Urban sketching is the art of of drawing on location what you see around you, in your heart, in your mind and ultimately placing all these feelings in your sketchbook or notebook.

Why I love this form of modern art?

• Because it allows me to offer my unique perspective on our world.
• Because allows me to explore and document the world around, from bustling city streets to serene parks and everything in between.
• Because it’s a great way to learn more about the city you live in (i can be a tourist in my city anytime!) or travel to.
• Because it improves my composition and drawing skills, enhances my focusing capabilities.
• Because it is a portable hobby! I have always with me since 2011 at least a pen, a sketchbook, a couple of water brushes and watercolors.
• Because I can use different art tools and stuff: pens, pencils, markers, watercolors, sketchbook, any kind of paper, pastels, whatever art supply passes on my mind. I was sketching during one of my trips with only a twig with a carbonized point over a paper towel.
• Because anytime I’m seated or standing, I’m there, present in my space, enjoying my flow, and having always great time.

In any case, urban sketching it’s a great way to slow down, be present, and connect with your surroundings.

Can I  consider (why not?) it a form of meditation? I ultimately cannot answer to that, but I can say that when sketching I’m going into “flow” state. While all the seven senses are enhanced, I’m also losing the sense of time.

Is it a cure for my sick soul? Well, most probably yes. My sickness is the will to make art whenever I go, wherever I am.
Urban Sketching, as well Travel Sketching, all my watercolors, or hand making my watercolors pans are making me feel better: they help me to push out the real me. The one that sees beauty in every place and have this urge to sketch with pen and paper.

Let’s go back again.

Urban Sketching consists of capturing your personal vision of your immediate world and the places you travel to.

Urban sketching is a form of art that involves creating sketches and drawings of places and things you see while traveling. Traveling to me taking the first step out of home: yes any travel could be of 20 meters or of 8000 km around the globe. It’s more a state of mind in my opinion.

According to Lapin, an expert in telling visual stories and one of the greatest urban sketchers  with his drawings based on observation, urban sketching is a narrative of everyday life. You sketch that cup of coffee that you drink in the morning, the streets that you walk by during the day, the cars that you observed, the clothes that you wore, and so on.

Urban Sketchers is also global community of artists who sketch on location (and I’m an Urban Sketcher too!). With this fabulous community, we sketch what we see and we are also dedicated to raising the profile of on-location sketching as a visual form of storytelling and reporting.

Travel Sketching (another art expression I love) has many points of contact with Urban Sketching.
But it’s slightly different.
When you will find two minutes of your time, please enjoy to read my post here and let me know what do you think about it.

If you’re interested in getting started with urban sketching, you may want to read my blog post where you can find some useful tips to help you getting started.

Happy sketching! 🎨