Every now and again something jumps out of you from the plethora of posts and pictures on social media, that’s how we got to know Anita. Clearly a fan of Dubrovnik, Anita has an eye and a skill for sketching, and the pearl of the Adriatic features heavily in her work. Although she lives in Hungary she says “it is not a secret if I say someday I wish to live in Dubrovnik.” Her love affair with Dubrovnik started back in 2018 when she treated herself to a birthday present trip to the city, it was love at first sight. In fact, she had such a great time that she has been back six times since. We caught up with Anita to discover more on her art.
How does Dubrovnik inspire you to sketch?
At my former job I had the possibility and good fortune to travel a lot, but I can say that nowhere have I felt that what I feel in Dubrovnik. I mean there wasn’t any other city I wanted to sketch, or paint. Some kind of homesick for the town inspired this sketching journal. I bought this book last year, but just realized I like making sketches more, than the written word. Then lockdown just happened and I made one sketch per day. Now there are 52 sketches in the journal.
What is your technique? Do you work from photos?
Yes, I work from photos. I mostly use my own pictures, but sometimes I just see great pictures on Instagram, and work around those. I start with a pen, then use watercolour paint and finish with a black marker. I read a lot about "urban sketches", watch pictures, I follow the pros then I broke some rules and found my own style.
What part of Dubrovnik is the most inspiring for you?
I have some especially nice places in Dubrovnik, like sitting at Porporela, walking on the Walls, the Botanic garden in Lokrum (well Lokrum completely), but the most inspiring place is the walking path on Babin Kuk, where you can go down to the sea, and watch the rocks with Lighthouse Grebeni. Love that landscape, just rocks, sea, sky and sailboats, this is the most relaxing place I know.
Do you have any formal training in art? Or is this purely a hobby?
This is a hobby; I really surprised myself when I started. Now I do something every day, like a form of meditation. I not only make these sketches, but I paint on canvas, too.
It seems that there are no people in your sketches. Is that a COVID-19 message?
Well, that is true I made these sketches during the COVID-19 era, but not this is the reason there are no people. As I said I broke some rules, this is one of them. If you are a "real" urban sketcher you take a look at the surroundings, with few colours and with people moving. What do I do? I use photos, lots of colours and no people. It's just my kind of sketch.
How long does it take you to create a sketch?
If I remember well the quickest was 30 minutes and the longest 2 hours. The majority of them take me around one hour.
What would you like to sketch in the future?
I have no special plans for the future regarding the theme, I just wish to get back to Dubrovnik as soon as possible, until then I will use this little journal I created as a vision board.
