Sketching Urban Detail in Europe

In September my beloved and I went to Europe to celebrate our 5th year together. During that trip, I took a small journal with me to write and what do you know? Suddenly I found myself sketching parts of the urban detail around me. I mean, can you blame me? There are historic buildings everywhere, it's simply overwhelming. While I am an avid collector of historic building photographs — been photographing them for over 30 years, and this was by no means my first visit to Europe, I guess living in Los Angeles makes you crave for something a bit more ornate once in a while.

It started slowly, with one or two small small sketches on the side of my journal:

Then, during our visit to Eche, Spain, near Alicante, our group decided to take a long tour that I was not in the mood for. I sat somewhere and started to draw what I saw around me.

Wow!!!! What fun! I was hooked. I would sketch everywhere I could, any time we stopped for a few minutes. Sketching urban buildings is not a new thing, and I noticed other people sketching on site too. However, instead of full perspectives and buildings, what caught my eye were the details, the beautiful ornament on these century-old buildings. A wrought-iron varanda in Gibraltar. A small ornament on a door. An archway or a lamp.

Although I brought a whole plastic container full of art supplies, it was time to streamline my kit and make it easier to draw on site. I carefully curated my materials and came up with a simple kit that fit into a reading glass case: a brown micron, a black micron, a gray fine-liner (which I never used), three colored pencils and a fountain pen to write.

I became bolder and more methodic. My lines became cleaner and I learned how to search for the right place to draw. How to lean against a wall and hold the journal with one hand while drawing with the other. I learned to quickly capture the idea of the drawing, take a picture for future reference and then complete the drawing when I was waiting for the tour bus, or waiting for others in our group to finish their meals. During sea days (we were on a cruise), I refined my drawings with brown pen and pencils and tangled around.

I got SO hooked on sketching urban detail. I see it now everywhere. Whenever I look at my journal, it means so much more to me than the photos that I took. They remind me of the sensations I felt while actually drawing. The following page was done in the Vatican, in front of the Saint Peter Basilica. I remember distinctly the feeling of leaning against a wall, drawing what I saw, surrounded by hundreds of tourists, the magnificent overview of the basilica. So many tourists, some would even peek into my drawings unceremoniously!

While there was no Zen flow to be had during these drawing sessions with all the tourists flowing around, it was SUCH a great feeling to bring back a memory by drawing instead of taking only a picture.