Royal Ontario Museum

As luck would have it, I met a really nice fellow urban sketchers, Brenda, founder of the USK Kitchener group (in Ontario) while attending The 4th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Barcelona. She's the founder of the Urban Sketchers group in Kitchener, ON.  We recently met again on the other side of the Atlantic, at the Royal Ontario Museum to sketch together.  

I'd never been to this museum before. It's an older building with a modern minimalist extension at the front, which I was told caused a bit of controversy when it was built. It's like the Toronto version of the Louvre pyramid in Paris.  I love its angular shape, it's very dynamic. There are also neat benches for people to sit and take the city in or just read a book like the lady on the left.  

Inside, there were a group of art students drawing various statues and busts while we were there. They had a set amount of time to draw their chosen piece and then had to switch place to draw another statue from another angle. 

I really like the dinosaur area with the giant bones. It's such a fascinating thing to see and imagine these giant creature roaming the earth a long time ago. They are not the easiest thing to draw, but they are fun. It's like studying their anatomy. I'll have to go back again and spend more time there, specially in the winter. 

Welcome to Toronto USk

Toronto is said to be the largest city in Canada with over 2.6 million residents^[1]. As a newcomer to this vibrant city it is my hope to connect with fellow urban sketchers and together show the world of Torontonians and tell their stories, one drawing at a time.

Meet the Correspondents : Farid Ahmadi

Farid Ahmadi 

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Sketching, for me, is a kind of language used to communicate with people artistically. Before I begin, I look at the subject I plan to sketch and try to find the spirit of the space. My goal is to represent my understanding of the subject using the language of lines, dots and different forms. For me, creating light and combining forms is the essence of the feeling of space. I am able to embrace and express the myriad of emotions felt by people and transfer them through the language and story of water and color.

Meet the Correspondents : Collin Zhou

Collin Zhou 

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I love creating all sorts of fantastical, video-game inspired designs. Years ago, I committed to drawing from real life as a way to fortify my skills and expand my visual library. Urban sketching has been a necessary part of that process. As part the Toronto Urban Sketching community, I really enjoyed exploring the city and trading stories with fellow artists. Over time, I came to appreciate drawing on location as a fun social activity rather than just a training regime. 

Coming from a technical background and focusing on design, my sketches focus more on line and structure, the relationship between objects. Although I'm trying to diversify, my technique has focused on the speed and convenience of capturing these elements.

Meet the correspondents : Perry Chow

  

Perry Chow

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Whether group or solo sketching, I enjoy feeling different beats of a city and planning how to capture my impression. Urban sketching has embedded my life and has become my regular activity ever since I found the Urban Sketchers on Flickr in 2007. I have to admit that it is addictive as I spent hours on Flickr daily. It is so amazing to see the world in this way, and the sketches are very inspiring. I joined Hong Kong Sketching Society in 2009. In 2010, my first book “Sketching | Impression of life”, collecting my sketches of Hong Kong, was launched. In 2012, one of my works was selected for the publication “The Art of Urban Sketching”. 

Only a few days after touching down Toronto in 2010, I attended my first sketching event hosted by the Toronto Plein Air Painting group at the AGO and later became part of the Toronto Urban Sketchers as well as the OPAS. Meeting like-minded artists drives my insistence in exploring Toronto altogether. Toronto is a city you would never get tired of capturing because of its endless themes and diversity. I do both drawing and watercolour paintings, depending on the time and location.

Meet the Correspondents : Barbara Eguchi

Barbara Eguchi

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My deep interests as a landscape artist and landscape architect are complementary to each other. Through art I openly explore our shared environment- earth. The many joyful and challenging experiences I have help in my continued emergence and growing awareness of life. Art provides a medium for me to observe, reflect and wonder and allows me to share my experiences with others. As a landscape architect and environmental planner, I enjoy creating cultural landscapes- beautiful and meaningful places for people to live- landscapes where they can find calm and delight in each moment. In my ‘professional’ capacity, I travel around the world designing many types of engaging environments. Sketching parts of city landscapes is a key component of my work. To balance that, I regularly practice drawing and painting ‘en plein air’ in and around Toronto where I reside. This ritual helps to ground me and the intimate engagement I experience through my art practice in the urban outdoors, reconfirms the gratitude, joy and peace I feel for having Toronto as my home.

Meet the Correspondents : Amara Strand

Amara Strand

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I am a freelance 3D visualizer, originally from Bangkok, Thailand with a background in Interior Design. As part of my job I used to draw and paint with water colours. Sketching is one of the things I love to do the most and makes me feel true to myself. I immigrated to Toronto in 2010 , and for the first few years I explored the city through photography. Something was lacking though. With a camera I felt like I only captured the moment in front of me, it was not enough. Then I realized what I was missing. DRAWING! With that realization I decided to join Toronto Urban Sketchers and take the opportunity to learn and explore the city, as well as make some new friends.

Sketching on location for me is about the challenge while still having fun. I am intrigued by an artists creativity. Even at the same location artists can have totally different views of the same scene. As a compulsive urban sketcher, I have paid more attention to the details and getting to know more of the city. Sketching as a group is always enjoyable and inspiring. I am happy when others talk about art that inspires them.

I mostly use watercolours with liner pens. I love to see colourful watercolour running, seeing the lines go on my sketchbook and never knowing exactly how the sketch will turn out when it is done. This excites me.

Meet the Correspondents : Marion Younan

Marion Younan

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I’ve been drawing off and on for most of my life, but now I’m in a permanent state of ON. I really got bit by the urban sketching bug a few years ago when I undertook to fill a sketchbook during a 7-week trip to Italy. Now I have an almost fanatical love of sketching and sketchbooks (with several on-the-go at any given time), and joined Urban Sketchers to be in a community of people with a similar passion. Even though I’ve lived in the Toronto area for 30+ years, it’s been so amazing to be rediscovering the city through my own sketching and those of my TOUSK colleague-artists.

Meet the Correspondent : Hasibush Shaheed

Hasibush Shaheed

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When I was a student of architecture, sketching was the most useful tool to get ideas from the existing or old designs. Furthermore, it helps me a lot to conceptualize forms and spaces with graphite , ink or watercolor media. After moving to Canada, I planned to live near the vibrant Toronto City, so that I can explore the heritage of Downtown neighbourhoods. I also like to get inspiration from a variety of styles of all the sketchers in this group. Although I worked as a 3D illustrator, I always have a huge passion to improve my illustration skill through quick thumbnail sketching. Eventually that helped me a lot to produce a final digital rendition. No matter how digital this world is evolving into, I hope urban sketchers will always represent and preserve those glorious stories of the past with color and light.

Meet the Correspondents : Marek Badzynski

Photo : Ellen Probst

Marek Badzynski 

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Drawing is something I liked to do all my life; it really took off while studying architecture, and even more while traveling around Italy - especially when sketches sold to tourist were buying a train ticket to yet another glorious old town! After moving to Toronto I went back to sketching to give the mind a moment of sanity form everyday rush, and discovered the individual charm of this city hidden away in a variety of neighbourhoods, busy streets, and their back alleys.