Herald 23th May 2019
Is it a walk? Is it a sketch? Don’t stress. It’s a fun exercise that lets you wander and amble through some of the breathtaking interiors, of Goa, and put pen to paper what your mind sees- It’s called The Sketch Walk
Sketch-walks are a common practice especially with design, art, and architectural colleges and people who are a part of these circles. Sketch Walks are used to describe the process of walking through an area and drawing what you see or calls your attention.
This is usually practiced by art designers or architects.
In Goa, the series of ‘Sketch-walks’ are a Bookworm Trust (BW) initiative. Another sketch walk will be occurring shortly on May 28, 2019 starting at 4 pm onward at Aldona- Alban Couto Community Library.
The people will be exploring Aldona village in North Goa, beginning from Alban Couto Community Library, the East- cemetery where there most stunning stone angels facing the church intentionally/ an abandoned old school all against the background of the scenic Mapusa River; to the South – the grand Church, then a busy market full of interesting characters in the West and beautiful heritage houses amongst newer towering buildings in the North!
In the previous walk at Mala many participants paused and sketched. There were some who were too shy to discuss their sketches and hence Bookworm decides to conduct few exercises this time before discussing each one’s sketches. That brings everyone on the same page. The new concept along with the exercises also flows along the theme for this year’s sketch walk in Aldona- ‘It is ten per cent how you draw, and ninety per cent what you draw’
“It was a fun experience and something out of the box for me. I have never seen something so interesting. It also taught me to pay attention to little things and I worked on brainstorming for ideas,” says Ian Marc D’souza, a Restaurant Proprietor who attended the previous walk.
Bookworm initiated and ran walks for children from 2013 – 15 called Cholta Cholta.
Through those walks they published a Cholta Cholta Walking Tours of Panjim, a book that included space for walkers to sketch as they walked around the city. It is actually a walking guide of Panjim. In fact, it even has blank pages for notes and sketches! The same idea is being taken forward with walks that enable participants to sketch and a focus of looking at details.
“We start with a walk-able area, usually the trail is mapped out before hand and the participants are free to stop at any point that triggers sketching interest,” shares Rhea D’ Souza, an architect and a member of Bookworm. Rhea usually gives a brief history of the place and as the people walk. People from all the age groups attend the activity and deeply get involved with facts, quirky details, legends and lore unfold. After walking quite mile, participants choose points of interest and take a fairly good amount of time, maximum an hour or so to put down their thoughts and interests on a sheet as a sketch. Later, they meet back at a decided point and share the drawings and research.
“I personally feel that as we sketch we notice more, and absorb those memories and details,” says Rhea. The entire idea is where one could simply walk around or do a guided walk, go out sketching in Goa and make beautiful sketches and drawings, when we combine both these activities, it’s all bliss and blossom, a time to absorb the environment and image it which that background of the history.