USK GOLD COAST

new chapter

TRAWLERS BY NATALIA NORTON

Welcome Urban Sketchers Gold Coast

HOME TO PRISTINE BEACHES, WORLD CLASS SURFING DESTINATIONS, AND RAINFORESTS, THE GOLD COAST IS ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER TOURIST DESTINATIONS. IT NOW ALSO HAS A THRIVING NEW USK CHAPTER, THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE OCEANIA REGION. BY CATHY GUTTERMAN

MARK ELMS

The city of Gold Coast is located roughly in the center of the east coast of Australia, bordering its state capital, Brisbane. It spans a coastline of 120 kilometers and is one of Australia’s largest cities.

While there had been interest in establishing a sketching group on the Gold Coast for some time, it never really progressed until Mark Elms became involved. It was a perfect fit because Mark, a member of USk Brisbane since 2017, was able to draw on his experience and the advice of his Brisbane contacts to successfully set up Urban Sketchers Gold Coast early last year.

Mark actively promoted the new group through radio interviews, magazine articles, posts on community pages, and aligning with other local art groups. In February 2021, the group’s inaugural event in Burleigh Memorial Park was attended by 15 new members. Since then, it has grown to 412 members, becoming one of the largest active art groups currently on the Gold Coast.

USk Gold Coast members are a diverse mix of artists, illustrators, architects, beginners, art enthusiasts, retirees, and students, and several are also members of the Royal Queensland Art Society and other Australian and international urban sketcher groups. The group runs sketch events across two Australian state borders. USk Gold Coast’s Logo (above) was designed by Admin Natalia Norton. It was adopted as their official Logo last December, and is now affectionately referred to as the “Surfing wave”.

The logo depicts a surfer riding a wave with the city skyline rising out of the waves. It symbolizes the history of their modern beach city which grew out of the pristine nature of its beaches and its surf culture.

The continuous line drawing of the surfer, the wave and the city skyline reminds them that they are predominantly a sketching group.

Every second Saturday they meet at a selected location on the Gold Coast, and alternate Saturdays see them hosting events in New South Wales for their regional members.

The group typically sketches local urban scenes, from modern high-rise buildings, heritage buildings, and quirky 1950s beach shacks, to beachy streetscapes and tropical gardens. However, they are also lucky to have the opportunity to sketch stunning surf beaches, fishing fleets, ancient volcanic mountains, and rainforests, as well as sugar cane fields, rivers, and numerous historic villages. The Gold Coast is a sketcher’s paradise and, for that reason, they try to vary their sketch locations as much as possible.

As the group’s membership grew, Mark needed assistance with running events, and a number of people have been recruited as admins and mentors, including Natalia Norton, Erin Hill, and Lucy Campeanu. Five months after setting up, the admins applied for official status. The biggest challenge during the approval process was COVID. Because membership spanned two states, and they had border closures for most of the year, some members were isolated from events. USk Gold Coast worked around this by running two separate groups, one for each state. During the year, Mark Elms and Natalia Norton hosted regular events in Queensland, and Erin Hill ran regular fortnightly sketching events in New South Wales. The group developed and communicated a simple COVID plan to all members. In 11 months, only three events had to

TOP: CLOCK TOWER AT SURFERS PARADISE BY DAVID LADLEY. ABOVE: BEACH SKETCHERS BY FRANKIE FRANKIE

GREENMOUNT BEACH BY MARK ELMS CURRUMBIN CREEK BY MARK ELMS

CRYSTAL CREEK BY ERIN HILL

Several members have commented that the group has “brightened up their lives” in what has been a horrible year living with COVID.

be canceled due to COVID. The chapter hosted 33 events and have not had any incidences of COVID within the group.

Apart from border closures, the threat of COVID in Australia was minimal in 2021, which meant USk Gold Coast was able to hold regular active sketching meets. They were still able to run regular events so the idea of sketching at home was not popular. A highlight of their first year was holding joint sketch meets with the Royal Art Society Queensland (RQAS) and Urban Sketchers Brisbane, in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. At their first joint sketch meet, they celebrated achieving 100 members within their first month.

