We Have Created A Huge Ink-Sketch Of The Entire City Of Inverness, Scotland

Carl Lavia and Lorna Le Bredonchel took four months to produce the 2x1 meter ink sketch of the entire city, which will be on view at the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery for the next year.

Artists Carl Lavia and Lorna Le Bredonchel are pleased to share their collaborative artwork, an intricate large scale sketch of the entire city of Inverness, Scotland. This piece is part of a larger project titled “69 Cities of The UK” spearheaded by sketch artist Lavia and photographer Le Bredonchel that dates back to 2016 when they began creating large ink sketches of every city in the United Kingdom. The first three cities they depicted were Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh.

Each artwork begins with an intense research period, info collected from books, google earth, blogs, photos and photographing specific buildings as they navigate the city streets. Work then begins on the sketch with Le Bredonchel creating a basic pencil “scaffold”, Lavia then builds up the city structures in pencil and ink detail. In addition to the completed sketches, which are all exhibited publicly, they have made available signed limited edition prints and smaller posters of the artworks for collectors.

Carl Lavia, also called ‘sketch’, is a self-taught artist who has been sketching cityscapes since the age of five. He has always retained an interest in maps, architecture, and the urban environment, which he formerly utilized to create fictional cities. Lorna Le Bredonchel studied at the London College of Communication at the University of the Arts London and handles creative output across all aspects, including assisting on the sketch, documenting the ongoing process, research, video + still photography, and securing exhibition space within each city.

On sketching Inverness, Lavia commented, “The Completion of the UK’s most northerly city marks a really special moment for us in the project”, and Le Bredonchel states, “Carl and I are looking forward to sharing our latest cityscape, the beautiful city of Inverness in the Art Gallery and Museum. We hope that residents, as well as visitors, will gain a new appreciation for this unique urban environment through this affectionate portrait of the city.”

Previous works in the ’69 cities’ series have been exhibited at the central libraries of Manchester and Edinburgh, the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Museum and Gallery, the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, and The Tolbooth: Stirling’s venue for live music and the arts. Lavia and Le Bredonchel are excited to share their depiction of Inverness and look forward to making themselves available for interviews and conversation about the work.

Carl and Lorna have already begun the preliminary pencil sketches of the next city in the Scottish series, the epic granite city of Aberdeen.

More info: sketchnthecity.com