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| 7/25/18 Coimbra |
Every
time we travel, Greg and I learn a little more about what we enjoy most (and
least) about traveling, and I learn a little more about what kinds of travel
sketching moments are my happiest. When planning a trip, I always have a mental
“must-sketch” list based on images I’ve seen, and I usually manage to hit a few.
But time and time again, the highlights of my trip are not when I’ve checked
off the “big” sketches on my list but the casual moments captured
spontaneously. Since I can’t plan for the spontaneity that I know will
ultimately be the most enjoyable, I’ve learned that I can only build in enough
unstructured time in my travels to enable those moments to happen. And over
time, we’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding over-planning and staying as loose
as we can.
My
favorite sketch of the entire trip is the one you saw earlier in my report of my workshop with Eduardo Bajzek (top of
post). It was late afternoon on our last full day in Coimbra when we had
nothing to do except maybe look for a place for dinner. Greg was taking photos somewhere
nearby; a busker played jazz on his saxophone. Relaxed and unhurried, I looked
at those café umbrellas in black and white and the canyon of buildings topped
by a triangular slice of sky, and the casual scene seemed just right for practicing
the graphite techniques I’d learned. In addition to being a quintessential
Portuguese street scene, it represents the best of what I took home from my
symposium education.
Another
highlight was when I sketched Mondeguinas Tuna Feminina da Universidade, one of several musical groups made up of
female Coimbra University students. Singing traditional college songs about
loyalty and fraternity, these vivacious young women seemed so positive and cheerful
as they busked to help pay for their education. (They were so delighted with my
sketch that we exchanged Instagram names, and they showed my sketch on their account
later that day.)
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| 7/24/18 Mondeguinas Tuna Feminina da Universidade |
I
had good moments in Lisbon, too. On a Sunday afternoon, we stopped for a late
lunch at a café with very rocky tables and chairs teetering on the lopsided,
inclined pavement. No amount of tissue folded under the table legs would keep
it from tilting dangerously. A large tree provided plenty of shade (and
occasionally dropped small leaves onto our plates). It was too late for lunch
and too early for dinner for the other patrons, who shot the breeze over
bottles of Sagres, so we were the only ones leisurely eating. After I finished,
I sketched a building on the street below us that was covered with yellow
tiles. Streetcars passed by (but never long enough for me to work one into the
sketch). The whole time I was wary of leaning too far in any direction lest my
unstable chair toppled over. I was sketching in Portugal, and it was wonderful.
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| 7/14/18 Lisbon |
Although
the last official leg of our trip was Coimbra,
we had to fly home out of Lisbon, so we returned there for an overnight before
our morning flight. With only about 18 hours in the city, we felt at loose
ends. Wandering around our hotel’s neighborhood (which was different from the
one we enjoyed during our initial Lisbon stay), we stumbled upon a lovely park.
Strangely enough, it was filled with roosters and some large, ugly birds that
looked like a cross between a turkey and a vulture. Some of the most fun I had
in Portugal was chasing these birds around the park, sketching them. At one
point a surprising gust of wind took my hat off and into the fenced area where
the birds roamed. As I was contemplating whether to climb ungracefully over the
low fence to retrieve my hat, a young woman who had been sitting nearby saw my
quandary and stepped over the fence to get the hat for me! It’s a simple memory
that I’ll cherish.
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| 7/2718 odd birds in Lisbon |
Although
these weren’t necessarily among my most enjoyable sketches, small thumbnails (like
those below) turned out to be long-term sketching energy-savers. Sometimes when
traveling, I don’t have enough time for a full-page sketch, but I want to
preserve a scene anyway. A tiny thumbnail (these are only a couple of inches)
does the job as well as a full page, and it enables me to save energy for a
larger sketch later. In this case, it’s not so much a sketching highlight as a
strategy for greater enjoyment overall.
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| 7/26/18 thumbnails of Lisbon building tops |
If
these were the highlights, what were the lowlights? Although I enjoyed seeing
both Sintra and Guimarães, I realize I don’t appreciate
short day trips nearly as much as committing several days to a single place. Greg
feels the same way. I feel too rushed and compelled to sketch only the “big”
sights because that’s what I came to see, and I end up missing the ordinary. It’s
hard to resist the “must-see” side trips that travel books recommend, but I
have to keep reminding myself to stay true to what I enjoy – not what the
guidebooks say I will enjoy.
The more I travel and sketch, the more I learn about both
traveling and sketching.
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| Tchau, Portugal! We'll be back someday! |
