Travel With My Art #55, Mertojak, Split
Hello, I'm back with another travel illustration for the 'Travel with My Art series', a regular feature on my blog where (as the name would imply) I share my travel art. Today I'm sharing an illustration of a little park in Mertojak neighbourhood in Split (Croatia). This is not really a proper city park, although there is a proper park in this neighbourhood bearing the same name as the neighbourhood and only a couple of meters from this place. This spot is more of a little green space between the buildings (or a mini park) than a real park. However, I really enjoyed sitting on a bench there, and just hanging out, so I sketched the view. It basically shows a lawn with a little bush, plus some trees and buildings in the background. I made this sketch sometime this Summer, and obviously I was staying in Split when I made it. Basically, I took my sketchbook with me that day, and I just sketched whatever I saw. If you recall, I wrote about how I worked on my drawing skills in my Summer Alphabet.
The medium is watercolour pencils (Steadtler) on sketchbook paper (the sketchbook is a no name one, or at least from no brand that I'm familiar with). What I find so fascinating about this watercolour pecil medium is that it can be used as a mixed media. If you worked with watercolour pencils, you'll know why and how they can actually be used in a variety of ways. You can look at watercolour pencils both as a drawing and a painting tool, a portable watercolour palette and a sketching tool. It's very practical medium for sketching and working en plein air. I worked with watercolour pencils a lot in the past, but I used them more for fashion illustrations and less for travel illustrations. I made some travel illustrations using watercolour pencils, and even oil pastels, but most of the time I posted acrylic landscapes. Indeed, in this 'Travel with My Art' series I predominately shared canvases painted with acrylic paints.
I started this travel art series in 2021, and kept it going all these years. In fact, this is the fifty-fifth post in the series. If you want to see all the places I have illustrated so far, you'll be able to do it at the end of this post (I left the links for you). The very first post in the travel art series was inspired by Palermo in Italy, and the last one by bay Maslinica on island Hvar (that I actually happened to visit today). As might be expected, most of the places I painted or illustrated so far are located in Croatia, but a few other countries appeared in this series as well (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Russia and Malta). Where will I take you next with my art? Who knows?
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| A collage with the photograph of the location ( I took) and the illustration ( I made) |
Anyhow, I started drawing this while in the mini park, and I finished it later. I sketched the general outline in the park, but since mosquitoes were giving me a hard time, I didn't finish the illustration then and there. Still, I consider it 'en plein air' work since I did sketch the main composition all then and there. This Summer I did more 'en plein air' sketching than usual. In my last post, I shared how I tired myself out working on a seascape canvas this year. In general, I spend a lot of time working on my canvases. This is to be expected, as every canvas I paint is usually a pre-planned and detailed landscape (and more specifically it is often a seascape). I typically use my own photographs as a reference for my paintings, and the painting process can drag on for months, sometimes even years.
Sketching outdoor is a whole different thing, and while it comes with another set of challenges, it can be a nice change. That could have been my motivation as well. Perhaps I was tired out by my perfectionism when I decided to buy more sketchbooks. Perhaps I just wanted to work on my drawing skills. Anyhow, I bought more sketchbooks, and since then I just try to sketch when I'm out and about. It's not just about sketching and drawing practice. I enjoy working outdoors. It can be a nice challenge as well, you know, trying to capture an essence of a place in a short amount of time and all that. To borrow gen Z expression, en plein air work hits different. There is something about creating outdoors. I definitely want to do more 'en plein air' drawing and illustrating.
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| A photograph I snapped of the spot (and the bush) that captured my attention! |
Now, let us talk about this location and why I decided to draw it. My decision was perhaps quite simple, but there is also a story to be told, as there usually is. While I might not have had it all in mind when I started this travel illustration, I do see the story now. Story connecting many topics. You know how much I love stories on this little place to call my own. I tell stories with my sustainable fashion files, and I tell them with with my art and photography. In a way, this blog is all about telling stories. A sketch is sometimes just a sketch. An illustration just an illustration. However, there usually is a story in all of it.
I already started telling you the story of how I how and why I made this illustration. When you scroll down, you'll be able to see the drawing and painting process. You'll find a four step collage, a video and full description of my sketching process. So, basically you can have a really good look into the drawing process, if that is what you'd like.
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| The start of my sketch (the basic outline) |
There was a lot of drawing involved here. After sketching the basic outline, I started filling in the details, and there was a lot of details. One of the things I like about drawing and painting is how it makes me pay attention to things. Take this bush, for example. I don't know what kind of plant it is, but now I want to know more about it. It looked so cute, I simply had to draw it. Moreover, I was fascinated by its tiny leaves and I did my best to capture them. I also spent a lot of time working on the grass. I tried to capture the texture of the grass by painting a lot of individual leaves of grass. The trees took quite a bit of time. I also tried to capture the buildings behind the trees. The buildings are only partly visible. There is one orange red rooftop peaking behind the trees, a signature Croatian rooftop. Croatia, or as some would say- the land of orange red rooftops. These terracotta rooftops are one of the symbols of Croatian architecture. They are certainly very common, especially when we're speaking of coastal cities. These terracotta rooftops actually date back to ancient Roman times, and have continued to be used ever since. These orange red tiles were also sometimes actually mandatory as a fire prevention measure. Anytime, I draw these orange red rooftops, I feel happy. The terracotta rooftops do make me think of home. Besides the orange red, there is a modern monotone grey building, built fairy recently if I'm not mistaken. On the right side, there is a fence leading to an apartment. These floor apartments that are parts of a building are really the best of the two worlds. You get a feeling of a private house while living in a building. Pretty neat! A little greenery does go a long way, doesn't it?
