Let Charcoal be Charcoal!

"How do you stop charcoal smudging," I was asked this week.

It struck me as an amusing question. It felt like asking "how do you stop the river flowing?" 

Charcoal smudges. It's just what it does. It's a feature, not a bug.

But it got me thinking of how often we do this, in our art and in our life. We try to force things to be what they're not.

Similar questions are: "how can I make acrylics work like oils" or "How can I layer watercolours the way I layer acrylics?"

Our mediums and our tools work the way they work. So rather than trying to change them, what if we worked with them?

The original question was about using charcoal with paint. This artist wanted to know how she could make charcoal marks, then apply paint over the top without them smudging. I do use charcoal in this way, but I let it smudge. I like when it smudges. That's why I chose charcoal.

If I wanted stable marks, I would choose something less inherently smudgy - maybe a Posca pen or an oil pastel - because I think it's easier and more flowful to use materials as they were meant to be used.

So, if I want smudges, I choose charcoal. If I want translucent delicacy, I choose watercolour. If I want thick paint, I use heavy body acrylics and so on and so on.

When you do this, the mediums work with you - they give you what you need without forcing or pushing. Which made me think about where this applies in life.

After all, art always mirrors life. What's true in one is true in the other.  

I've had to learn this lesson a lot lately. Life won't be pushed. Decisions can't be forced. People refuse to be molded. Now I'm practicing letting things just be. So much of the challenge of life is to stop struggling against reality I think.

So I'll let charcoal be charcoal and I'll let life be life and I'll do my best to appreciate both for just what they are :)