The most gratifying thing about the first year has been the sense of community that has emerged within the group. Their events have a core of regular attendees, many new friendships have been made, and the enthusiasm and talent of members has only grown.

JEWEL TOWER BY NATALIA NORTON PANDANUS BY JANETTE HUISTENDAHL

ABOVE: FOCUSED SKETCHER BY JANETTE HUISTENDAHL

TOP: TWEED HEADS BY LUCY CAMPEANU TOP RIGHT: FIRST SKETCH LUNCH

USK GOLD COAST’S TIPS FOR BECOMING AN OFFICIAL USK REGIONAL CHAPTER:

• Seek the advice and support of a neighboring USk chapter, and your Regional USk Admin.

• Hold regular events. Weekly or fortnightly are best.

• Encourage members to post their sketches on the group page, where they become a source of inspiration for others.

• Actively promote your group to the general public through media articles, radio/TV interviews and Facebook community groups. It is amazing how much interest there is in groups like ours.

• When promoting, emphasize that events are free and highlight the therapeutic value that sketching with a group like the USk model can deliver.

• Host sketching events at local festivals and fairs, checking with promoters first. USk Gold Coast has set up a mentor group to assist new members, and beginners. This helps break the ice for new members eager to give sketching a go.

Emphasize this feature when promoting the group.

• Put up regular posts welcoming new members to the group–doing so builds community.

• Align your group with established local art groups, and try to hold joint meet-ups with them.

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Sketching with Refugees in Budapest

THIS STORY STARTED SEVEN YEARS AGO, WHEN I WAS HEADING TO A KITE FLYING FESTIVAL, NORTH OF BUDAPEST, WITH MY 8-YEAR OLD SON, SAMU. WE WERE SITTING ON THE TRAIN. A GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES SAT DOWN NEXT TO US. SOON, MY CHILD WAS PLAYING CARDS WITH THEM, USING LAUGHTER AS A COMMON LANGUAGE...BY CECILIA SIMONYI

The people we saw that day were refugees living in Budapest, mainly from Afghanistan, where both kite making and kite flying is an art. We adored the kites they made and were fascinated by their kite-flying skills. Friendships formed that have lasted to this day. We learned to make kites, flew kites together, played football and méta (a Hungarian traditional team sport). I was happy Samu could be part of this diversity, and I was impressed with the skill of Afghan youth in speaking Hungarian with amazing fluency and without an accent.

Last autumn they invited me to do a sketching workshop at a local festival organized by Mira, an NGO which aims to help refugees and migrants living in Budapest. Being late Autumn, I searched for a venue that was free, out of the rain, and where the refugees would feel safe and welcome. I decided on the oldest train station in Budapest, Keleti Pályaudvar. Many refugees were interested – young people, families with children, even a Nepali family freshly reunited after being apart five years. I was excited. Then I tested positive for Covid the day before the workshop. We had to cancel the event.

We didn’t give up. While preparing for the workshop I realized how much sketching could help foreigners, especially refugees, find roots in a new country. Sketching is a way to connect to a place, so I persisted. After recovering from Covid, I was invited to sketh with the women at a refugee women’s club. It was a very diverse group – some had come for study, some for work, some for their husband’s job, and some as refugees with tough stories. They were of different ages, backgrounds, and countries of origin. When I met with them, I talked about sketching, about Urban Sketchers, and showed a few of my sketches. I asked them if they would like to draw, and what places in Budapest they would like to visit and sketch.

In January we met twice. At the first meeting, we made our own sketchbooks. When we met again, I showed them simple sketching techniques, using pencil, ink, and watercolor. We first worked inside, drawing blind portraits of each other, then sketched our cups and snacks from the famous Nándori Cukrászda.

Next, we went out to the street, just in front of the building, in the 8th District of Budapest, where most of the refugees live. It is quite a special neighborhood—dirty, lively, poor, full of excitement in the streets, but not safe after dusk. Despite some difficult encounters, they enjoyed sketching a lot. I felt happy to see the shining faces of these women as they looked at their results: their very first sketches. I was very proud of them.

We plan to continue sketching regularly, exploring the beauties and secrets of Budapest during the spring.

