{"id":13921,"date":"2022-12-02T15:06:14","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T20:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=13921"},"modified":"2025-10-08T16:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:20:01","slug":"elmore-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/elmore-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Student\u2019s Playful Paintings Showcase the Hill as You\u2019ve Never Seen It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the clocktower to Risley and beyond, Grace Elmore \u201925 finds inspiration in Cornell\u2019s eclectic architectural styles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Lindsay Lennon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the start of the fall \u201922 semester, craving a creative experience outside the classroom, Grace Elmore \u201925 sat on the Slope and sketched the buildings of West Campus\u2014playfully, a bit mindlessly, and (as she admits with a laugh) \u201creally inaccurately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Elmore shared her work on Instagram, it garnered an overwhelming positive response\u2014along with a slew of requests for her to draw other Cornell buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt made me stop and think: people enjoy this,\u201d says Elmore, a double major in English and religious studies in Arts & Sciences. \u201cLike, really <\/em>enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reaction prompted her to explore more potential locations, leading to what she calls the first real piece she did of campus: a playful rendition of Goldwin Smith Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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McGraw Tower<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In it, the building\u2019s signature pillars are askew, the texture of trees is expressed through black squiggles, and the footpaths that crisscross the grass are presented more like gently flowing gray rivers than concrete walkways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a technique known as line-and-wash, Elmore sketches in pencil, then goes over the lines in pen and fills in with watercolor. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process (which takes her about two hours for an eight-by-10-inch work) produces what she calls a \u201clighter and happier feel\u201d than one might find in acrylic or oil paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A
A.D. White Reading Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After Goldwin Smith, Elmore began tackling other halls, then a slew of Greek houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just a few months, she built a collection of these colorful, almost comic-strip-like paintings of some of the Hill\u2019s most beloved buildings, which she now promotes and sells as prints and greeting cards on her website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI appreciate each building for its own details,\u201d says Elmore. \u201cThey\u2019re all so different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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