SKETCHBOOK

Andrey Shmatnik on Ein Kerem, Jerusalem.

“February in Jerusalem is an especially beautiful month of spring-like weather and blossoming almond trees,” says Andrey Shmatnik, an Israeli-Canadian architect who resides in Toronto. “With the heat of summer still months away, it’s the perfect time for exploring the ancient city by foot.” On a visit last year, his wanderings took him to Ein Kerem, a peaceful neighborhood in the Judean Hills of southwest Jerusalem. Identified by many scholars as the biblical village of Beit Hakerem, Ein Kerem (the name means “spring of the vineyard”) is the birthplace of John the Baptist and home to several splendid churches as well as a stone-encased spring where the Virgin Mary is said to have drawn water. In this ink and watercolor sketch, Shmatnik chose the golden-domed Cathedral of All Russian Saints as a backdrop. Rising from the grounds of a Russian Orthodox convent, the hilltop sanctuary “made the view just perfect,” he recalls. “Framed by almond blossoms and stately cypress trees, it was a beautiful sight, and one that I instantly knew I had to capture.”