CHENNAI: It is not just the finished product that makes Francis Ching love outdoor sketching, it is the process — the feeling of a connect with the subject he is sketching, the environment around the place and even the mosquito bites in Chennai. As he sits with a motley group of sketchers at the Madras High Court on a Sunday morning, he flits back and forth rapidly among the students, correcting a line here, explaining a concept there. “They are learning very well,” he smiles.
Communicating complex concepts in a very simple and graphic way has made his books hugely popular with students. “But I am a student too, I am no expert,” the 72-year-old author of over 12 books says. His energy is quite unabated as he gives his utmost attention to every student.
“The spirit is the most important and then the finer points like proportions need to be brought out,” he says, critically looking at the 20-odd sketchbooks on the floor in front of him. “Outdoor sketching has to be fast. Forty-five minutes for a building is too long!”
The process of outdoor sketching, he believes, helps us stop and see what we usually rush past. “We may drive past a building every day and not notice it at all. When we sketch it, we notice all sorts of details about it,” he said.
In the age of technology, drawing what exists, Ching believes, will help a student design from imagination. Most of his students at the Chennai event are architects, and the event has drawn enthusiasts from even Ramanathapuram and Rajkot.
The group is a collection of some long-haired artists, some young bespectacled students and some college professors. Prithvi Jayanarayanan is an architecture student from the town of Kilakarai who is here to pick up tips on perspective. “My lines are not straight even at this age, but his hand is incredibly steady,” says Prithvi. The group covered the Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar Temple and surroundings on Saturday. “It was beautiful seeing South Indian temple architecture as I have never seen it before. The streetscape in many places, though, reminded me of other Asian cities,” Ching said. And did the group draw curious glances from the temple goers? “I wasn’t paying attention, I was sketching,” is Ching’s honest reply. Born in Hawaii and a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, his short trip to India, he says, has so far been enjoyable.