My drawing of Frida Kahlo

I made this drawing of Frida Kahlo using nothing but a No. 2 pencil and Charcoal.

And honestly… it made me sit with something I’ve been feeling for a while.

There’s something deeply personal about drawing for me. It’s quiet. It’s slow. It’s just you and the paper—no color to hide behind, no shortcuts. Every shadow, every line, every decision is exposed. When I draw, I feel closer to the subject in a way that painting doesn’t always allow. It feels more intimate, more honest.

Frida, especially, carries so much weight. Strength, pain, identity, culture—she’s not just a face. Sitting with her features in graphite felt like sitting with her story.

But here’s the part I struggle with:

Drawings don’t move the way my paintings do.

My bright, colorful paintings—those sell. People are drawn to them immediately. They’re bold, they’re loud, they fill a space.

But my drawings? They usually stay with me. They live in my flat files, in my studio, in my personal collection.

Not because they’re less important—if anything, they feel more important to me.

I’ve found ways to give them life through prints, greeting cards, and postcards (and those actually do really well), but the original drawings themselves are rarely what people seek out.

So I keep asking myself—and now I’m asking you:

When did drawing become a “lesser” art form?

Is it because we’re so used to color and instant impact?

Is it because graphite feels too quiet in a loud world?

Or is it that drawing asks us to slow down… and we don’t always want to?

For me, drawing is the foundation of everything I do. It’s where the truth lives.

Curious what you all think—

Do you see drawing as equal to painting? Or has it become something we overlook?