The goal to fill a sketchbook page a day can be really overwhelming, especially in a city where literally everything is interesting. I feel so much pressure to draw every single beautiful grafitti-covered alley, every bookshop facade or waterfront view.
These urban light studies are a way for me to step back and just focus on the joys of drawing without worrying too much about not being able to do everything. They are simple studies that don't take too long to complete, but they are a surprising way to engage more with the urban landscape around me.
The buildings in these studies probably won't be found on any top-ten Berlin architecture lists; they're just Plattenbau apartment buildings, usually. Plattenbau, or prefabricated concrete architecture, dominated Soviet construction from around 1955 until reunification, following the brief period of Stalinist "socialist realism," which tended more towards neoclassicism and axial planning. Plattenbau represents the Soviet interpretation of fundamental modernist design principals including flat roofs, meander planning patterns, and the use of industrial materials. Concurrently, West Berlin, faced with a housing crisis of its own, also embraced the modern prefabricated style.
The result is that this form is scattered throughout Berlin's landscape, in between the Mietskezerne, or rent-barracks (late 19th century working-class housing), the lovely Altbau apartments, the ruins, and the dazzling 21st century buildings with their facades of glass.
Because Plattenbau construction is generally quite minimal and geometric, it's not incredibly complex to draw. Plus, because Plattenbau buildings are so often colorful, they provide a unique opportunity to practice an artistic observation of the interplay of color and light on urban objects. Painting these studies forces me to be thoughtful about how I use and combine colors in a way I usually don't force myself to be.
In beginning one of these paintings, I try to think of the first color I put down as the coat of paint that's actually on the building. Then, I layer atmospheric colors, shadows, and bright spots from there.
The project encourages me to be more sensitive to the built environment as I am walking around Berlin, paying attention to the way the light interacts with the buildings on my walk home in the afternoons. I am not totally satisfied with any of these drawings, but I intend to continue to use it as a tool to paint more thoughtfully and practice color-theory and observational painting even more.
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