240. Why is a City?
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Dear reader,
Yesterday, I did an interview with CBC Radio Vancouver about urban sketching and Sneaky Art. Why do you like to draw in busy places, they asked.
Because in busyness there is life. And when I arrived in my new world, I was looking for clues about how to live and how to be.
I spoke about being an immigrant and using a sketchbook to better understand the people with whom I was sharing my new environment. In the richness and diversity of urban life, in hearing multiple foreign languages on a busy street, there is sanctuary for someone feeling out of place.
I forgot to add, that I think cities are artificial creations made for strictly utilitarian purposes. Without human need, without a human context, a city has no reason to exist, no meaning or purpose. Is a city without its busyness still even a city?
Afterward, I thought about this quote by Jane Jacobs in The Death & Life of American Cities -
“There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.”
Drawing tiny people is a way for me to look past the surface differences between myself and other people. Differences are so easy to spot. It is an exercise in paying attention, and becoming aware of what we have in common. The way we sit, the people we meet, the coffee we order, the books we read. The love we share for green grass and blue sky.
💻 Sign up for this weekend’s Tiny People workshop if you want to bring observation and mindfulness into your life. All it takes is pen and paper. Use code [SNEAKYREADER] at checkout for a reader-discount.
The SneakyArt Post is a publication of secretly drawn art of the world. Every week, I share the best lines from my sketchbooks and the best ideas from my journey as an artist and writer.
Thank you for reading.
Hard not to be a Jane Jacobs devotee once you've started paying attention to the true life-ness of cities. 💖
I really appreciate how you show the photo image and then the sketch below. It's super helpful for me to start thinking about how to be choiceful about what I put in my sketches, versus getting overwhelmed with a lot of detail. Thank you so much for sharing your craft.