A Street and a Sketch
Urban Sketching. What on earth are you?
You know that urge in your blood when you see something awesome, and all you can think about is to draw it down on whatever you have. That is called urban sketching.
I first know about this cool thing from a street, when I see someone sitting alone on the pedestrian, bringing his paper and pen. Wondering what he did, I tried to look more closely. He drew! Unbelievably quick and wonderful.
One morning,
one of my a lecturer, who somehow also know that I am in love with this thing called drawing, told me to join a community to do urban sketch in an old town area of Surabaya City. She even said, do not worry about transport, I will drive you there if you really want to.
Once upon a street,
we walked down the corner of morning dues along the pedestrian of De Javanesche Bank, Surabaya. People were getting busy choosing their best spots to open up the cases of surprises. Each sketcher with their own unique tools. All I had that day was my pen and one sketchbook of mine.
One upon a spot,
I had a little talk with some becak driver there (becak is a term for Indonesian traditional three-wheeled transportation, drove by one driver on the back).
"Podo nopo to kuwi mbak?" ("What are those people doing ma'am?").
"Nggambar pak" ("Drawing sir").
"Panjenengan mboten nggambar sisan?" ("Why do you not draw also?").
"Pertama kali ini pak, masih grogi" ("This is my first time sir, I am still lack of confidence").
"Wes rapopo mbak, dicoba wae, badhe ningali kula" ("It's ok ma'am, just give it a try, I really want to see it").
Once upon a second,
somehow that man has successfully brought up my spirit to try.
I took out that ordinary pen and blank paper of mine. I never thought that I would have to better than anyone else's drawing, but I just want to draw. I took a look around the street, drew stuffs that I saw, the moving vehicles, the laughing children, even some small water spots after the rain.
Once upon an hour or so,
a photographer came around and show me her picture of me surrounded by people. I remember teaching some of them about how to draw and why I draw. But I never expected that it would be this nice to share.
Once upon a lunch time,
we gathered up in a museum and had a little discussion on our sketches. I met new friends with same old reasons, sketching. We promised to keep in touch and keep sketching ahead. We called ourselves: Urban Sketchers Surabaya (USS).
SBY.15.05.14
