Raay - Royal Adelaide Art and Yoga

03/06/2026

Hey all, a couple of quick reminders: There are RAAY Drawing School sessions on Friday (the 5th). Matt's session at 2pm is fully booked, Ed's session at 5pm has a few spaces available, so if you'd like to book on with Ed, DM me or email [email protected] Ed's doing another session of mixed media drawing, this week delving into the human form, and if his first two sessions are anything to go by, this one will be great. In my session, we'll be looking at developing abstraction, using form/still life as a starting point. Before I forget, we have two outdoor sessions coming up, on the 13th & the 20th, so fingers crossed the suddenly unpredictable weather decides to cooperate. Details will come in another post. For more info about RAAY Drawing School, see the post attached to the top of the page.

One final note, Paper Shop will be open this week on Friday the 5th, from about 11 until 2, and then again from about 4 until 6.

25/05/2026

Yikes! I'm so used to doing panicky social media promo posts about 24 hours before any given activity at RAAY, it feels weird to have it all sorted out on Monday, and by lunch time, more-or-less. It's all here in one post, see each card for specific details, and get in touch for more info, if there's not enough here. So,

-The May session of Plymouth Hypermobility Support & Sharing (PHSS), is Saturday the 30th, 11-1. Contact Nic for details and info.

-RAAY Drawing School Sessions on Friday the 29th. Helen's session is 2-4, Matt's session is 5-7. There're spaces available on both sessions, to book, DM me, or email [email protected] Details are in a post pinned to the top of the page, and I'll post a reminder midweek.

-MPH Paper Shop - Two days this week! Friday 12-4 and Saturday 11-3 come along to see a dazzling array of paper - handmade, reclaimed, recycled. I might even get into the studio to make sheets this week too, fingers crossed...

-And Finally - Framed, Again. If you have one of the burgundy red paper frames we handed out in March, you have until this Saturday, the 30th, to get your finished work into us. The show will open in early June, details of that to come.

OK, that's it for now, whew.

21/05/2026

Hey all, week 4 of the RAAY Drawing School has arrived! Tomorrow (Friday 22nd), Ed Tapper delivers his second session 2-4, and Kitty McEwan delivers her third 5-7. There are limited spaces available in both sessions, so DM me or email [email protected] to book your spot. For more info about the drawing school, including full descriptions of each tutor's sessions, see the post pinned to the top of the page.

Tomorrow Ed's session will be mixed media drawing with a focus on organic forms in a still life setting. Rumor has it walnuts, chewing gum and modelling clay are just a few of the materials involved.

After last week's fab anatomy of a comic, Kitty's session this week looks at storytelling through character and object. What do someone's ratty old converse hi-tops say about them? Come along to find out.

Here are a few snapshots from Ed's session two weeks ago, and Kitty's last week.

Hope you can join us for some drawing.

14/05/2026

Hey, with all the fuss over drawing school, I've neglected Paper Shop for a couple weeks, so here's an update with all the open days for the rest of May. Since we're in on Fridays for drawing school anyway, those of you with paper needs are more than welcome to come for a browse, or even just to say hello. Regular hours on Saturdays too. All the dates are on the poster.

A couple reminders:
The drawing school schedule and session descriptions are in a post pinned to the top of the page, check it out and get in touch to book onto a session (or two). This week (the 15th) Helen's session is 2-4, Kitty's is 5-7.

Also, the deadline for the Framed, Again exhibition is Saturday the 30th. There are still a few frames available, if you want in on the fun, get in touch, or just pop in during paper shop hours and pick up a frame. If you've already got one, you've got two weeks and a bit to finish yuor masterpiece. If this sounds like a beguiling mystery, I'll repost the orignal call out this weekend, it's full of info.

OK, that's it. Loads of interesting new (old, old-ish) papers including some seriously handmade sheets from a community project in Malawi (by way of a charity shop in Penzance), lokta tissue from a couple of old photo albums, and a stack of heavy A3 sheets with a laid pattern (probably not actually laid, but cool anyway.) There's also some handmade. sheets of mine with seaweed inclusions that I have to say made me pretty happy when I made them last month.

