Jenna Leigh Design Co.

Whew! We have officially made it to the halfway point in Life Drawing class.

We’ve spent hours drawing models in the studio.

We’ve written numerous blog posts documenting our process and progress.

We’ve sketched live animals, of all creeping and crawling kinds.

We’ve participated in a live drawing gallery exhibition, sharing our work from the class and drawing in real time in front of many curious spectators.

What are my biggest takeaways?

Midpoint Debrief

It’s hard to narrow down everything I’ve learned, practiced, grappled with, and grown in to a few short paragraphs, but I’ll try.

One of the most important things I’m taking away from the first half of this semester is that growth and improvement require constant dedication, perseverance, and persistence.

Of course, I’ve known this in theory my whole life as an artist.

Practice makes perfect, right?

But recognizing the many areas of needed improvement in my skill, technique, and method when it comes to charcoal portraiture has been a much-needed (and humbling) reminder that to excel in my craft, I must push myself beyond my accustomed habits, beyond that cramped, comfortable place where everything is known and familiar.

I’ve already committed to practicing this craft for the rest of my life.

(Which is a pretty big commitment.)

So why should I hold back from constantly seeking to grow, improve, and strengthen my skills? If God has called me to this, would I honor Him by choosing to linger in the same place, practicing my skills continually, but with no serious attempts to challenge myself?

Or do I strive to steward His gifts well, not relying on my own meager efforts, but relying on His strength with the genuine desire to see His kingdom come?

This is part of the reason why I think I landed back in grad school.

(Maybe more on that another time, but the short version is that I was not planning on ever returning for another degree. God had other plans and very graciously pushed me into a place where I had no choice but to grow and be challenged.)

This leads me to my second takeaway, which is the complete and utter necessity, the dire importance, of learning from the masters of my craft.

Again, this seems obvious. But as an independent, autonomous learner, I’m always more quick to jump right into doing the thing myself, my own way, rather than sitting down and learning it first from someone who knows how to do it right.

(I will freely admit that I am a youngest and was also homeschooled.)

But doing it your own way will only get you so far. Just as God created us as His children to be part of a family, to live in community, so He created us as artists to learn from each other, especially from those who have come before.

Reading Nathan Fowke’s book on charcoal portraiture was an excellent reminder of this truth. His commitment to excellence, to understanding and explaining form through his work, and to continuously practicing and perfecting his techniques provided invaluable insight to me as I began working in charcoal again. The beautiful, expressive quality of his work and the way in which he captured his subjects without interpreting every single detail of their features challenged me to step outside the boundaries of my own limited methods and explore a different set of ideas.

This is something that has also been reinforced multiple times by our instructor, Professor Wilson, in class.

It definitely takes more time, thought, and energy to sit down with a stack of books and learn from the masters before picking up the pencil or paint brush.

But, without question, it is undoubtedly worth the trouble. And ultimately, setting myself up well for the work in front of me will spare me a headache in the end.

So, what’s next for the second half of the semester?

Semester Goals

We’re making plans for a few weeks dedicated to urban sketching around the diverse and enigmatic Downtown Lynchburg before diving into plein air painting, which will comprise the last several weeks of the semester.

Here are a few areas of improvement I’d really like to focus on as we proceed:

• It’s an obvious one, but observation and interpretation: translating what I see in front of me to canvas or paper.
• Working more quickly and loosely, without tightening everything up into an uncomfortable rigidity.
• Applying the time-tested techniques of the masters to my own work.
• Using the inherent qualities of my medium to their best advantage.
• Implementing the elements and principles of design to enhance the quality of my work, without the need for exact replication.

We’ve got a week for Spring Break (woohoo!) and then it’s back to the grind, full send until May!

Do I have what it takes?

Will I survive?

Stay tuned to find out!