KPLU Local News
(2009-12-08)
Listen Now:
null
The Seattle Sketcher, AKA Gabi Campanario, at work during a recent SketchCrawl at Volunteer Park
Florangela Davila (KPLU)
Sketches from The Seattle SketchCrawl at Volunteer Park
For Gabi Campanario, the act of sketching is much more then moving pen across paper.
"When you are with your sketchbook and paying attention to what you have in front of you you may think you're only using your eyes," he says. "But all your senses are involved. Right now, I can feel the cold in my fingertips. I can smell the atmosphere here at Volunteer Park. That's not something that you're going to remember when you're taking a photograph.
Campanario is wearing fingerless gloves and creating inky impressions of Seattle's Volunteer Park. Other people huddle, sketching.
On this cold morning, he could be indoors, inside the nearby steamy greenhouse. But no, he's hard-core when it comes to his art.
"The day's a little gray today but the water is not pouring yet so I figure I would draw the statue that is in front of the conservatory. "
An airplane flies overhead.
"Now, we have an airplane flying over us so I'm going to try to mark it up here, on my sketch."
The 40-year-old Campanario grew up in Spain. He's only been in Seattle for three years and he sketches as a way to discover the city.
He moved here from D.C when The Seattle Times hired him to create newspaper graphics. But sketching is his true passion and he began publishing his images online. He convinced his bosses to let him blog as the Seattle Sketcher. And the paper ended up giving a regular spot in Saturday's newspaper.
The sketches are Campanario's illustrated record of people and places and all kinds of happenings.
"The advantage of drawing in a sketchbook is that every page is not a masterpiece. It's not so much each page that matters. It's the collection of pages that create that record of basically your life."
The Seattle sketcher is unfussy when it comes to his craft. He can finish a sketch in 15 minutes.
" I don't have much patience. So my sketches I like them to just be fast. "
He's asked to critique his work.
"I think it's OK. I got the gist of the space."
Zack Rock is also sketching and he weighs in.
"Looks great," Rock says. "I love how he's able to make the impression so quickly, working straight with pen and watercolor washes.
More than a dozen people are sketching this morning with Campanario as part of the monthly SketchCrawl. A Pixar animator started these crawls in San Francisco and now they've taken off all over the world. Campanario is leading the Seattle crawls, which attract people from across the region, including Olympia and Port Townsend.
Kindergarten teacher Marsha Dillon is camped inside the conservatory, studying a fern. She says sketching is a way for her to let go.
"It puts you in a kind of a meditative state and it just takes you out of yourself and I find it very relaxing," she says. The SketchCrawls roam the city, changing venues each time. But the agendas are fixed: meet, roam, sketch. Then, regroup and give friendly critiques.
"Lots and lots of detail. Interesting!" They stand in a circle, passing around their work, bonding over talk about texture and types of pens. They will later publish their sketches on a second blog Campanario started just for them.
He's also created a by-invitation-only blog featuring 100 urban sketchers from all over the world. It's some serious eye candy, in watercolor, ink and graphite.
Florangela Davila KPLU News
Campanario shows sketches he created in Jaca, Spain, during the University of Zaragoza's workshop "Travelling with a sketchbook."
Gabi Campanario's Seattle Sketcher blog in The Seattle Times
Urban Sketchers, a site featuring the work of 100 sketchers from around the world.
Urban Sketchers Seattle, showcasing local work. © Copyright 2012, KPLU