Did you know that planting trees in urban areas can actually lower the temperatures? A five to ten degree difference can feel quite dramatic and make quite a difference in the Summer. Speaking of Summer, I'm happy that it has rained today and yesterday. Now, it finally feels like Autumn is here. This Summer has been one of the hottest ones I remember, if not the hottest one. The Summer heat certainly made me appreciate the greenery more, and consequently I started to notice it more. In cities and urban area, a park is often the only place where you can find green surfaces. I think we could all do much better. There should be more plants in the cities.
Below you can see the collage with this travel illustration in four stages or 'four steps to make a travel illustration'. I don't know how much you can follow but I added some water as I went along. When you work with watercolour pencils, you can add water to the drawing. You can also add it directly to the watercolour pencil. I usually add water to the drawing with a brush. The result is something between an aquarelle and a drawing.
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| Making of a landscape illustration in four steps |
One of the things I tried to capture was the light. I don't know how successful I was, but I tried to add yellow to show where the sunlight is hitting the tree tops and so on. All in all, I think I did a decent job. What do you guys think?
As I said, I have definitely learnt to appreciate the green areas in Split city. There's more to it than that even. As the city centre gets more busy with tourists, the locals retreat into the neighbourhoods that are not as busy. So, these green areas truly become an oasis, in more sense than one.
I wrote about the architecture of Split city more than once, and explained why I love certain modern neighbourhoods, most notably the brutalist neighbourhoods built in the late seventies and the early eighties. Brutalist architecture gets a bad rap, but in Split you can see how it looks like when brutalism is done right. There is a way to make it people centric for sure. This makes me think it was never really about the style, but more about public planning, management and infrastructure.
A lot of criticism associated to Brutalism makes sense, but a lot of it also honestly did not have that much to do with an architecture style as such, as with other historical, infrastructural and political factors. Buildings don't exist in a vacuum, and there is much planning to be done if architecture is to function in service of people (as it should). Planning is especially vital if life in urban areas is to function properly and normally. Often it comes down to the question of politics, urban planning and public administration.
Today we can see the revival of Brutalism in the form of so called Neo-Brutalism. So, it is not like Brutalism was ever truly abandoned. Brutalism certainty served a function and it still serves it. However, just like any architecture style, it has its place and function. You cannot expect a style of architecture to solve deeper problems that might exist. It fascinates me to see how many bad examples of public management we can see around the world, and people still think they can blame their problems on a certain style. What sometimes worries me is that I don't really see much progress being made in this sense. Rare and few between are examples of European cities that have some really good green and sustainable solutions. People stopped talking about architecture as something that is supposed to make us feel good. There seems to be less and less planning of urban areas that are truly people-centric. Sometimes it feels like we all have given up on hope.
From what I can see on the example of Split, the construction work that was done in the seventies and the eighties was miles ahead of the construction work that is being done today, both in quality of the buildings. If you compare the prices of apartments in Split, you'll see that the apartments in the buildings that were built in the eighties are more expensive than the newer ones. The architects of the seventies and eighties actually planned out whole neighbourhoods with parks, squares and public spaces. These neighbourhoods were designed to support Mediterranean culture and the need to socialize. Today's construction work is a bit of mess, isn't it? It does not seem to be as planned out as it used to be.
People think of big grey skyscrapers or/and concrete apartment buildings when they think of Brutalism. They don't realize that sometimes these buildings were built with vast parks planned around them. So, the idea is that people live in a building, but that they have a lot of space around that building. The idea was that it was better to make the most of use of the space by building these concrete apartment buildings in a brutalist way, and then make the surroundings specious and green. Honestly, it was not a bad plan and idea. However, the problem is that in urban areas, the original ideas sometimes gets forgotten and the parks get demolished. It is a complex topic for sure. Some brutalist buildings gained notoriety because they were abandoned, others because historical buildings and houses were destroyed in order for them to be make. The example of Split city is different. Here the brutalist neighbourhoods were planned and executed really well, particularly the Split 3 project that was never fully completed. You can literally see the exact line where the government funds run out and were redirected into Mediterranean games hosted in Split city in 1979.
What you can see in Split today, for example, that the newest parts seem to be built without any plan. The newer parts of certain neighbourhoods are a mess. Take Lidl stores for examples. I have nothing against Lidl as such, but the locations they were allowed to built in Croatia are insane. In this very neighbourhood, they built a Lidl only a few meters away from one of those brutalist buildings from the eighties. Literally, people living in their skyscraper can hardly open their window now. The whole point of that building being built that way was that it was made to look like a boat sailing to the sea. These whole neighbourhoods were made to resemble boats turned to the sea. Is adding one building really such a problem? Yes, it is. If you add another building, Lidl or whatever, you destroy everything, the whole skyline, the whole idea and legacy, the whole conception that a team of apparently very capable architects developed in the sixties and the seventies. Today when I walked in Maslinica bay on island Hvar, I saw that the new Lidl being built literally meters from the sea. I mean it is not like there isn't available land around. I really don't understand it, building a Lidl on a beach. Brutalism is not the problem. Unplanned construction and public administration is the problem.
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| I made a kitty friend the day I made this illustration! |
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| My travel illustration under natural sunlight |
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| Watercolour pencil fashion illustration of a yellow sundress worn in park Mertojak Split |
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| My Art Inspired by Split City |
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