Cecilia Simonyi is the creator of Walkits, convenient pouch-bags designed specifically to carry sketch tools. With the help of the international sketching community who donated funds, she was able to gift 20 Walkits, filled with sketching tools, to the refugees in her sketch group. If you would like to gift a sketching bag, thank you – she will make sure it gets to a refugee person sketching with us!

Sketching menekültekkel Budapesten

CECILIA SIMONYI

Ea zsúfolásig telt vonaton, amikor felszállt egy csapat, láthatóan sokféle nemzetiségű és nyelvű fiatal, és leültek mellénk. Perceken belül egy kártyaparti közepén találtuk magunkat, és ámulva szemléltem a kisfiamat, aki angol nyelvtudás híján a nevetés nyelvén kommunikál velük. A fiatalok többsége itt élő menekült volt, leginkább Afganisztánból, ahol a sárkánykészítést művészi szinten űzik, és sárkányreptetés nemzeti sport. Lenyűgöző sárkányokat hoztak magukkal, és leesett állal néztük, ahogy reptetik őket az égbolton. Barátságok köttettek, amik a mai napig tartanak, sárkányoztunk, fociztunk és métáztunk együtt. Öröm volt, hogy Samu ebben a diverzitásban nő fel, és mély benyomást tett rám, milyen folyékonyan és akcentus nélkül beszélik az afgán fiatalok a magyar nyelvet.

Tavaly ősszel meghívást kaptam, hogy tartsak egy sketching workshop-ot a Bokréta fesztiválon, a Mira nevű civil szervezettől, akik Budapesten élő menekülteket és bevándorlókat segítenek a beilleszkedésben. Örömmel vállaltam el, és egy hirtelen ötlettől vezérelve úgy döntöttem, hogy az általam varrott sketching táskákból minden résztvevőnek ajándékozok egyet, és gyűjtést indítottam az instagram oldalamon, hogy ehhez mások is csatlakozhassanak, és a táskákat néhány alapeszközzel együtt adhassam át. Szívmelengető volt a nemzetközi sketching közösség bevonódása: húsz készletet raktunk össze az adományokból! Köszönet mindenkinek, aki hozzájárult!

Elkezdtem helyszínt keresni, olyat, ahol nincs belépő, ami menekültek számára biztonságos és befogadó, ami az őszi időben, hideg vagy eső esetén is alkalmas. A Keleti Pályaudvar mellett döntöttem. Sok jelentkezés érkezett, fiatalok, családok gyerekekkel, még egy olyan nepáli család is, akiknek az újraegyesítése öt év után éppen egy héttel azelőtt sikerült. Izgatottan vártam a workshopot, de egy nappal előtte pozitív lett a covid tesztem. El kellett halasztanunk az eseményt.

Nem adtuk fel. Miközben a workshopra készültem, rájöttem, hogy a sketching milyen jó eszköze lehet annak, hogy itt élő külföldiek, különösen menekültek otthonra találjanak, gyökeret eresszenek egy új országban. A sketching nem más, mint egy helyhez való kapcsolódás. Amikor leülünk rajzolni

valahol, lelassulunk, körülnézünk, megfigyelünk. Az épületeket, az utcákat, az arra járókat. Ilyen módon hirtelen egészen új szemmel látjuk azt, ami körülvesz. Érdekes részletek tűnnek a szemünkbe, amiket addig nem vettünk észre. Sketching közben a hely ismerőssé válik. Akár hosszú ideje élünk már valahol, akár éppen csak odavetett a sors keze, a sketching által kapcsolódhatunk a helyhez, személyes viszonyba kerülhetünk utcákkal, fákkal, padokkal. És a sketching gyakorta közösséget is formál.

Időközben más szervezetekkel is kapcsolatba kerültem, és meghívást kaptam egy női klubba, amit a Menedék Egyesület szervezett Budapesten élő menekült nőknek. Nagyon sokszínű csoport, van, aki itt tanul, van, aki dolgozik, más a férje munkája miatt került ide, és sokan nehéz történetekkel a hátuk mögött érkeztek. Sokféle korú, hátterű, nemzetiségű nő. Amikor először találkoztunk, meséltem nekik az urban sketching-ről, és megmutattam néhány rajzomat. Megkérdeztem, szeretnek-e rajzolni, és Budapest mely részeit járnák be szívesen.

