Urban Sketching: A Street View World Tour is a fun, no-pressure gathering hosted by Jenny Adam and Eleanor Doughty via Gage Academy. There are usually 4 locations united by a theme, and last Thursday - May 4th, 2023 I was a guest artist. This meant that I could pick a place where we would be traveling virtually and we went to Kharkiv, Ukraine! After a quick warm-up sketch of the Mirror Stream, I did a 25 min demo of the DerzhProm building using the stencil technique. And after that, we sketched Yaroslava Mudrogo Street and Poetry Square.
It was a very moving experience to bring people to the streets where I grew up, talk about some of the things that I remember from my childhood, and about the city as it is now - after about 430 days since a full-scale russian invasion started. To see these places from the eyes of other skechers was a gift.
Here is a recording of my demo:
Below you will see some photos from the city as it is now - all sent to me by a friend and an amazing photographer from Kharkiv Alexandra Bolotina who takes these photos of Kharkiv and people who live in it as the war continues. Her ability to search for beauty even when places she loves are in ruins is one of the reasons why I think Ukraine will prevail in this evil war. Alexandra organizes help for kids and older adults and is endlessly working on supporting simple humans. And while at it - she is taking bright and moving photos of them all - you can learn more at her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bolotina.alexandra
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