Just a Little Bit

Joyful Portrait of My Mom, 2021

Charcoal on newsprint

18" x 24"

My mother is an amazing woman. This statement is true for a lot of reasons, however, her abilities as an autodidact are truly a thing to behold. Mom has never met a skill she couldn’t teach herself …and then conquer. From hanging sheet-rock, to reupholstering my dad’s first car; you name it, mom’s done it! My entire life, my mother’s motto has always been: “I could do that. How hard can it be?” 

Last week, I had the rare opportunity to snap a few pictures of my mom. Mom is adept at many things however, she DOES NOT like having her photo taken. So, when she actually asked me if I would take a picture of her in her new skirt (which she handmade, from scratch, pattern and all) I jumped at the chance. I turned the opportunity into an entire photoshoot. The pictures came out wonderful! Mom was riding the high of success from finishing the long-fought sewing project and was absolutely beaming with joy. 

I knew as soon as I took the photos that I wanted to try and draw them. The trick was finding the time. Isn’t it always. I like to have a good chunk of time set aside when I step into my studio to create art. Three to four hours is a pretty typical session for me, and many of my piece require multiple sessions. My last piece (A Beautiful Gift: Study of a Red Rose), for example, took over 26 hours of drawing time to render. Admittedly, that one was a doozy but you get the idea.

It can be difficult to get motivated to try and start to create knowing the time and energy previous pieces have required. This is especially true on days where I get caught up in busy-work (instead of art work) and I wind up with only 20 minutes here, or an hour there, of free-time left in my day. When I get in this predicament, I find myself asking the question, “is it even worth it to drag out my easel and get set up today?” 

  

SPOILER ALERT - the answer is always “YES!” Why? Because not trying is a sure-fire way, 100% guaranteed, to produce zero awesome art. 

I found myself in that very scenario last week. For several days I marched around the house threatening to make some art and each day I elected to fill my time with lots of other “important-ish” chores and activities instead. On the evening of the third day, two hours of precious “free-time” presented themselves. But on this occasion, instead of giving in and giving up before I even started, I asked myself, “why not? At least I will be able to get a few gestures in and that’s better than nothing, right?” 

Reluctantly, I pulled out my compressed charcoal and began casually sketching. Then the most amazing thing happened - ART. I was only two gestures into my session and ART HAPPENED! As I was erasing some areas of the face, the strokes of my eraser revealed a likeness! Not just a solid foundation, or accurate proportions, but a likeness. Achieving a likeness in portraiture is the ultimate goal. A "likeness" is the feeling of a subjects’s personality, that life like spark that is unique to them. I was instantly filled with excitement at the unexpected success and began to feverishly work other areas of the drawing. I blended and refined, bringing more and more modeling and dimension to her form. Incredibly, a beautiful drawing began to emerge from the crazy scribbles of my warm-up sketch. I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t even done warming up and God blessed me with a winner - hallelujah!

It’s amazing what God can do with just “a little bit.” The Holy Spirit can do truly incredible things with just a little bit of our time, our energy, even our attention. The only catch is that we have to participate and give Him something to work with. This drawing was such a striking reminder of this. I just had to get set up and try. Now, I know that a one hour drawing session isn’t the norm and that’s what makes this piece such a special gift from God. That being said, isn’t it exciting to know that sometimes, just sometimes, just a little bit of time and effort can yield something extraordinary!

So I ask you, my beautiful art blog friends, what can you try today? What can you give just a little bit to? The Holy Spirit can help you create amazing things, you just have to give Him a little bit of room to move.