13/05/2026

Oh my goodness, here we are only a couple of days away from this week's RAAY Drawing School, and it's going to be another great week. Helen and Kitty are delivering their second sessions, and I'm super excited for both. From 2-4, Helen takes a look (so to speak), at observational drawing - what we think we see vs what we actually see - and introduces some simple exercises to improve technique. Kitty's session, from 5-7, takes a deep dive into the fundamental aspects of drawing a comic - converting ideas into thumbnails, thumbnails into panels, and all the pieces that fit together to form a comic. I'll be on hand to answer questions, make tea nad generally be in the way. There are a couple spots available on both sessions, and each sessions is only £6. The groups are small, so booking is advised - DM me, or email - [email protected]

See you on Friday.

I've tacked a few snaps from my session last week to this post to get you in the mood for drawing. And, check it out! At the weekend, somebody left a spontaneous installation tucked behind our gas inlet pipe, which we thought was pretty cool, so we left it, and it's still there!

One final note, Paper Shop this week is on Saturday the 16th from 11-3.

08/05/2026

Yikes! Hey all, week 2 RAAY Drawing School sessions are tonight, me at 2pm (me = Matt), and Ed Tapper at 5pm, and there are a couple of spots available if you'd like to come. I'm doing wacky drawing exercises, and some still life drawing, Ed's doing observation with organic forms. The sessions last 2 hours, and are £6 each. Also, it occurs to me I haven't introduced myself or Ed yet, so while he's rooting around in the cupboard for some drawings, here’s a little info about me. One more thing, Paper Shop is tomorrow (Saturday the 9th) from 11-3, so come on down, the shelves are full of interesting papers. (One final thing – during the day, I’ll only have access to my social media, so don’t email me! DM me here, or gimme a text at 07966 934954)

OK. I'm Matt Thomas, I run RAAY with my partner in all things, Nic Sharpe. Nic mostly looks after the yoga side of things, but she's a gifted & quirky artist herself, so she dips her toes in a lot of RAAY’s art doings. My father was a drawer & painter, and he started teaching me, when I was about six, by drawing the basics of shape, shading, perspective, tone, on sheets of paper that I copied. I also spent hours looking at the Time/Life set of books of famous artists we had in the house - Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, Goya, Picasso, Delacroix, Mary Cassatt. And comic books. That's how it started, in a nutshell.

Drawing has been central to my practice as long as I've had one, and while I’m not a rigorous draughtsman, I've developed a vocabulary of marks, shapes & compositional ideas that are second nature to me after 40 years. Lately I've been obsessed with walnut ink, layering, and the paper that I started making in the studio about 8 years ago.

I'd like my sessions to be a relaxing, gentle exploration of what drawing can be while staying anchored to the basics of pencil and paper. Here's some work, and info about my sessions, and general info about drawing school.

My sessions start, eep!, today the 8th of May. To book, email [email protected] or DM me.

To see more of my work, my instagram is I do throw stuff up there from time to time.

02/05/2026

Adelaide Street represent.

Thank you to the very honest person who rescued my colleague’s bag inc his wallet and tied it to our car, Says a great deal about the sense of community in the Adelaide Street area. Adelaide Street AngelsRaay - Royal Adelaide Art and Yoga Plymouth City CouncilDevon & Cornwall PolicePlymouth Labour

02/05/2026

Well, the first day of RAAY Drawing School is in the can and what a delight it was. Helen got the ball rolling with multisensory drawing and drawing machines. At one point while she had the group working on response to sounds, I was in the next room switching a power drill on and off, just to tweak things a bit. I crashed the session during drawing machines, and had a graphite stick attached to a stick attached to my fingers with a rubber band - not easy to negotiate, but great results. Kitty carried on in the evening session with mini-zines, which we made on our own and as a group. I crashed the zine session because I love zines, and it was definitely a trip to get into the zone working as a group and discover that I could carry on a narrative started by my neighbour. By the end of all these developing stories being passed around, we actually had four killer zines with fully realised narrative arcs and hilarious artwork. Already excited for next Friday, when Ed Tapper and i will be delivering our first sessions. Whoop!

