I was born and grew up in Mumbai, India, but now live on the other side of the world, in San Jose, California, about 60 miles south of San Francisco. Sketching my surroundings has been my way to come to understand and embrace my new world. Drawing my everyday surroundings makes me look at them with fresh eyes and see things I would otherwise consider too ordinary to pause and observe deeply.
I love sketching urban life and all that it holds: buildings, street signs, trees, electricity poles, streets and people. While it is fun to capture the iconic buildings and bridges of San Francisco, I am also drawn to capturing the fast-disappearing side of where I live. San Jose is in the heart of Silicon Valley and is now associated with all things high-tech. I enjoy drawing the last remaining fruit stands and farmhouses that hark back to an age when this was farming country. Old theater marquees and neon signs. Small Victorian-style homes that will soon be replaced by larger, more modern homes. Documenting these structures makes me understand and appreciate a part of my city’s past that I have never lived through.
I sketch architecture in the same way I sketch people and natural settings: loosely and gesturally. Working this way helps me get to the essence of what I am drawing without being distracted by detail. A hint of molding on the eaves of a Victorian home, or the subtle suggestion of a row of windows is all I might include. It keeps my sketches simple and focused. And it makes the viewer step in to complete the picture.
MR. T’S LIQUOR LOCKER
Campbell, Silicon Valley, California
FILBERT STEPS
San Fransisco, California
(MY) HOME
San Jose, California
SMALL VICTORIAN HOME
San Jose, California