ONLINE ART COURSE – SECOND CHARCOAL LANDSCAPE, AND A BIT MORE HOMESPUN PHILOSOPHY

The second landscape was more interesting than the first one, and I think I made a better fist of it!

I’m still not entirely happy, and have come to the conclusion that charcoal is definitely not the medium for me. I shall persevere with the rest of this module and look forward to moving on to something else. As my mum always used to say to me when I was younger, and pretty undecided what I wanted to do in life and did many different things, some of which seemed to come to nothing, “Nothing you do in life is ever wasted.” This has proved true. She did also say, however, in a moment of exasperation, “It’s high time you settled down and got your teeth into something concrete.” Ouch! (She was famous in the family for mixing her metaphores and used to come out with some classics!)

So I am sure that however much I am struggling with charcoal, everything I am learning and doing with it is going to help me to improve my drawing skills – observation skills if nothing else, and the importance of values.

I am determined not to give up with it, anyway. As I said to my hubby at lunch time today, many years ago I was a member of a choral society, and after the first rehearsal of Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast,” half the choir resigned! They said it was too hard and they’d never learn it. The conductor refused to accept any resignations, and said, “Yes, it’s a challenge, but we will work on it together, note by note, and you will learn it and end up enjoying it.” He also said that when you join a choir, you are subject to the conductor’s choice of works; this is not a democracy, and all members are supposed to commit themselves and not let other members down by leaving. I suppose it would be a different matter if the works chosen became ever more weird and not what the majority signed up for, but we all have to accept variety in life and go with the flow, remaining committed and supportive of one another as a group. The amazing benefit of this is that in the end you do learn, and you end up enjoying it much more than you thought you would! OK, in the choir we did sing one or two pieces which I didn’t particularly like, and would probably not volunteer to sing in again, but it’s all grist to the experience mill and “nothing you do in life is ever wasted.”

People these days are often far too ready to give up on things before they’ve put in the work or given them a chance. I think this is why the divorce rate is so high. Another thing Mum always used to say was, “Take the rough with the smooth.” Good advice. It’s what grows character and maturity. Charcoal is pretty rough – not smooth enough for my taste, but I’ll stick with it!