These days, it seems as if every other art book or magazine article is on urban sketching! The practice has grown explosively in the past few years. Every city and town seems to have its urban sketchers group, and ours is no exception. It’s fun, challenging and fascinating. It tells a story. It’s a record of the way things are, this very day, right where we are.
Finding a subject is easy, if you keep an open mind. Urban sketching is about far more than architecture, though buildings are certainly part of it. It’s also about life. Reality. Details. Action. History. People. Change.
Sometimes my favorite sketches are just that, a record of change as buildings are torn down and bridges are replaced by safer, albeit less picturesque, modern ones. Grab a pen or pencil and document the changes.
The old laundry that had employed generations in our town finally met its destiny with the wrecking ball. I was amazed that the steel-reinforced door was still standing when all else was rubble, and I couldn’t resist stopping by the side of the road to sketch it with my bent-nib calligraphy pen and black ink. I diluted more ink to add a bit of shading and some spatter.