Charcoal Drawing & Three Valuable Art Lessons
November 2016 I was assigned a commission for our reverend and his wife. He was retiring after 31 years with the Dutch Reformed Church in Malmesbury, Cape Town, South Africa.
I worked with the reverend for eight years and felt privileged to have been trusted with this honor.
Completely out of my comfort zone - I'm not much of a landscape artist and never enjoyed drawing buildings - I accepted the challenge, regardless of how nervous the mere thought of it made me. Also, I work full time and had only three weeks to do the actual drawing and to send and get back from the framers.
(who did a marvelous job by the way, going the extra mile and delivering right on time! check them out: Frame Gallery, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa)
The Nightmare: 8 hours in I accidentally spilled the tiniest drop of water on my drawing and while trying to "save" it, damaged the paper beyond repair!!
Lessons learned
Lesson 1: Go to the kitchen for a drink of water when doing a commission!!
Anyway, I started over immediately. Tears streaming down my face, I pushed on, no time to sit and lick my wounds!
Lesson 2: Painting buildings is not that boring after all!
I feel proud that I completed this drawing within the time frame, and in the process learned that I really loved doing the tiny details on the church and church windows. I had no idea how to approach it, but once I started filling in those intricate details, I found the process quite calming and therapeutic.
Lesson 3: I better understand the rendering of clouds.
I still don't like painting clouds! It took forever to get them to look like this, but I do have a better understanding of the rendering of moody clouds. It takes a few layers to build them up and to make them look puffy, yet with just the right amount of whispyness and brooding qualities I was aiming to achieve ..
Despite the pressure, tears and setbacks, I love how this turned out - the drama of the white church against that moody sky, the cast shadow on the right side of the church, the hills and mountain in the background. Even the gates and detail on the pavement.
Sometimes we need to get kicked out of our comfort zones, get pushed to the limits.
Like the quote by John C. Maxwell goes:
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.
Fun fact: The church was built in 1745, and one of only a few in South Africa built in this beautiful, Gothic style.
Materials used for this piece:
Charcoal and pen
A2 200gsm white pastel paper. Thanks so much for reading this post! Feel free to share and remember to
...follow your art... ♥
