Sunday, September 22, 2013

Old Goa

Old Goa, has a plethora of old structures and all of them have been competing in the race of most sketchable monuments since the time they were constructed. I went to Old Goa on 15th of this month to try my luck. I wanted to try out a different medium, therefore, I used a chiseled black marker with a 3mm tip. It was enough to give bold strokes, yet the effect was graceful. I was tired of adding detail with a small nib and thought that this was the apt medium to sketch with.

I sketched two monuments to start with. The first one was the  St. Peters Church (on the way to Old Goa), and the other one was the Chapel of St. Catherine. I chose a conventional view for the St. Peters Church (drew the cross in the foreground and the chapel in the background) and I chose an unconventional view for the Chapel of St. Catherine (I sketched the back facade and the perspective was a bit tricky. The slopes were aligned with the vanishing points). I messed up the second sketch a bit (the perspective and the ground to structure relationship), but I was still happy with the new medium I was using. The results were better than a pencil. Here are the sketches. 



Saturday, September 14, 2013

A week in Delhi


9th and 10th of this month were an off in office for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which is celebrated with vigor in this part of the country. Hence, I saw this opportunity to go home to meet family and finish some important chores back home. In the meantime, I got some time to sketch when I was out with a few friends. I went to Nizamuddin Basti one fine morning. It was more than sunny and a good day to sketch. I didn't plan to sketch on the trip though. I just wanted to see the monuments in the Nizamuddin Basti, which sadly, I always had neglected. This time around as well, I could only see a masjid, the main Nizamuddin Dargah and mosque, Mazar-e-Ghalib, and the Nizamuddin Baoli. There is still a lot to explore in the Basti and I plan to go there again.

I only sketched the Mazar-e-Ghalib (the grave of the most famous poet of Delhi) and the Subz Burj, which stands on the traffic island on one of the Mathura Rd. intersections. The reason why Nizamuddin area is full of tombs and memorials, is because most of the folklore, whether it be the Mughal emperor Humayun (Humayun's Tomb), or a barber (search Nai ka Gumbad) wanted to be buried as close to the Sufi Saint (Hazrat Nizamuddin) as possible. Therefore, creating a sort of necropolis. All in all, this place is a must visit.


Here are the sketches of Subz Burj, Mazar-e-Ghalib and Fligh number 6E-335, Delhi to Goa.

Subz Burj

Subz Burj (Notice that the plinth is absent. I figured that drawing the plinth would restrict the fluidity of the sketch)

Mazar-e-Ghalib

Mazar-e-Ghalib

Back to Goa