 

Summer intakes are centred on plein air observational drawings, (meaning open air or to work from nature). Students are notified of locations such as the State Library or Carlton Gardens the day before.

There is no set course outline over the six weeks of each intake, instead a loose focus on techniques, teamed with the flexibility to adapt classes based on the interests and capabilities of the students.

A new winter course will teach composition, colour and collage. Students will build their own library of inspirational images and the like, to share with their classmates and use as source material. Images will be broken down into basic shapes and elements, traced, cut and revived into unique collages and compositions. Learnings from this course will be applied to a further round of painting classes.

Students vary from novices like yours truly, to writers, students, scientists and architects. The two-hour sessions are occasionally accompanied by a bottle of wine or beer. The small groups allow your kind teacher Andzej Nowicki to provide feedback, advice and encouragement. He even carries your notebooks for you to each class so all you need to do is turn up.