Urban Sketchers’ Manifesto No. 4

5/6/12, F-C Pitt Artists Pen, Tombow markers, Akashiya Sai markers

Urban Sketchers’ Manifesto No. 4: We are truthful to the scenes we witness.

I think the spirit of this manifesto is that “we draws it like we sees it.” We don’t make a scene prettier or otherwise alter the impression of what’s present to impose our own editorial commentary.

My problem is, as much as I want to and try to be truthful to a scene, there’s always too much of the truth available to sketch than I am able to capture. A case in point is this scene at the Ballard Market. On a sunny Sunday, the market was filled with crowds of people slowly meandering around the flower, food and produce booths, yet I managed to sketch only two individuals (plus a few vendors). I try to follow the advice of urban sketchers who are skillful at filtering out details while leaving the essence of a busy urban scene. But leaning up against a utility pole with my sketchbook, I was overwhelmed with trying to indicate the crowd without sketching the individuals. So unfortunately, the truth of the market crowd on a beautiful spring day looks more like a rainy winter morning.

(This is one of a series of blog posts about how I have interpreted the Urban Sketchers manifesto.)