[Guest Post by Natalia Mikhachuk in Delhi, India] I am Natalia from Saint Petersburg, Russia. This is my first post here and I'm excited to share my urban sketching. Last year I spent three months in Delhi, India. It was my first trip so far away from my country. I had only been to Baltic and Northern Europe countries before. It wasn't exactly a vacation, so I didn't have much free time. I drew all the pictures in the same location - the neighborhood of Laxmi Nagar, from the roof of a house where I rented a room.
I found it interesting to draw the rooftops: Firstly, I liked how people spend their time on the roofs there: drying clothes, resting, playing games. We don't do the same in Saint Petersburg. We don't even have easily available access to the rooftops of our houses.
Secondly, the architectural forms of the houses in Delhi look very unusual to me: many forms and colors can be combined in one building. Houses look like living creatures.
Thirdly, I was very lucky with my roof, because the views from it were stunning. I could watch the city and no one was distracting me from drawing. Because down to earth the streets were quite noisy.
The same cityscape looks completely different at different times of a day. I think twilight is my favorite time of a day. I found this time very enchanting in Delhi, when the lights start to burn and people spend evening time on their roofs.
Natalia Mikhalchuk is an artist, watercolorist and illustrator from Saint Petersburg, Russia. You can see more of her work here.