Somewhere between the years 2000 and 2002 I taught a grade 8 art class. I was teaching a lesson on drawing faces with pencil and one student was a far better artist than me. She could really capture the details of the face, and not just be anatomically correct, but also bring life to her drawings. However she was hesitant to go dark with her work. It lacked contrast. Her drawings were like beautiful but faded photocopies.
“Don’t be afraid to go darker.” I would say. She would try and the image would get ever so slightly darker, but still look faded.
“Darker!” I would say.
“It is!” She would retort.
“Not enough, go darker.” Or, “You know what I’m going to tell you!”
It was a banter that went on all year, because no matter what we did in art, she had a pencil journal that she also worked on. Again, her work was beautiful, but too light.
Fast forward to yesterday, and this former student, now a friend on Facebook, did a tribute drawing of an older photograph, of a loved one. (It’s 5:30am, and I haven’t asked to share the story, so I’m not sharing names or details.) The drawing is beautiful with rich dark highlights, and still has her soft touch that brings her drawings to life.
I commented on the photo:
“Beautiful. Nice to see that you are no longer afraid to use rich dark shades 😜”
She replied,
“NO joke, I was actually hearing you repeat to go darker/not to be afraid to commit to it and smiling about how this many years later your teachings still come out 😊”
And,
“I even wondered if you’d consider it dark enough 😆 glad to see I’ve made progress with it!”
My response,
“It really is, and you’ve captured [your subject’s] sparkle… not easy to do in a drawing. I love it! ❤️”
I truly enjoy interactions like this. They warms my heart. They remind me of why I wanted to be a teacher, and make me miss being in the classroom.
We are lucky to live in an age where we can connect with former students and celebrate their marriages, the birth of their children, or just check in with them when things aren’t going their way. And it’s so much fun to know that we can make small differences in their lives, long after they’ve left our classroom.
