Spotted, on the streets of India
#254 from the front seat.
Dear reader,
There is so much life in India. For all the weeks and months I spend away from home, I somehow forget. Maybe I do not want to accept that life can go on without me. Maybe I want the country to be on pause, all its people in screensaver mode, everything still and preserved, awaiting my return. Identity is that curious thing that seeks other labels to define itself, but then defines those labels by itself.
In today’s post, I caught some life rushing past me. (Or, I caught some life while rushing past it?)
Drawing from the front-seat of a car is an intriguing challenge because … your subject keeps changing itself? At 75kmph, the world whizzes past just as it gains clarity. Within minutes, hundreds of meters are covered. So the page drawn from observation does not correspond to any single spot. You are left with impressions, and you work with memories of impressions, layered upon what is new, and changing, and gone.
But is it ever otherwise? The artist is still, with the world constantly shifting around them. Or the artist moves, and the world remains still. Which is which? Who is who?
Any drawing is an encapsulation of space across time, not any single moment in time:
“A drawing encapsulates the totality of all the time spent drawing at a location… [It] accurately represents the activity of people without being true to any single moment.”
How much can we learn about a place from observing the life on its streets?
Seeing precedes drawing. Drawing is a filter of sight. But sight is already a filter too. What you see, what you retain, what you notice, what your eyes gloss over, is a function of who you are.
So is every drawing a lie? Or do we have misplaced ideas about the truth?
It is comforting to give myself permission to lie. Speaking the truth is a heavy burden. On these pages, the colors are a lie. The sizes are a lie. The arrangement is a lie. Phew!
Have you signed up for the next SneakyArt Hangout? We will chat about winter sketching, and I will share some exciting plans with Insiders for the season. Also, I will share pages from my travels in India, and the big sketchbook of Rohan.
🗓️ Sat 16 Nov | 10a-11a PT
(This event is FREE for all readers.)
Dear reader, I am glad to have a space in your inbox and a share of your time and attention every week.
The SneakyArt Post is a publication of secretly drawn art of the world. Every week, I share the latest pages from my sketchbooks, and the best ideas from my journey as an artist and writer.
If you like my work, share it with another person who may like it too.
🪔 Also, for everyone who celebrates, Happy Diwali!
🙌🏽 Also, this:
Ah, I miss India! To see it again through your sketchbook! What I find fascinating is how we artists capture different details of our travels abroad (whether familiar or not). There are electrical posts along the road there? Neat! Yellow tuk-tuks, colourful trucks, and people on motorbikes? How familiar! But where are there black and white stripes painted on the trees to keep you from driving off the road? Maybe just a Tamil Nadu thing?
Thank you for sharing your insights!
I love seeing what you're sketching - it's so inspiring.