“Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic.”
– Keith Haring
It’s a balmy Sunday night in Cartagena, Colombia – the strongest heat of the day having finally faded away with the sun – and I’m seated on the long steps in front of the Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, a towering stone church dating to the late 16th century.
Before me lies the scene I’m sketching – a streetscape of the calle named after the same saint (San Pedro Claver being the first monk in the new world to be canonized), with its colorful houses, tiled roofs, and balconies bursting with bright purple bougainvillea. And at the end of the street, the pale pink dome of the Catedral de Cartagena serves as the perfect focal point for the scene.
At one point during the sketch, a policeman named Camilo wanders over and looks down at what I’m doing. As soon as he catches sight of my sketchbook, he makes a little a-ha sound under his breath and says, “You are painting! When I first saw you, I thought you were writing.”
He studies the sketch, and then I flip back through the other images I’ve created since arriving in the city on Friday. And it’s during our brief encounter that I feel myself re-connecting with my love for sketching – specifically with travel sketching. In places where we may not share a language with the people who live there, sketching is such a personal and powerful way to convey to those we meet what it is about their home that’s resonating with us.
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As I was compiling the sketches for our second annual Summer’s Sketchbook this weekend, I was firstly struck just by the varied approaches each artist has taken – from Ching’s striking black-and-white images, to Fazila and Elisa’s full-color creations, to Anja’s vibrant digital sketches.
But the more I thought about it, the more I loved that this variety carries over into the reasons for why we sketch as well. We sketch to record or remember, to document or distract (see Anja’s first clever sketch), and to communicate, celebrate, and create. There’s no one way to how we should sketch, just as there’s no one reason for why we do, and as I set out this morning for another day of sketching in Cartagena, I was grateful to Fazila, Ching, Elisa, and Anja for reminding me of this.
I hope you’ll enjoy these glimpses into their summer sketchbooks (as well as my own at the end), and many, many thanks to each artist for taking part in the round-up:
Fazila – Saudi Arabia & Missouri
“In terms of color choice I have given the faucet landmark and the floating mosque sketch brighter and lighter skies to represent summer. Both structures also represent modernity to me. The two sketches from the old Balad area of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have dull colors to represent age and history. If the door, windows, and balcony could talk they would have lots to tell about the people and life back in the day, but for now the different shades of paint do the talking.”
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Ching – Singapore
Blog: http://saysching.com
“Sketching makes me happy and I like that I get to experiment with different ways of representing reality and beautifying memories of my travels. I used to love to work with colors, but these days, I find joy in drawing only with a black pen or a pencil, which is what I always have in my bag. These are a few of my favorite sketches from my two-month volunteer project in Taiwan back in 2011/12.”
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Elisa – The Philippines
Blog: http://www.harmonythoughts.com
“Sketching always makes me see things with fresh eyes. Sometimes sketching from one thing leads me to another and another and it never ends because sketching is addicting! I like to sketch with my paints. I enjoy creating in a loose manner and sketching with my paints allows me to observe and paint what I see. I am not worried about mistakes because this is part of my learning and fun. There is always another fresh page waiting for me to explore and record the things around me.”
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Anja – The Netherlands & Singapore
Blog: http://www.curlytraveller.com
“I love sketching and I love Paper53, because it makes sketching so very easy everywhere. Especially when travelling, it’s great not to need any bulky, messy stuff, like sketchbooks, pencils, ink or paint. Just an iPad, a stylus (or your finger) and the app Paper53 will do. Wow, what an invention! This way I can sketch while being nervous on the plane about being nervous on the plane ;)”
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…and yours truly!
It was another stateside summer for me this year, and I loved getting to spend parts of it on both coasts of my home country. From beautiful Vashon Island in the Pacific Northwest to the infinite beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, this summer held just the right mix of stillness and exploration, and I tried to pull out my sketchbook as often as possible. As someone who could easily spend several hours on a single sketch, I also tried to speed up my process and experiment with creating sketches in just an hour or so. The end result? I’m not sure I’ve gotten any faster, but still I’m grateful to have sketched my way around so many lovely landscapes this summer.
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Thank you again to each artist who took part in our second annual Summer’s Sketchbook – and now I’m looking forward to seeing what you create throughout the rest of the year!
wow what beautiful sketches of various artists! Such fun to see these come to life with colors and various mediums! Thanks so much Candace for having us. It was an honor to be part of your Summer Sketchbook. Until next year yes? As always your sketches are lovely and your words are full of life. Keep inspiring! Take care!
