In ancient times, when colours weren’t a common medium for art, people used charcoal on walls. This form is a dry medium of art that uses organic material. Using the colour black in different shades offers an amazing sketching experience. To learn more about this art, Rooftop conducted a charcoal flower workshop with Kavitha.

About The Artist

For the past 16 years, Kavitha has been independently running her studio. Her journey started when she was an 8-year-old and started creating floral designs on thin sheets of paper using sketch pens. She later got involved in almost 64 different types of folk and contemporary art forms. Her search for art led her to different cities and finally in 2004, she came up with her own institute which rose to be the best art institute in Hyderabad.   

The Workshop Began

Initially, Kavitha focused on discussing the different varieties of charcoal materials available and the methods to use them. She taught some strokes and shades that can be helpful to learn the basics. For the session, she drew simple yet beautiful layers of flowers, starting with a sketch of the flower and leaves with a pencil. She then used charcoal pencils to create dark outlines for the petals. To give them a subtle highlight, she used the smudging technique with earbuds. 

For the leaves, she used a similar technique and showed how less pressure should be applied for lighter shading. In order to avoid hand smudges on the drawing, she advised placing a small piece of paper under the hand. Lastly, to bring a focus on the flower, she drew a gradient background of charcoal. Kavitha advised everyone to protect their drawing using a fixative spray.

Towards The End Of The Workshop

While some attendees co-created the flower drawn by Kavitha, some tried making their own unique floral patterns. Everyone was really engrossed during the whole session while trying their best to get the shades well defined and were thrilled to learn so much along the way.

The attendees were from different parts of the country. They also belonged to different age groups but their love for art brought them together on a single platform. The Circle Community, as always, was successful in connecting artists and curating a magical and positive vibe together. 

On this note, here’s us signing off until next time!

Also, for more information on upcoming Circle Experiences, follow us on Instagram.