Art is an expression of thoughts and feelings, as well as an outlet for creativity. Many people, old and young, express themselves through different forms of art. Whether it acts as a stress-reliever from the pressures of school, or something that they are forced to do in art class, everyone at some point in their lives has done some form of art.

Whether the art-making acts as a bridge to convey one’s thoughts, feelings and reactions to the art or as a means to get feelings out and provide a release when words are difficult to find, the practice of art therapy is proven to be healing.

Flipping through his spiral-bound sketchbook, sophomore Web Lehmann paused occasionally to display some of his favorite drawings, each delicately sketched on the gray-toned paper. The vibrant colors, coupled with subtle shading, force the image to stand out on the page.

Lehmann has been an aspiring artist ever since he entered his first watercolor painting of a grapefruit into an art competition. When Lehmann was younger he focused more on watercolor painting, and moved into pencil drawings as he got older.

Lehmann focuses on realism; his art is often based off a photo of something that he sees in his everyday life, although occasionally he will draw people that he knows.

“I’m not very creative, and so I just try and stay away from creative drawings,” Lehmann said. He considers his drawing Cherries to be his best.

“It’s obvious that it [the focal point] isn’t real, but there’s a cartoony realism to it and this piece captures it [Cherries],” he said.

Few people continue to paint or draw due to a lack of time. On average, a drawing takes about three hours for Lehmann to complete, but he’s not complaining.

“In our current society people are so insistent on instant gratification, but art is about accepting failure,” Lehmann said.

Much like any sport, art takes lots of practice and no one is born with talent; they have to work at it. Lehmann gets his practice in the advanced drawing class led by Nash, and also draws almost every day outside of school.

“What motivates me is the end goal […] and I’m definitely a perfectionist, so I do not like any of my drawings,” Lehmann said. He spent the most time and effort on his drawing of cherries.

“[The cherries] came off as a syrupy, gooey light bouncing off the water,” he said.

Lehmann has a few steps that he takes when starting a new drawing.

“I’ll watch Netflix or listen to music; it gets me into the zone,” he said. “But, sometimes I just will not have the patience and that is okay.”

First he looks at the photo he plans on illustrating. “[After that,] I’ll make circles in the dark areas…and then after outlining, its just filling in the spaces,” Lehmann said. “That end product is what pushes me to keep working and strive to get a drawing to its full potential.”