Travel Postcards

When you read books about sketching, inevitably the topic of sketching while traveling is included. And it's easy to see why because when we travel we want a remembrance of the experience. In centuries past the only way to memorialize one's trip was to either draw images or write them down in words. Travel writing, probably beginning with Marco Polo, became a genre of writing that has persisted into the present, and so has travel art. The wealthy Europeans making their Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries acquired art--good bad or otherwise--to bring home. Many artists actually catered to the genteel tourists of the time--Canaletto for example, in Venice.

So today when an artist travels, it's the rare individual who doesn't do at least some sketching, if not full-blown paintings or drawings. For me, travel sketching was difficult until I hit on the idea of making watercolor postcards and sending them to friends. My family and friends were surprised at first to receive postcards but now they seem to anticipate them. It's a great thing to send a quick sketch from somewhere, complete with foreign stamps and so on.

Now I also do more sketchbook work, but these postcards have been an enjoyable way to engage with the surroundings, continue to work, and keep in touch with folks at home. You can buy blocks of 4x6 postcards on watercolor paper, printed on one side, in art supply stores and online.

"Passau, Germany," 2014

This is a postcard I sent from Passau, Germany, a few years ago while on a vacation. The town was recovering from deluging rain and severe flooding. The ancient river town had suffered its worst flooding in several centuries, and the rain was still coming. I toned the card with a light yellow-gray wash before sketching the town and a few scattered tourists and added a touch of ink here and there for emphasis.

"Yellow Cafe, Arles" 2012

This cafe and street in Arles, France were memorialized by Vincent van Gogh when he lived there in the 1880s. He painted the exterior as a night scene as well as the interior. I sat and sketched the street and the remains of a Roman column (the ancient forum was nearby). Arles remains a beautiful place to gawk and sketch, and as you walk about you happen upon a number of sites that van Gogh put on canvas.

"Livia and Augustus Temple, Vienne, France," 2012

During the same trip to France we visited Vienne, a town in the south that has been inhabited since even before Roman times. In the center of the town, surrounded by much newer buildings, is a temple to the god and goddess Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia. The temple is relatively small but still imposing, built along the same lines as all Roman temples. All of the sculpture and decoration have been lost over the centuries of course, and the old building bears many scars. But it's a great example of Roman Imperial architecture.

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Previously on this topic:
Travel Sketching With Watercolor