Cornelia Urlass - Beginner to Stunning Realism - Learn to Draw and Color with Cindy Wider

Cornelia in her studio on the boat

When I first met Cornelia, her art studio at the time was just a little table and chair on a boat. I found that so intriguing. I admired her so much for her dedication to her art course. In this interview Cornelia Urlass takes us on a wonderful journey of artistic discovery. She first picked up a pencil as an adult after discovering colouring books for adults during a rehab program.

Cornelia began learning to draw first as a self-directed learner in one of my courses, then she moved into my private 1:1 mentoring program. She was very dedicated and learned everything she could. Cornelia went on to become an award-winning artist (see the winning piece below) and the rest is history. Art is now food for her soul. She clearly has a special gift for drawing. Through my course with mentoring process (where I help people to release the inner natural artist) she has been able to fulfil her true calling. I hope you enjoy this beautiful story of how Cornelia has used art and drawing as a form of language to help her heal, overcome personal obstacles and to express herself.

Winning Artwork. Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Its Time To Shine Medium: Coloured pencil

Interview with Cornelia Urlass by Cindy Wider

Q: Please introduce yourself and tell us where you’re from

A:I‘m Cornelia, 58, from Dresden/Germany.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Friends For Life Medium: Coloured Pencil

Q: How did you get started with art and drawing as an adult?

A: I had a personally difficult year in 2018 and then a kind of new beginning in 2019, where I started discovering picture books for adults during a rehab program. At that time, I picked up a pencil for the first time since school. My father was very good at drawing and drew for me and with me when I was a child. I found a bunch of pencils in his estate that I wanted to bring to life. So I had the idea that I could learn to draw, which I would then color.

In 2020, I wanted to transform the loneliness enforced by the Covid measures restricting our basic rights into something positive for my soul. Drawing has helped me to cope better with this difficult time – as my soul food.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Green Eye Medium: Coloured Pencil

Q: What were your greatest fears before you started the course?

A:There was no fear, only joy. I was looking forward to learning what I had seen in the preview and was excited to see how and whether I could manage to be satisfied with the result. I had the greatest respect for the shoe at first and was all the happier when it was finished. This project was a small milestone for me.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: A Shoe Well-Travelled (Course Project) Medium: Graphite Pencil

Q: What were your expectations, dreams or goals when you first began your course?

A: I realized that drawing is a kind of craft that needs to be learned. I saw the first year as a “working year”. I can only be creative if I have mastered my “set of tools”. The course was just right for this because Cindy imparts this knowledge step by step.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: A Selection of Course exercise drawings Medium: Graphite Pencil

Q: What was it like studying with mentored support?

A: Working with Cindy as a mentor was a very decisive step for me. I had first started at Udemy, where I had discovered Cindy in the course program. A little later, I started all over again with Cindy as my mentor. Especially at the beginning, it’s important to pay attention to the details that a beginner can’t even see, but which make all the difference. That’s why I can only recommend every beginner to start “right” – with Cindy as a mentor.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: A selection of course exercises Medium: Coloured Pencil

Q: What kind of drawings are you doing right now?

A: I love to show the beauty of the world, that‘s why I love to draw nature, especially flowers and beaches/the ocean. Especially during the difficult time of the restrictions on basic rights, when I was not allowed to travel (not even to the German coast), I painted the ocean and beaches again and again. I have a garden, so I‘m inspired from flowers in general, not only from my garden.

Beside my drawings of flowers and the ocean I started a portrait series „Faces of the resistance“. These are courageous people who have shown their faces in recent years – for real science and truth and for our fundamental rights. For this, they were and are defamed, censored and silenced, not only but especially in Germany. They have been removed from universities, driven into exile (from Germany) or even imprisoned here as political prisoners. There are so many of them worldwide that I can only draw a very small part of them.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Red and Green – Great Only In Nature (Left) Medium: Pastels Title: Sunflowers Give Us Extra Sunshine (Centre) Medium: Pastels Title: The Great Awakening Medium: Acrylic

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: 50 Shades of Blue (left) Medium: Acrylic Title: Moments Of Dreams (right) Medium: Acrylic

Q: Do you have any favourite drawings that you’ve created since studying at DrawPj?

A: There is no particular work of mine that I would like to single out as a favorite. They all had a meaning at the time they were created. Many of them have titles that have more than just a meaning – something for the viewer to think about. I have learned to hide messages in simple words that are not innocuous in my youth in East Germany. Examples are „Light up the dark“ (for my Aurora Borealis) or „The Great Awakening“ (for my Crocuses who are making their way through the thinner ice).

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Light up the Dark Medium: Pastels

Q: What are your favourite art materials and why?

A: I love colors, especially in the dark last years. That’s why I was very happy when colored pencils finally came my way in Cindy’s course – at the end of 2020, beginning of 2021 during the long months of lockdown. I still love colored pencils today, but I also learned to love pastels (in different variations).

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Title: Autumn Apples on Olive Wood (course project) Medium: Coloured Pencil

Q: Do you have any words of helpful advice for beginner artists?

A: My tip for beginners is to listen carefully to Cindy and learn the tools of the trade thoroughly. There is a saying in German: “All beginnings are difficult”. Cindy’s method makes it easier, but everyone still has to learn and work for themselves. Once you have understood and internalized the basics, you can get creative a little later, but you will be all the happier with the result.

Artist: Cornelia Urlass Portraits in charcoal

Q: Have you won any awards, or held exhibitions, sold your art since you studied at DrawPj?

A: Very surprisingly for me, in 2023 I won a bronze award at the J. Mane Gallery for my hibiscus “It’s time to shine”. The picture was actually only intended as an exercise because Cindy had set me the task of improving Cross Contours. But others in our circle asked me to enter it in a competition. The rest is history. Here, too,the title is ambiguous – the work was created at the end of 2022/beginning of 2023, when it was high time that the real truth about the last few years came to light (and what we officially are still waiting for it).