I have recently taken part in an anonymous Sketch Exchange with the other participants from the Expressive Urban Sketching workshop that I took in Sydney, Australia back in March. What is an anonymous Sketch Exchange, you ask? Each participant receives only the address of someone else in the group (selected at random by the organizer), but NOT that person’s name , creates a sketch for that person, then sends the original work to that person. In this case, the subject matter must be something that is found within 15 minutes of the artist’s home. Everyone ends up with a unique treasure – an original work – from another Urban Sketcher that depicts their surroundings.
For my image, I chose an area on the road that runs over the iconic Mount Royal in the middle of Montréal. If I’m running, I take the trails on the mountain itself that go to its summit, but on days when I feel like wandering, the bus that travels over the mountain runs between two beautiful rock faces on its way up. It’s great to see this natural beauty only a few minutes away from my home.
I can’t wait to see who will get my sketch and whose I will receive! Many thanks to Angela from the workshop for organizing the exchange. I hope that there will be others!
A beautiful sketch Uma, your mystery recipient will be thrilled! The subtle colours of the stone and the blue highlights are striking. I love the story as well. As I noted on Christine’s sketch by the water, we live close to some neat things!
Now you need to wait patiently for your sketch to make it across to your side of the world! Of course as I know whose is going where I am chuckling as I see the comments posted about the sketches which are about to be mailed!
Thank you for the kind comments, Angela – I am sure it will be worth the wait for my Australian sketch (although my Canadian address may be a bit of a giveaway to my assigned partner!). The other sketches I’ve seen by other participants are so wonderfully varied .. another great motivation to come back and see it all!!
Love this–the whole project/exchange is wonderful, but I also love your sketch. You’ve made the colors in the rock faces much more vivid than my recalled literal experience of them–what you’ve done instead is to evoke the feeling of the place. That spot has a mysterious, living quality which is unexpected, given that it is a road cut into a natural place. Tremendous.
Hi Padma, Thanks for the comment! Yes – this spot seems so different from everything surrounding it (that I see on my typical routes on the mountain, anyways) that I feel like I’m in an entirely different place for a few seconds.