Not drawing makes me cranky, which is never good. But this is especially not good at the holidays, with so many get togethers with family and friends!
So the other day, I decided to draw something familiar, something that I saw every day (or nearly every day), something that--in one way or another--related to the Christmas holiday to me.
I decided to draw the chapel on the local college campus. It's a gray building, and is not decorated at all on the outside. And it's been a warm, gray, rainy, dismal winter season so far. Not very festive, really. But elegant in a way. And touched by a wonderful, rich evergreen.
That evergreen is the "holiday" part for me. Even though the building is unadorned, the natural world added some color and hope and life to the picture. Always hope for new life...
I didn't have time to stand in the rain to draw it, I confess. So I used a photo for reference.
And I didn't have time to do a detail of the architectural intricacies of the building. So I limited myself to ten minutes total. So at least I could get something done in my sketchbook!
I scribbled quickly with a waterproof Tombow monoball (which I love, but which they evidently don't make anymore, bummer!). Then I added some color with my Koi watercolor pens, the grayscale set, plus a spot of green.
I am using Tomoe River paper in a sketchbook which I bound by hand. I love this paper because nothing bleeds through it despite its remarkable thinness, but you can see how images show through from the other side.
I decided to leave the foreground empty and white, which I suppose gives the illusion of snow, which we definitely do not have here in the midwest this winter... I really just wanted that tree to be the one spot of color.
What buildings do you walk or drive past almost every single day? Does one of them mean something special to you during this holiday season?
What would it take for you to find a few minutes to draw one of them?
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