Viewing the world through the sketches of graphic artists
In the age of instant click-and-posts, these artist-travellers slow down to document their experiences
Curated By: Benu Joshi Routh
What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass, where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight, streams full of stars, like skies at night…
- William Henry Davies
Everyone is a travel photographer today. In fact, if you haven’t “Instagrammed” your holiday, it didn’t happen.
How different are these travellers, then, who chronicle their experiences but are in no hurry to click and post. Instead, they consciously choose to slow down, dwell in the moment, absorb their surroundings and record their observations and experiences in their travel journals—of varying dimensions—using art materials of their choice. They spend hours sketching, painting, ruminating—the only things that move them are the colours of failing daylight or the eccentricities of inclement weather.
For your next holiday, sneak a sketchbook into your travel bag. You don’t have to be an artist to do that (though it helps!). And then, watch the magic happen.
Prashant Miranda
Age: 41
Lives in: I’m based in Toronto, but otherwise Canada for the summer, India for the winter.
Favourite places to travel: Where I haven’t been before.
Preferred technique: Watercolour and ink on paper.
Vienna, Austria: October, 2014
I had always wanted to visit Vienna as some of my great inspirations are from there: Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. This spread is when I got to see some of Hundertwasser’s architecture for the first time.
No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass, where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight, streams full of stars, like skies at night…
- William Henry Davies
Everyone is a travel photographer today. In fact, if you haven’t “Instagrammed” your holiday, it didn’t happen.
How different are these travellers, then, who chronicle their experiences but are in no hurry to click and post. Instead, they consciously choose to slow down, dwell in the moment, absorb their surroundings and record their observations and experiences in their travel journals—of varying dimensions—using art materials of their choice. They spend hours sketching, painting, ruminating—the only things that move them are the colours of failing daylight or the eccentricities of inclement weather.
For your next holiday, sneak a sketchbook into your travel bag. You don’t have to be an artist to do that (though it helps!). And then, watch the magic happen.
Prashant Miranda
Age: 41
Lives in: I’m based in Toronto, but otherwise Canada for the summer, India for the winter.
Favourite places to travel: Where I haven’t been before.
Preferred technique: Watercolour and ink on paper.
Vienna, Austria: October, 2014
I had always wanted to visit Vienna as some of my great inspirations are from there: Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. This spread is when I got to see some of Hundertwasser’s architecture for the first time.
