Today, for a change, I thought I’d bring Lana along. She is my little girl, almost four, and normally she would be at nursery.
We called the nursery to say she would be coming in later, then set off for a quick sketch. I thought it would be a nice activity for us to do together and a chance to see whether she would draw what was in front of her. So far—and I think this is normal at her age—she mostly draws from imagination.
For a while now, I’ve been trying to teach her a few basic skills, starting with how to hold a pencil—which she already does impressively well. She also makes some very simple sketches, so I was curious to see how it would go outdoors.
Our plan was to draw St Margaret’s Church in Rainham.
Arriving at St Margaret’s Church
I’ve visited and drawn this church before, although I don’t know whether I still have the old sketch.
One thing I remember clearly is the weather. The last time I came here, it was cold, cloudy and rainy. Today was completely different: bright and warm.
We arrived at the nearby park and met the other members of the art society. Everyone said hello to Lana and seemed delighted that she was there. She was enjoying being the centre of attention.
Before we started drawing, Lana wanted to walk around the church.
“Who lives at this church?” she asked.
“I don’t think anyone lives here,” I told her. “But let’s have a look around.”
We dropped our things and went for a walk. Lana started walking over the graves, so I tried to explain that she probably shouldn’t do that.
“It’s disrespectful to the people buried there,” I said.
“What do you mean, buried?”
All right. Maybe that was a topic for another day.
Not long afterwards, she needed the toilet, which gave us an opportunity to see the church from inside. To be frank, the interior didn’t interest me as much. Perhaps I’m biased towards outdoor art and plein-air sketching, but it wasn’t long before I suggested going back outside.
Choosing a simple church composition
We eventually found a really nice angle.
I deliberately chose something easy today. There wasn’t much perspective involved. It was more about the composition: the church tower framed by a huge tree and its foliage.
It was also a comfortable spot in the shade, which mattered because I wasn’t drawing alone.
Compared with some of my usual architectural subjects, the view was fairly flat and simple. That made it ideal for a fast sketch and for keeping an eye on Lana at the same time.
If you want to try something similar, my main advice is to keep the first drawing spontaneous. I’ve shared more about that approach in How to Draw Buildings and Other Urban Sketching Tips.
The awkward reality of filming outdoors
Once we had settled down, I set up some filming equipment and took a few photographs.
I’m still struggling with filming drawings outdoors. It is not easy to capture the drawing clearly while you are making it.
Bear in mind, I went to film school. I studied filmmaking, composition and editing, so I probably know more than the average person about it. I’m also an engineer by trade. Even so, getting the footage I have in mind is difficult.
Perhaps my expectations are part of the problem. I want sharp lines and clear details so that you can see exactly what I’m drawing.
You can achieve that quite easily in a studio with an overhead filming setup. Outdoors, it becomes much trickier. It is achievable, but you need more equipment, larger and heavier tripods and a more complicated arrangement.
That doesn’t really fit my philosophy of quick sketching: arrive, do your art and leave.
So I’m still trying to find the balance between getting good footage and carrying a setup that allows me to draw freely.
A 20-minute drawing—and Lana’s churchyard ghosts
Once the cameras were finally arranged, I started the sketch.
The initial drawing took about 20 minutes. Because the view was quite flat and there wasn’t much complicated perspective, it came together quickly.
This was the rough sketch, followed by the ink drawing and then the final artwork. The whole painting took around 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, Lana was busy making her own drawings.
She told me they were “the ghosts of the broken graves”.
So, while I had carefully chosen a church tower, a tree and a comfortable composition, Lana had developed an entire supernatural story from our walk around the churchyard.
I’m not sure which of us had the more interesting subject.
Finishing the day with a cheeseburger
After finishing the painting, we walked back to meet the rest of the art society. We said hello to everyone again, then said our goodbyes and went for lunch.
Lana wanted a cheeseburger.
The only cheeseburger nearby happened to be a fancy, award-winning cheeseburger. There was no children’s menu. The cheeseburger was simply the cheeseburger.
Fortunately, she enjoyed it.
And that was the end of our little sketching trip: one church painting, several ghosts of broken graves and a very serious cheeseburger.