“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between…”

― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth 

One brisk Thursday morning in the far north of Norway, I found myself standing on the deck of a sailboat that had the most poetic name I’d ever heard: the Skydancer.

Measuring 73 feet long, with a navy blue hull and two towering masts, the Skydancer is the roving home of my friend Nick and his wife Torill. I first met Nick four years ago, in India of all places—where I was working on an adventure called the Rickshaw Run and Nick was taking part in the run with two friends. And as it just so happened, Nick and Torill were working in the Lofoten Islands this spring, just a half hour’s drive from where I was staying in an artists’ house at the time.

That synchronicity would have been enough for me, but then Nick and Torill shared that they were planning to sail north from Lofoten to a city called Tromsø—one of the northermost cities in the world—and they graciously invited me to join them. The date they were planning to set out on the 19-hour voyage was the very same day I had to move out of the artists’ house.

Though I had never sailed before and had little idea of what to expect from the trip, I took the perfect timing as a sign from the universe—that this was one of those journeys you have no choice but to say yes to.

travel sketchbook norway

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I spent much of my time in Norway this spring writing about my time in India, and I’d spent the weeks leading up to our voyage to Tromsø writing about my love affair with the sleeper class—a particular class of travel in the Indian railway system.

And so, as we departed Lofoten and the Skydancer began her slow and graceful weave up the Vestfjord, I soon realized that seeing Nick again for the first time since the Rickshaw Run wasn’t the only connection to India that our voyage held. With the sleeper class fresh on my mind, I couldn’t help hearing countless other echoes of what I’d loved about traveling through India, as I recorded in my journal that evening:

“All I’ve kept thinking about today is how much the Skydancer reminds me of the sleeper class—the cozy berths to sleep in; the endless paper cups of coffee or tea; the sudden lethargy that comes over you in the afternoon; the long stretches of merely sitting and watching the world pass by; the knowledge that you will start and end your day in the same place, on the same means of transport, but also so very much not in the same place; that your destination is not the point, and that your bearing witness of this passage is.”

While getting to see Lofoten’s rugged peaks from the water was a welcome change in perspective, the greatest gift of our journey to Tromsø was the number of surprising connections it made possible—from seeing an old friend from India in Norway, to finding the sleeper class again on a sailboat called the Skydancer.

travel sketch norway

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21 Comments

  • Every watercolor you do is better than the last! Thank you for transporting us there.

    • Chuck, that means so much coming from you–thanks for taking the time to read the story and say hello 🙂 I’m still so sad our paths didn’t cross when you passed through Virginia!

  • Have you ever sketched in india.?? Btw love all your sketches .always look forward to your next sketch.

      • Extremely happy seeing your sketches of india. Hope you keep travelling and sketching. Its totally a different feeling seeing live places in sketches.thanks for that. And also welcome back again anytime to India 🙂

  • I signed up for a travel sketching community ed class this Saturday. Your post is a terrific reminder of why I did. I can’t wait to do what you have done, if I get that good at it.

    • Thanks so much for sharing that with me, Rhonda! How did your class go on Saturday? I’m currently working on an ebook about travel sketching that I’ll be sharing here soon, so I hope that might be useful for you as well 🙂 I’ve been sketching for over five years now, and the greatest lesson I’ve learned is just that practice makes better! In my first sketches, I was still very much learning how to draw with perspective, how to capture people, and what style of painting I preferred, so it’s interesting to see how that all developed over the years that followed. I’m so happy to hear you’ve started sketching now, and wish you all the best on your visual journey! 🙂

  • Hiya Candace, so good to hear from you & glad to know that you are still traveling & sketching. How long will you be in Norway? Do hope you’ll be able to see the Aurora Borealis while that far north. I envy you the quiet and peacefulness of sailing, no noise & throbbing of motors. Stay well & happy trails.

    • Thank you so much for saying hello here, Roberta–it is always a joy to hear from you! I am incredibly grateful to have had the chance to spend ten weeks in Norway this spring, where I did indeed have a chance to see the Northern Lights a few times…and every time I could only stand there and marvel at the sight of them. They’re truly the most wondrous thing I’ve had the honor of witnessing. I’m now back in the US for the summer, and am soaking up this time to see friends and family 🙂 I hope everything is wonderfully well with you, and I look forward to sharing some more stories from Norway with you soon!

  • Pingback: Candace Rose Rardon Sketching Norway: Gratitude at the top of the world.

  • Another great read and gorgeous image. Thank you so much for sharing these life snapshots with us all. I feel magic almost crackling out from your images. This one particularly made me think of Narnia!

    • I’m so glad to hear you loved this sketch, Amanda–it was definitely one of my favorites from my time in Norway last year! And I just have to say that you made my morning saying it reminded you of Narnia…growing up, I seriously mourned the fact that I couldn’t just walk through a wardrobe to that magical land, but it’s fun to think I might’ve found my own Narnia on Lofoten after all 🙂

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