#38 - Street View
In the previous issue, I shared the latest podcast episode, a fascinating conversation with Liz Steel about her journey from architecture to urban-sketching, being a full-time creative, and the various ways to make art easy again.
This week, some art I made, from real observation and also in practice. Also, hello new subscribers!
For new subscribers…
Hello, and welcome! There is an influx of new subscribers and, for their benefit, I would like to re-introduce the concept of SneakyArt (and this newsletter).
I define SneakyArt as the practice of drawing beauty from my environment without drawing attention. I make my art in public spaces, observing human activity and interaction. I don’t tell the subjects that I have drawn them, and they never find out. Everything is very hush hush.
Remaining inconspicuous has been an important feature of my art, for different reasons over the years. When I started, the main reason was that I was too terrible/ashamed with my drawings and did not want anyone to see them. I was also generally embarrassed by the idea of drawing from observation in public places. Today, while that feeling is long gone, thanks to the urban sketching community, I enjoy being sneaky for other reasons. Being sneaky in the pursuit of art challenges me to find new and interesting points of view even in busy urban spaces. Sometimes it affects where I sit, and sometimes it affects who/what I choose to draw. In every case, it affects my work positively by keeping the experience fresh, unpredictable and challenging.
With this newsletter, I share thoughts from the podcast, and notes about my journey of self-education as an artist. I hope you will enjoy it. And if you do, please share it with another person who might like it too!
Family Portrait
I was on Granville Island this weekend to draw a family portrait on commission. It was a spot the family liked very much, with the Burrard Bridge behind them. The drawing was fun to do and we had a nice chat as I worked. I picked up great suggestions for places to see around Vancouver.
Both children sat very quietly while I drew them, without any expression on their faces. It reminded me of how people used to have pictures taken until a few decades ago. It made me smile because of the innocence of that behavior. I expect their father told them to “behave themselves for the artist” and they took it far more seriously than necessary.
Felix (age 6) relaxed and opened up after I told him about how I draw, and invited him to look at my page and my other sketchbooks. He began to tell me about his latest drawings - which feature his toys and favorite cartoons. I think that’s exactly what I was drawing at his age too!
Afterward, because it was such a sunny day, I hung around and made some more drawings of people who had come to Granville Island.
Practicing
This weekend I hosted a couple of drawing workshops for beginners. I did some demos for how I draw people/portraits with reference pics from r/redditgetsdrawn. It reminded me of all the practice I have gotten over the years from Reddit. So later this week, when I was sitting around at home, in need of inspiration, I returned to r/redditgetsdrawn and made a bunch of drawings with my fountain pen. Read my post about this drawing, and a short history of my art journey with RedditGetsDrawn.
If you’re curious about the workshop, I am accepting more participants for May/June. Read more details here and consider signing up!
Is there a website, channel or service that helped you to become a better artist? Tell me about it!
Street View
I’ve been meaning to draw a street-view from my apartment in the new sketchbook. And I realized… the horizontal page format changes everything! It’s a completely different challenge from drawing in a vertical page format.
For example, I had to pay greater attention to the shift in perspective here!
I think this drawing helped me understand why I prefer the vertical format for certain scenes. And I wonder if other artists choose sketchbooks the same way, knowingly or otherwise. More thoughts on the subject, with side-by-side sketches of street scenes, on my blog.
You can also watch this video of how I made the drawing. The way I navigate the page offers good ideas to tackle the perspective challenge. Maybe someone insightful can also tell what my weak points are, from looking at how I actively negotiate the scene.
A wedding gift
Another commission I completed this week is for a couple in Vancouver. The art captures memorable moments from their relationship and brings them together in a collage. Watch below how it was drawn.
Thanks for reading!
Next week, I’ll share a new, super exciting episode of the podcast. I think you will learn a lot from listening to it, and understand better the why of drawing on location, instead of just the how.
In case you missed the last episode or want to check out any of the older ones, visit here for a full list with episode descriptions.
If you enjoy this newsletter and/or podcast, and would like to support my independent work, consider buying me a cup of coffee.
Podcast fans, please leave me a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a yuuuge difference to the podcast’s visibility on the platform.
Thank you for your time and attention. See you next week!