In the previous post, I began sharing my tiny steps into the world of drawing. I started out following tutorials on drawing simple subjects using just pencils. I then experimented sketching faces of my family members by using their photos. Wanting to add colours to my sketches, I bought both traditional colour pencils and watercolour pencils, and also felt-tip pens.
With the newly purchased colouring medium, I was motivated into trying different types of sketches: sceneries. Colours render a scenery more vibrant. Without colours, even the best black and white sketched scenery doesn’t look alive. The first scenery that I drew was a church tower in Drôme, a department in southeastern France. The sketch was based on the photo taken when I visiting Crest, a village in Drôme.
Even though my colourful Drôme sketch didn’t follow the drawing fundamentals (perspective, tonal values etc. separate posts needed on this subject!), I believe I enjoyed myself more in the act of drawing than in taking the photo, especially during the process of adding colours to the sketch. It’s hard to describe the feeling when I see bright colours splashed out on my drawings. For me, colours just bring a feeling of ineffable lightness to my heart.
Urban sketching
Two weeks after I got my colours, I visited Ardèche, a department in the southwest of France. I had no idea what I wanted to draw but I just brought my art materials along. It was at Ardèche that I tried to put down on paper my first scenery sketch, a sketch captured through direct observation of the subject. Is this what they call “urban sketching ” even though I wasn’t aware of the term at that time. According to urbansketchers.org, an urban sketch is
An urban sketch is a drawing created on location, indoors or out, capturing what the sketcher sees from direct observation. Urban sketchers use any kind of media to tell the story of their surroundings, the places they live, and where they travel.
What’s the difference between classic landscape drawing and urban sketching? I mean both art forms involve drawing the scene in front of the artist. Per urbansketchers.org,
[t]he former tends to focus on the aesthetic outcome of the finished piece, whereas the latter’s primary goal is on storytelling, witnessing, and recording, using any medium, indoors and out.
In Joyeuse, a tiny village in Ardèche, we rented a tiny brick house from a French family. This family also owned the big piece of farmland in front of the house. Right across from the living room window of our rented accommodation, on the other side of the farmland, lain a long brick farmhouse owned by the same family.
On the first morning at the gîte (French for holiday home), I woke up much earlier than my other half (which is usually the case). Not knowing what to do until he woke up, I decided to take advantage of the morning serene silence to capture the scene viewed through the window of the living room. I wanted to record manually the idyllic scene outside living room window. After making myself a cup of coffee, I stood at the window sill for close to an hour trying to catch at least a modicum of likeness of the large brick farmhouse. Looking at my drawing now, it seems that my hour of effort wasn’t that well-spent. Regardless, I had a fun time doing it and that’s what counts.
Is it considered urban sketching?
I considered my sketch as “urban sketching trial” and not a bona fide. Since I was indoor sketching an outdoor scene, one could argue that I was not really “on- location” Besides, my being indoor means that I was protected from natural elements and had the facility of a window sill. These conveniences had made the trial experience easier.
I would have love to do more urban sketching during the rest of the holiday, especially sketching scenes with people. Unfortunately, I still need to learn and practise how to do rapid sketches. Brick farmhouse have the patience to wait for me to finish my sketch but not human beings. Nevertheless, I continued practising drawing during the short by using the photos taken at Ardèche. Hopefully, I would get to do some real urban sketching soon!