When Ralph Wrecked the Drawing: Making the Most of Mistakes

I just keep going on this drawing of a lily pond at the monastery of Gethsemane in Bardstown, K. where Thomas Merton lived.

The Ink Splat

I'll never forget the ink spill day in drawing class. I was attending university, majoring in fine art. Day after day we studied by drawing from a bust of the "David" by Michelangelo. We sketched in charcoal, pastel, pencil, ink—I produced one portrait after another.

One day, I had a good drawing going, and then I dropped a blob of ink right in the middle of David's face where it was supposed to be left white. I panicked and thought all was lost. Ralph, our professor who happened to be a double of Elton John (no kidding, he would go to parties as Elton John), strolled over to my drawing and smeared the ink splat across my paper and said, "Now fix it!"

Mistakes Can Be Good

Shocked and on the brink of tears, I piled on the white in an attempt to cover the blotch. Next, I built up layer upon layer of colored charcoal until I had a drawing that was far from perfect, but there was something unique and interesting about it. The professor said, "That's the best you've ever done!" and he hung it on the wall with the work he liked. That day was a turning point for me, and I learned to experiment and keep going even if it might mean messing up an otherwise good drawing.

Though I taught high school art for years, I never had the guts to do that to any of my students. It would have seemed a bit harsh, I'm afraid, but I did tell them the story. From the ink smear, I learned not to despair over mistakes and unexpected turns in art and in life. Sometimes mistakes turn out to be serendipitous, leading to better outcomes than we might have imagined.