Travel Sketching
It never occurred to me that one day I might travel as an artist and writer. Indeed, until 1991 I never imagined I would travel that much at all.
I can remember as a young kid possessing a strong urge to see the country. I actually thought being a truck driver might be a path for me so that I could see the country.
At 15 years old there’s some logic to that, right?
Nurturing and guidance were not a big part of my rearing, so it took a really long time to carve out this path I now find myself following today, which doesn’t include hauling a semi anywhere, by the way.
That formative year, 1991, became the first year of many that I would experience the American landscape outside of a small area within New England. Still, it wasn’t obvious all those years ago that I, Sandy from the streets of Cambridge, MA in the 70s & 80s, might one day travel with art tools to document flora, fauna, and the grand continental landscapes.
Seven cross-country trips later, one by cycling, I’ve lived in or spent time in 39 states. I have to include the loneliest highway in America to my creds, too… US Route 50. It was lonely and incredibly amazing.
Now I am giving Alaska a try for a time.
Sketching atop Mt. Adams in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in northern NH.
It’s 2022 and, for a number of important reasons, it’s turning out to be another formative year. Can that still happen when you’re closing in on 60? Apparently so.
Recently, Marley Peifer invited me to be a guest on The Nature Journal Show. It was so much fun! It gave me an opportunity to share my current project, A New England Artist Exploring Alaska, with a broader audience.
On Marley’s show we talked about my time in Alaska one year in, and how I am using my sketchbook to gain some comfort in a new place that stirs up anxieties for me.
There are bears here, y’know. Big ones. And moose, really big moose. You never know when you might come across one or the other, even within the city limits.
I am not used to having to navigate around this kind of obstacle. Sketching or plein air painting on my own can be quite terrifying.
The angle that Marley picked up on, one I hadn’t realized for myself, was travel and sketching. Travel sketching.
The experience crystalized for me not what I could do, but what I can do: travel with my sketchbook. Best of all, I’ve already been doing it - field sketching while traveling. My professional sketchbooks date back to 1991, and they’ve always been with me everywhere I go, no matter if I am traveling abroad, hiking local mountains, or visiting family and friends nearby. It might be time to turn this around and travel with the purpose of field sketching and writing.
Sketching raven chicks in Denali National Park
Since 2018, the year of the cross-country cycle trip, I have been intently focused on drawing as I travel to document the landscapes, to capture in graphite, ink, and/or watercolor the flora and fauna found in that landscape. That trip seemed to trigger something in the three members of my family, but in different ways. For me… it fired up the idea again that maybe I could travel the U.S. with my sketchbook to document as much of the natural landscape and the flora and fauna that relies on that space to exist, very literally, to continue the existence of their species.
The idea would have to remain and idea, though. Time still wasn’t ready for me to execute it.
Four years later, with a deepening interest, the idea of traveling with my sketchbook to document critical natural landscapes is more alluring, dare I say, even plausible.
While I ruminate a scheme to make this happen, I created a map of the places I’ve used my sketchbook. To this point, these are places I intently observed and documented whatever was around me, as opposed to finding a specific organism or habitat to capture. Call it opportunistic journaling.
I guess the thing I am realizing is nothing has to happen quickly. It’s OK to meander towards a goal over years or decades. Just don’t loose sight of that goal; that spark of madness that makes you you and drives your enthusiasm.
I have traveled far more than I ever could have dreamed, nationally and internationally.
And I am just getting started.
Map of the places I have sketched. So far.
If you click on the map above, you can then click on each of the pins to see the sketches from my journal that were made in that location. Enjoy!
Above are pics of my sketching kit. First on left is what I’ll bring when I’m car sketching. The middle is for a day hike. The third is for a backpacking trip. You should be able to zoom in to see product names. if not, ask me anything you want about the tools I use.