29/04/2026

Hey all, the first sessions of Drawing School are this Friday, the 1st - Helen at 2pm and Kitty at 5pm - and there are a few spaces available, but the limit is six, so there aren't many. Details to book below. Meanwhile...

RAAY Drawing School - Meet the tutors!

Next up: Dr. Helen Billinghurst. Helen was one of the first people I met when I came to Plymouth, and we’ve known each other now for the best part of 20 years. In that time, we’ve exhibited work together, collaborated on projects, sat around drawing, talking & thinking, been on walks, and immersed ourselves in each other’s artistic practices.

In recent years, Helen has intertwined her drawing practice with performance, ritual, mythmaking and walking, working with Phil Smith as the duo Crab & Bee. Their many undertakings include Crab & Bee’s Matter Of Britain, published by Peakrill Press in 2025 and described, on the Peakrill website as ‘a banishing spell against nostalgia’, and, from way back in 2019, Plymouth Labyrinth – a project that planted RAAY at the centre of a heady storm of walking, talking, dancing, breathing, drawing, postcards, and several hundred metres of red string. Helen brings this multidisciplinary approach to her series of sessions for the RAAY Drawing School, sessions that will consider drawing fundamentals like the basics of observation, form and proportion, as well as more esoteric considerations like drawing machines and drawing in response to senses other than sight/observation.

We’re thrilled to have Helen on board for the Drawing School. Her sessions will be fun, relaxed, and packed with good stuff. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sneaking in to take part as often as I can. Here are a couple pages of samples of Helen’s work, along with her page from the session catalogue – have a look, and then sign up. Helen’s sessions start on 1st May – dip into one or two, or better yet, take them all.

To book, email [email protected] or DM me.

To see a bigger picture, the full RAAY Drawing School programme is in a post pinned to the top of the page.

To see more of Helen’s work her Instagram is Go there now and check it out.

24/04/2026

RAAY Drawing School - Meet the tutors!

To say I’m excited about what we're getting ourselves into with this drawing school project is an understatement. At this point, I’m fizzing. The group who've come on board as tutors have a wealth of experience as artists and educators, and that experience covers a range of disciplines and ideas. They're also really cool people. With that in mind, it seems like a good idea to introduce everybody, and I'm going to start today with Kitty McEwan.

As an artist, illustrator, zine jam host and event coordinator, I think it’s fair to say Kitty’s been a fixture of the Plymouth art scene for several years now. I think I first met her in 2017 or maybe 2018, when she, and a gang of young artists, organised an exhibition, zine and workshops for the Plymouth Art Weekender. It was an ambitious project for a group of young people (it was an ambitious project for anybody!), and it was one of the highlights of the Weekender that year. In the office at RAAY, we have a massive glue stick drawn with magic marker from that exhibition, and it’s one of our prized possessions. Since then, Kitty’s drawn comics, done illustrations for local businesses, hosted dozens of zine jams and zine making workshops, and managed to get a couple of degrees (BA & MA), from Plymouth University as well. So I’m thrilled she’s on the drawing school team, presenting six sessions on making comics.

Kitty’s sessions are a comprehensive introduction to sequential art & storytelling - we’re privileged to be able to offer them in a small group setting. In addition to some examples of Kitty’s work, I’ve included her page from the session catalogue in this post – have a look, and then sign up. If you’re interested in sequential art, or even if you don’t think you are, this is a fantastic opportunity. Kitty’s sessions start on 1st May, so don’t wait!

To book, email [email protected] or DM me.

To see a bigger picture, the full RAAY Drawing School programme is in a post pinned to the top of the page.

If you haven't seen Kitty's comic strip, get over to her Instagram now and check it out, it's great.