Sketch artist puts pencil to paper to draw Perth
Carl adding Perth cityscape to Scottish exhibition
An artist has spent the past two months meticulously sketching the city of Perth.
Carl Lavia, who is originally from London, is half way through a gigantic sketch of the Fair City.
This is the fourth Scottish city he has sketched and he hopes to one day have a full set of all the cities in the country to display at an exhibition.
Carl explained: “I am in the middle of sketching Perth right now.
“We are sketching all of the Scottish cities as a national project. I started off doing imaginary cities, and then moved onto Birmingham and Manchester.
“But we decided the project needed more ambition, so two years ago we started sketching Scotland on its own project.”
The artist has spent the past few months familiarising himself with the streets of Perth city centre, as he said he is keen to make sure all the city’s iconic landmarks are showcased.
He added: “Perth has been challenging to sketch because it is very grid-like with straight roads in the downtown area.
“But there are a lot of historical buildings, which take a long time to sketch. It is a unique city, and Perth is very architecturally interesting.
“I have read a lot of books about how the city evolved because a lot of the buildings from the 19th century are still standing.
“Often there is development over the original structures, so it is wonderful to see buildings that are not as modern as other cities.”
Carl was keen to make sure some iconic features outside the city centre were also included.
He said: “Even though they are not in the city centre, I have added the racecourse, as I have always known about Perth because of that, and Scone Palace.
“I wanted to get as much of the River Tay in as well. It will stretch from the South Inch and the railway station to the racecourse.
“I have reduced the amount of suburban area in the sketch because I wanted the racecourse in it.”
He continued: “It has taken a bit longer to do Perth because I have really tried to focus on each individual building. When you reduce it to that, it has taken me about two months.
“I am just under half way through now. The main part of the centre is done, so it is about moving east towards Scone Palace.”
Once Carl has finished sketching all Carl is keen to make sure all the important buildings are featured Picture: Lorna Le Bredonchel Carl is almost half way through doing Perth Picture: Lorna Le Bredonchel seven of Scotland’s cities, he hopes to display them together at an exhibition.
He is also keen to make sure as many residents from Perth itself get the opportunity to see the completed cityscape.