It was organised as a result of the BIG DRAW group who have inspired countries all over the world to get back to drawing!
The blurb on their website (http://www.campaignfordrawing.org/bigdraw/) reads like this:
It’s Big Draw Time!
The 2013 Big Draw runs from 1 October to 3 November in fifteen countries, with more than 200,000 people of all ages expected to take part in 1000+ events. Hundreds of new and enjoyable drawing activities connect people of all ages with museums, outdoor spaces, artists - and each other. These events are for those who love to draw, and those who think they can't.
Back in Brighton we were invited to drop in for slots or if you were able to, to stay for the whole 24hours! I unfortunately was not able to commit 24 hours but managed to join for the 1st slot that started at 11:00 this morning.
We were going to be drawing in charcoal, which I am new to using. I had some anxiety about drawing in public, despite the fact that everyone was totally focused on their own drawings, as well as using charcoal. With some encouragement from the organisers I quickly got into it and forgot myself in the motion of drawing. I really enjoyed working on a larger scale as well as collaborating with others to form a doodle-like visual representation of symbols of Brighton. I found myself becoming more and more relaxed without the fear of 'end-product-failure', and I don't think I was alone in this. At the end of it we had a slightly random collection of drawings which echoed the energy and fun-loving randomness that Brighton offers.
Overall view of our images as the group to start Draw 24 off
My contribution is the seagull and text "This is my hood"..aimed at echoing Brighton's street art and of course the seagulls who run the place; as well as the beach huts top right corner, representing Hove...where I live!... and an inaccurate map in the centre whih forms more of a pattern then anything else!
Left of the image my contribution is really only the coffee cup, text and pebbles.
This was a really great way to spend 2 hours and by the end of it all three of us had lost all performance anxiety and were simply going with the flow!
I think the final large scale doodle of brighton is effective especially as it echoes the fun that we were having and has has three quite different styles of drawing combined in one image. I think that on this scale it also worked that it was a tonal drawing on the brown paper i.e.: using charcoal, white chalk, and white and greeny-grey acrylic paint as it may have got a little too overwhelming for the viewer if there was colour as well.
The final 24hours looked like this:
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