Januárban kétszer találkoztunk. Az első alkalmon elkészítettük saját sketchbook-jainkat. A következő találkozáskor egyszerű sketching technikákat mutattam nekik, ceruza, tus és vízfesték használatával. Először bent dolgoztunk, vak portrékat rajzoltunk egymásról, majd lefestettünk a teásbögréinket, és a süteményeket a Nándori cukrászdából.

Aztán kimentünk az utcára, a klubhelyiség elé, a budapesti „nyolcker” szívében, ahol a menekültek közül sokan élnek. A kerület a budapestiek számára jól ismert: életteli, piszkos, elhanyagolt, színes, nem a legbiztonságosabb. A félóra alatt, amit a járdán rajzolva töltöttünk, két „megszólításban” volt részünk, amit a csoportot vezető szociális munkások flottul kezeltek, és zavartalanul rajzolhattunk. Öröm volt nézni a nők ragyogó arcát, ahogy első sketch-eiket nézték büszkén. Én is büszke voltam rájuk.

A tavasz folyamán tervezzük a folytatást, Budapest szépségeinek és titkainak felfedezését és lerajzolását.

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SKETCHER DEMO

Fast and fresh: creating convincing reflections

WELL-KNOWN WATERCOLOURIST, URBAN SKETCHER AND TEACHER UMA KELKAR SHARES HER DAILY LAKESIDE WALK WITH US, SHOWING HOW SHE CREATES A FRESH, POCKET-SIZED RECORD OF THE LANDSCAPE IN UNDER HALF AN HOUR.

Most days, I walk around Almaden Lake, San Jose, California and it often provides a great 10-15 minute urban sketch opportunity. I keep coming back here because I find it a bit of a solace in the middle of packed suburbia; there’s no traffic and I can walk right around the lake, which gives me peace. The light is always terrific and being here makes me happy – maybe that’s why I always see the lake in a happy light. Reflections are obviously a common theme in this location. I’ve found that showing reflections convincingly boils down to two main things: • The tonal value of still water will be either lighter or darker than the surroundings. If the difference in tonal value between the objects in a scene and their reflection is very subtle, make the colours of the water and reflections either ‘warmer’ or ‘ cooler’ than the objects. Your painting will read well if all your reflections obey this rule. • The edge of reflections can be sharp but, within reflections, you don’t need hard edges (though they can add interest when judiciously used).

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ABOVE: After a rough pen sketch, I add blue to provide a base to the painting. A slight darkening of the water in the foreground adds a feeling of distance. To create reflections of something, I need to first color those things that are to be reflected in the water, such as the dark hill. Painting these objects first ensures I use dabs of the exact same color in my reflections. I choose to keep the reflections warmer than the objects that are reflecting. So instead of the dark green mountain, I provide a warm base with yellow ochre and burnt sienna. Then, while the reflections are wet, I add the darks. This way, the edges inside the reflections soften.

RIGHT: Every time I add a dark object on land, I add a matching reflection, thus ‘ping ponging’ between the two. Notice that sharp edges of the reflection make them look as though they ride on top of the water.

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Unless you are working on an incline, make sure to use downward strokes to make the reflections melt vertically as well as horizontally. Remember that you only see angular movements in water, such as ripples on a diagonal, when the water is not still. In still water, you will see only verticals and horizontals.

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I WEAR A 7-POCKET JEAN IN WINTER AND IN SUMMER, WHEN I WEAR SHORTS, I WEAR A LIGHT SLEEVELESS JACKET WITH 6 POCKETS.

THIS MEANS I CAN ‘WEAR’ MY KIT (ABOVE) WHILE I DO MY DAILY WALK. HERE, MY CHOSEN MEDIA ARE WATERCOLORS AND A BALL POINT PEN.

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I add some reeds in the foreground to punch in some distance. Now it’s time to keep walking. I come home and fiddle with the photo on my cellphone to add in the dark shape behind the blue shed, to recover the distance that I missed while sketching.