Spanish artist Alicia Aradilla is sketching her trips all over the world. Her instagram account @a.aradilla relates her adventures and all the (water) colors of her journey.
How did you start sketching your trips ?
I always carried with me an small notebook in my travels, at the beginning I only wrote (as a diary) but soon I started to add some drawings, they were very small and always in black and white. 3 years ago, after visiting Delacroix exhibition in Madrid, inspired by his sketchbooks, I bought a small watercolor box and went to Morocco. My first time with watercolors was a complete disaster but I continued learning and practicing every day until I decided to travel one year around the world.
What do you enjoy the most in sketching ?
I love to sketch when I travel because you learn a lot about the place. When you sit down for 45 minutes or 1 hour, lots of things happen. You can see how is the daily life in the town and also start conversations with local people. It is another way of traveling.
Where are your favorite places to visit and to sketch? What is your favorite sketch and why ?
I don’t have a favorite place or sketch, It’s impossible for me to choose one! Sometimes one drawing it’s technically better than another and I like it, and sometimes it starts to rain and the drawing is unfinished, but what I really appreciate in a travel sketch, it is the story behind the painting. So each one tells me about a different moment, they speak about the conversations I had, about the weather, about the experience of traveling. So It’s hard to choose one!
During my travel I really enjoyed to sketch in Indonesia or Japan, because there are a lot of quiet places but it also was stunning to sketch in China, Myanmar or India, which are very different from the European culture.
What are your tips for people who would like to start sketching their trips ?
Don’t worry about the final result, the most important thing is to enjoy the moment and discover that those sketches are like a ‘time machine’ and when you arrive at home you can relive your favorite experiences every time you open your notebook.
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Voyage Vagabond 