N° 26 — A Society of Drawers · Est. once upon a Tuesday

Follow your Art.

Four sessions. One sketchbook. Pencils up, phones down.

We gather painters, drawers and the curious in halls and studios across the Northern Rivers — for short poses, long poses, slow Sunday mornings and the occasional pose in a sequinned cape.

N° 01 — Weekly

Sketch Appeal

A loose, generous evening of life drawing. Short poses, a warm room, and a pile of newsprint to murder.

Sketch Appeal is the heartbeat of the operation — a stack of two-minute, five-minute and ten-minute poses, finishing with one longer pose. It is designed to loosen the wrist, re-train the eye and stop you precious-ing the page.

Beginners are not just welcome, they are encouraged. Bring a friend. Bring a stranger. The only ask is that you keep the chatter to a whisper while the model is holding.

N° 02 — Every 6–8 Weeks

Long Pose Day

One model. One pose. All day. Bring something you can sit on for a while — and a medium that doesn’t run out by morning tea.

Long Pose Day is the slow, deep sister to Sketch Appeal. Instead of the parade of warm-ups, the model takes a single pose and holds it across the day — with proper breaks — while you build, scrub back, repaint, keep going.

25-minute sittings with five-minute breaks, an hour for lunch in the middle, and a final 'reveal' sitting where everyone steps back and looks at the room of takes on the same body. It is humbling and brilliant in equal measure.

N° 03 — Every 3–4 Weeks

Sketchy Sunday

A relaxed Sunday morning in the studio — longer poses than the weekly, looser than Long Pose Day. Good light, good coffee, no rush.

Sketchy Sunday lands between the rush of Sketch Appeal and the commitment of Long Pose Day. Two-and-a-half hours, a single longer pose, with breaks to wander, look at each other’s work and refill the cup.

It is the session for drawers who want more than a warm-up but can’t make a whole day of it. Bring your usual kit and a little extra patience.

N° 04 — Twice a Year

Kinky Drawers

Costume. Cabaret. Consensus. The cheekiest night on the easel — eighteen plus.

Kinky Drawers is the theatrical sibling of the family. The model is a performer, the poses are characters, and the room is part art class, part variety bill. The drawing is taken seriously even while everyone in the room is having a very good time.

Costume, props, lighting, the occasional musical interlude. It is playful, it is consensual, and it is unapologetically eighteen plus.

House rules

Eighteen plus. Photo ID, no exceptions.
No phones, no cameras. Bags zipped, eyes up.
Models are professionals. Tip them, thank them, take their lead.
Consent is the whole game. Yours, theirs, ours.
BYO drink. Share a snack. Stay for the after-chat.

The Feature

About

Follow Your Art is the work of Kathy Toka — artist, organiser and gentle ringmaster of the Northern Rivers life-drawing scene.

It started, like a lot of good things, out of a personal need for the thing to exist. Kathy wanted somewhere to draw, with other drawers, more than once a year, without having to fly to Sydney for the privilege. So she rented a hall, found a model, boiled a kettle, and put up a flyer.

That was Sketch Appeal. Long Pose Day came a year later, born out of half the regulars asking, “could you do one of these but… longer?” Sketchy Sunday filled the awkward gap in between. Kinky Drawers came when a regular — who happened to be a burlesque performer — asked, “could we do one of these but… better dressed?” The answer in all cases was yes.

Take the drawing seriously. Take yourself a little less so. Make a room where anyone with a pencil feels they belong in it.

Sessions are a labour of love. Door fees go, in full, to the models. Costumes are sometimes home-made, often borrowed and occasionally spectacular. Venues are chosen for good light, generous parking and forgiving neighbours.

Everyone is welcome to draw. Whether your last sketch was last week, last year or last century. The only ask is that you bring the courtesy you’d hope to find in any room.