Thank *you* for the honor of featuring your beautiful sketches, Elisa! As several people have already mentioned above, your sketch of the chillies is particularly evocative. And yes! Absolutely until next year – this has become such a fun tradition for me to put together, and I would be delighted if you joined us again 🙂 All the best to you!
What a great post, Candace!
Very interesting to read what you and the others say about sketching. And to see the different styles and topics.
I love your style and the warm, personal way you approach people and the world around you. It shows in your texts, your stories and your sketches. Very inspirational!
Thanks for including me; it is an honor.
I’m so glad you were able to join the round-up again this year, Anja! You have got me seriously curious to try out digital sketching one of these days 🙂 I also really appreciate your kind words – I’m grateful for all of the mutual inspiration the round-up always seems to make happen! xo
I enjoyed this summer sketchbook. What a great way to share the work of other traveling artists. I was especially drawn to Elisa’s drawing of the peppers for its vibrance and simplicity. And how great to see Anja’s whimsical sketches!! Her drawings make me smile 🙂
Thanks, Gayla!
Thanks so much Gayla!
I’m so glad to hear that, Gayla! Thanks so much for taking the time to say hello and check out this summer’s round-up 🙂
I love them all, and now I am going to have to check our Paper53 for those times I’m missing my other tools. Also, I love the overheard conversations! They add much to the feel of the moments captured in the sketchs.
Yes, very clever and original, these overheard conversations!
Anxious to hear what you think of Paper53 and wether you will like it. I think it’s just fantastic!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the round-up, Amber! And I hadn’t even noticed the theme of overheard conversations until you pointed it out…it seems that’s a favorite motif of mine to record 🙂 Thanks so much as always for reading!
This is lovely Candace! These are all very nice sketches and it’s interesting reading about different techniques and styles. I particularly love Anja’s one with the panda, maybe because I love pandas 🙂
There’s a story behind this sketch and that panda, Franca. I went to a Bloggers conference at the time and met another blogger, who’s suitcase got stolen the next day. Passport and all, so I offered her to stay at my place till she had arranged a replacement passport in order for her to fly back home. So she did not have her passport in her hand luggage, but she DID have her travel toys in there! The panda was one of them. The next morning they posed for me in my garden;-).
Now that I know the story behind, I like that sketch even more, thanks Anja! 🙂
Tx, Franca. I am still an admirer of your blog!
Thank you Anja, I’m glad you enjoy what we write 🙂
Thanks so much, Franca, and thank you, Anja, for sharing the story behind your sketch! This was such a fun little conversation thread to read through 🙂
Ahh! Every time I read through these sketch-roundups, I always wish I can/know how to sketch. I don’t even know where to begin! Nonetheless, beautiful artworks and I LOVED reading through them. Thank you!
Pauline! Now you’ve got me determined to get you sketching 🙂 I love your question about not knowing where to begin (only because I have been there, and continue to be there, so many times!), and was actually having a conversation about exactly that with a woman street vendor here in Cartagena the other day. I wonder if sketching a scene seems a little too much, what about focusing on a single object, such as Elisa has done up above. Would that help break the process down a bit? You’ll have to keep me posted, and in the mean time, it’s wonderful to hear you enjoyed the round-up – I hope all is very well with you in lovely Toronto! xo
Your sketches are so beautiful, as is your writing. Thank you for sharing your talents with us! I came to your blog only recently and have been binge-reading your old posts! Let me also say that I have great respect for you not accepting free trips from companies, hotels or advertisers on your blog site. I have read other blogs where it seems the cute travel blogger has just gone from one comped luxury trip/hotel to the next, taking pretty selfies but not making or imparting real cultural connections, and basically are paid marketers. Not the kind of travel experiences most travelers have or can afford in a lifetime. From your wonderfully crafted stories, you really capture authentic travel experiences and journeys. Thank you!
Hello, MD! I’m thrilled to welcome you to my humble corner of the internet, and I can’t thank you enough for your kind words here…I hope you know how much they mean! These last few years have been such a process of development for me, but I’m at a point now where the key reason I travel is for those authentic experiences and connections you mention…it’s why I love sketching so much, because it basically helps me get lightning to strike in terms of forming relationships with people in each place, and those are the stories that I then love sharing here. It means the world to hear they resonate with you, and I do hope you’ll say hello here again!
I always enjoy your sketches and I’ll be excited to meet you at TBEX. It sounds like you will be having fun.
Candice- I loved coming across your sketches today. The Outer Banks has always held a special spot in my heart, and I loved seeing the sketches from Saudi Arabia since it’s my new home for the next year!!
just wow
going to sare it
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