Since sketching is such a great way to really see something, I went to Ein Kerem to sketch Marq Chagall’s stained glass windows in the Hadassah Hospital’s Synagogue. The twelve windows celebrate the twelve tribes of Israel and are arranged in groups of three along each side of the square synagogue.

As I sketched, visitors came and went, often sitting silently and looking up. Just as it was nearing closing time I looked across the room and noticed how deeply the windows were impacting the visitors and so I quickly sketched a row of visitors. Later at home I connected two sketches together in Procreate to give an idea of the experience of sitting in a room beneath the twelve windows. I would like to go back with this composition in mind and work to capture more of the awe I saw and more of the details from the windows.

I used marker and watercolor on the upper sketch and pencil and watercolor on the lower. Both are on multimedia paper. The two sketches did not quite align so the middle area is blended using Procreate.