Sridevi Chenna’s sketch of the Golconda | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Sridevi Chenna’s Sunday mornings have become rather artsy. Armed with a sketchbook, paint, brushes and charcoal pencils, the SAP manager at networking company NTT Data in Hyderabad, along with sketching group Anything Art, heads to Shilparamam in Madhapur. This weekly art meet-up led by artist Sayyad Shaikh has members exploring the outdoors through sketches.

Outdoor sketching events have picked up momentum in Hyderabad after a two-year hiatus. A motley group of art enthusiasts — amateurs, hobby and practising artists and students meet every weekend (weather permitting) to interact, document and interpret the sketches from their own perspective. “The focus is to show how the same structure/landscape can be viewed differently, through drawings,” shares Sayyad who has resumed these art meetups this June.

RaGa’s (Ramam Art Ghar) Plein air (outdoors) sketching event was recently held under an overcast sky near the Pothana statue, the Indian flag and Buddha statue at Tank Bund for a reason. “Statues of renowned personalities representing our culture, history and tradition were vandalised during the Telangana agitation. I heard how renowned poet (late) C. Narayana Reddy garu had shed tears on the destruction. An art walk was an opportunity to revisit the past, share knowledge and document the learnings,” says Usha Annamaraju Nagasri of RaGa.

While this was their first outdoor event after March 2020, their next meeting on July 18 at Public Gardens is an attempt to capture the existing urban green spaces . The pandemic-induced two-year break time has rejuvenated them, adds Usha. “We want to take art to people, know our places , people and culture.”

Beginning with 15 members in 2018, RaGa now has 50 people in the age range of 20s to 70s, who have so far participated in 28 art sessions.

While drawing from or viewing a photograph involves comfort with a subject and the art of visualisation, live sketching requires changing techniques, compositions and an ability to decide between pens and watercolour, depending on weather conditions. This is finding more takers among art enthusiasts who aver that it boosts their confidence.

Usha elaborates, “Sketching on a location helps us adapt to the mood of the location/person and what is available there. Paper dries fast in hot weather so we can draw human figures or abstract forms with a pen even within 10 minutes. Damp weather gives us more time to explore or experience the medium; the pen-and-wash style (drawing with a pen and filling it with either watercolours or diluted ink) is preferred in cold weather as it takes a long time to dry. We can document what we see and depict what we feel in that location then.”

Secunderabad Sketchers are learning with every stroke, from their sketching trips to Moulali, Shamirpet lake, Birla Mandir, Keesaragutta, Golconda fort and Gandipet every alternate week. Formed in October 2021, the group of eight active members includes two students pursuing arts from Potti Sriramulu Telugu University. A water bottle and snack box are carried with art paraphernalia to sketch landscapes.

“We pick a location that suits all and is good for sketching, composition and with a landscape view,” informs the group’s co-founder 63-year-old Rammohan Edireswarapu, who retired as sub-divisional engineer from BSNL. Next on the group’s agenda is a trip to Seeta Rama Chandra Swamy Temple in Ammapalle in Shamshabad.

From sketching tourist places, live events and terraces in Ameerpet, to ancestral houses (before they are taken down) and farmhouses in Chevvalla and Vikarabad, Urban Sketchers has done it all over the last four years. The group of 200 enthusiastic artists comprises doctors, animators, architects, 3D modelers, photographers, fashion designers, graphic designers and software architects. Experts like Shubhashree Sangameshwaran and artist Seema Shah from outside the group hold free workshops on the basics of urban sketching and water colouring.

“We have generated a lot of momentum in the Hyderabad Sketching scene in these four years,” says co-founder Faraaz Farshori, a principal solutions architect.“I am good at drawing faces and figures whereas architects and Autocad artists are adept at building drawings. These meet-ups are an opportunity to learn from each other.”

While art enthusiasts thrive on knowledge transfer during such meet-ups, solo sessions are rewarding too. Artist Prasuna Murali who is  known for portraits and figurative art, was live sketching, for the first time, a recent wedding at Novotel, Hitex. She shares, “It felt magical to capture the special moments through sketches.” While Sanjay Kumar of M Eashwariah Art Gallery shot important moments of the ceremony through a mobile phone, she prepared 10 live sketches . With the bride and groom in focus, the sketches depicted the bride’s entry to the mandapam, edurkolu and other traditional rituals. Later the artist filled the sketches with colours and merged them on an A1 size ( 59.4 x 84.1cm) paper. 

These sketching sessions help nurture one’s creative side. Software professional Srinath Vasireddy began sketching four years ago to take his mind off work. As an amateur, he used to be intimidated if someone were to look over his shoulder to see the drawing. Now sketching is a ‘meditative state where he can draw even with 1000 people around.’ He says, “Taking photographs is quite common these days but it is unique when an artist pulls out a sketchbook to capture the place through drawings. Restaurant owners have let me inside their kitchens to draw. I get inroads into many places due to sketching.”

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Printable version | Jul 14, 2022 5:24:34 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/art/outdoor-sketching-events-are-gaining-momentum-in-hyderabad/article65619328.ece