sketcher spotlight
from now. “These connections are beyond that sketchbook . .. It’s super important to have that slightly wide-angle camera”. Relationships always come before the sketchbook. I’ve been chewing on his advice to sketchers (see right). Wise words that, in Sunil’s case, lead to a rich and rewarding sketch experience.
POLISH URBAN SKETCHERS, DORA PINDUR AND JUSTYNA WOJNOWSKA: Have you ever tried travelling with a definite theme in mind? Two urban sketchers from Poland, Dora Pindur and Justyna Wojnowska, did just that last year. They took two trips following the footsteps of the Polish artist, Stanisław Wyspiański, painter, playwright, poet, and designer, who created many sketches on location. He lived at the turn of the 20th century and he is best known for his literary work and paintings made with pastels. In his student days, he traveled around the territory of today’s Poland with a sketchbook. He documented little-known monuments. He drew architecture, interesting details, sculptures, as well as plans of the buildings. Some of these places and objects have long been lost to wars, fires, or neglect, and Wyspiański’s drawings are the only trace of them today. Many of his sketches went missing during the two World Wars that swept through Poland, but some of his on-location drawings from his time at the School of Fine Arts were recently found and released in three publications. It was those publications that gave Dora and Justyna the idea of following in Wyspiański’s footsteps. They decided to plan a trip to draw the places he’d sketched over one 32 drawing attention
SUNIL’S TIPS: • DON’T TAKE YOURSELF OR YOUR SKETCHING
TOO SERIOUSLY. AT THE SAME TIME, VALUE WHAT YOU ARE DOING. IF YOU DON’T PUT A VALUE ON WHAT YOU ARE DOING, NOBODY ELSE PUTS VALUE ON IT.
hundred years earlier: “We thought it would be an amazing opportunity to learn about our national heritage and to visit the lesser-known monuments.” Their travels focused on the historic central and south-eastern regions of Poland. They started with a one-day trip in the spring of 2019 to the Opoczno region, situated in south-central Poland, because of its rich history. That left them hungry for more. So in September they packed their car with sketchbooks, art materials, hot tea flasks, seating mats and warm sweaters and started off for five days in the southeastern region of Lesser Poland. “We visited several mountain towns, historic churches, monasteries, two defensive manors and the DORA & JUSTYNA IN SEKOWA
