On Drawing the St. Cecilia Church

It was another day in San Francisco, so I continued drawing the building-scape of St. Cecilia Church. I'm very fortunate to have such nice images to draw so close to my house. In fact, I'd draw my whole neighborhood if drawing weren't such a conspicuous activity and if there were more benches for me to sit. Usually, drawing buildings calms me. It is comforting to do something that you can admit you're pretty good at. I also appreciate the humility of a drawing; it doesn't beg for your attention. Instead, it's encapsulated on a given sheet of paper, and the responsibility falls on the individual to observe the drawing. I am always fascinated by things that behave this way, though I know that careers are seldom launched by such passivity.

Today, as I drew the church, I came to a realization that can only be described as profound. I hesitate to use such a descriptor as profundity is a fairly subjective experience, but as I drew the power lines, electroliers, and other public works structures in the foreground of my drawing, I could only think of the parallels to the San Bruno fire. I was watching the news several nights ago and learned that a little girl that had perished in the fire last week was the student body president of St. Cecilia. It just so happened that I was also once a student body president of a San Francisco private Catholic grammar school. My parents had also initially tried to get me to attend St. Cecilia School, but I was a number of months too young to be accepted into the upcoming class, a questionable logic that I had falsely attributed to the school's desire to have beefier and stronger athletes against other Catholic schools.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I had been drawing St. Cecilia, and in the foreground was a cacophony of power lines and street poles all managed by, I presume, PG&E, the company responsible for the San Bruno fire. I felt useful, for once, during my one and a half week's worth of a summer vacation, and so I was glad that finally my drawing skillz would be put to use on something worthwhile. I resolved to send a copy to the St. Cecilia principal as soon as I finished it. I even came up with a working title for my drawing, "Neighborhood Imperative". Yeah, it felt pretty good.

But several hours later, I wondered whether the importance of my drawing was indeed as culturally relevant as it seemed. Am I really just exaggerating its value from the lens of a lover of buildings? Is the analogy too personal for anyone else to recognize, let alone appreciate? I still don't know, but I will continue drawing it. I have spent three hours on this drawing so far, and I have maybe a good third of it done. I never know at what point a drawing is finished. I'm still an amateur, and what I have in my mind doesn't translate in execution, but I do hope to send it to St. Cecilia School someday. Maybe they will like it. I don't really know, but either way I really want to finish this drawing.