Artistic freedom with a touch of socialising

The Icreate social art group continues to inspire members of our community to feel a sense of artistic freedom, and to provide a regular opportunity for socialising.

Rachel Davidson is currently the longest attending member.

She is part of the Carmelite group and she loves it to this day.

Rachel said her mother was the reason she joined Icreate. She remembered back to the first good results she had in school in England - in an art exam - which her mother was happy about because she was somewhat of an artist herself.

But after that positive result in her late teens, Rachel put down the brush and didn’t pick it up again until she joined Icreate.

Rachel’s first experience with the class began with a misunderstanding, but the art reeled her in straight away.

“I arrived and they were doing still life and I said ‘I haven't touched a paintbrush for however many years’ and Greta [the class leader] said ‘would you like to start drawing a fish?’. “

I was thinking of fish and chips, and said ‘I wouldn’t know where to start’!

“By the end of the class I was drawing a whole heap of swimming fish and I loved it and I thought ‘oh I can go on doing this for ages’.”

She eventually persuaded her husband Tony to come to the classes as well.

Tony passed away in 2022 and the following year Rachel travelled the world - followed eagerly from home by her friends in the Icreate class.

Icreate welcomes people with all kinds of interests and artistic preferences.

Rachel said one participant is currently making a picture of a budgie out of tissue paper, while others are working with pastels, pens and more.

The class leader, Rebecca, is there to assist with suggestions of what type of artwork participants might like to do next, although they have almost complete freedom to choose their subject and medium.

“Watercolour is my favourite, I say that without hesitation, but I do like sketching too because there’s a lot of power in just having paper and pencil and also with pencil you can rub it out if you make a mistake,” Rachel said. 

“I have pretty horrible back pain which I can forget about when I'm doing my art - splashing water and trying to keep pastels away from my nose and from my hands and clothes. 

“I have given up on charcoal though because I have no hesitation in scratching my nose with that.” 

There’s even range in how confident people are with experimentation, as Rachel explained, “I am very strict. I like to keep within the lines you know. I’m trying to do perspective at the moment looking down the street and of course I get that ruler out and make it quite a challenge.” 

For more information about the Icreate class times and locations, click here.