May

The Travel Sketchbook

by Eva Boynton on May 23, 2016

A hand holding a travel sketchbook on a hike, illustrating that many an aha moment waits inside. (image © Kolby Kirk).

Sketchbook in chest pocket, Kolby Kirk is always ready to draw on the trail.
© Kolby Kirk

There’s an Aha Moment on Every Page!

For me, it’s impossible to start a trip without this one essential item: my travel sketchbook. It is my eyes, my memory, my inquisitive mind on paper. Together we take on the world.

It is in the act of drawing that I learn to look, listen, perceive, and remember. In fact, I have not experienced a place fully unless I have sketched it.

Drawing of a jungle collection and inside of a house, showing an aha moment within a travel sketchbook (image © Eva Boynton).

The Jungle Collection: taking a moment to record and remember.
© Eva Boynton

For travel sketchers like me, there is something powerful in the act of drawing—the magnetic draw to draw. The gift back is a travel sketchbook that offers surprises, discoveries, and a souvenir collection of aha moments.

OIC Insights about Time

It was during a train adventure from Chicago to Los Angeles that Ken Avidor sketched the changing landscape. In the process, he realized he could record the passage of time on a single page—something impossible to find in a snapshot.

Roberta and Ken Avidor may be the ultimate sketching duo, always set to travel! They live in an apartment at the Union Train Station with no car and two folding bicycles. At a moment’s notice, they hop a train with travel sketchbook in hand to discover and draw.

A drawing in a sketchbook of scenes from a train window, showing an aha moment about capturing time in a travel sketchbook (image © Ken Avidor).

A travel sketchbook offers the freedom to show how an environment can change.
© Ken Avidor

Travel is about movement and each travel sketchbook captures the changing frontiers. Ken Avidor explains, “The thought that often occurs to me is I am the first person to sketch this. . . . It’s kind of territorial, like a dog marking a tree.”

Roberta had another insight about time. Unlike photographers, she was able, through her drawings, to invent, erase, stylize and organize how things changed in front of her eyes. On this page of Roberta’s travel sketchbook, she captures the transition from city to country.

Drawing of New York City apartments fading into Indiana fields, showing an aha moment in the travel sketchbook (image © Roberta Avidor).

“All places seem more interesting when you draw them.”
© Roberta Avidor

OIC a New Strategy for Preserving Memories

In the pages of Suzanne Cabrera’s travel sketchbook, she embeds clues to preserving memories. Like a detective or archeologist, Cabrera often sketches single details that connect to a story (or create one!) and forever solidify a memory.

Drawing of a stapler, showing the aha moment of a travel sketchbook (image © Suzanne Cabrera).

A clue…
© Suzanne Cabrera

A drawing of a bag on the ground, a clue to a aha moment (image © Suzanne Cabrera).

And another!
© Suzanne Cabrera

Cabrera says, “Ask me what I did this time last week and I may not have the slightest clue. Ask me what was going on in any drawing I’ve included here—even one that dates back years ago—and I can tell you everything.”

For her, the small and unremarkable provide powerful connections (like pieces in a mind puzzle) to a particular experience or story. Often Cabrera’s travel sketchbook reflects her perusing mind. It offers a blank page to clarify her personal thoughts.

Drawing of a man, showing an aha moment in a travel sketchbook (image © Suzanne Cabrera).

‘Cause there’s is a story behind every-thing.
© Suzanne Cabrera

In her sketchbook, Suzanne sees clues to her travel memories. I see clues to an aha moment: drawing creates narrative, an illustrated autobiography of the sketcher’s memories, perceptions at the time, and later reflections.

OIC So Many Ways to Sense a Place

When Fabio Consoli packed for his world bicycle trip, he made sure to find space for an important tool: the travel sketchbook. Pedaling on bicycle creates an intimate connection to a place, experiencing the elements of the environment first-hand. Consoli found a similar experience with his travel sketchbook.

A drawing of a bicycle and cycle kit, showing the aha moment of the travel sketchbook (image © Fabio Consoli).

The adventure cyclist travel kit. Can you find the travel sketchbook?
© Fabio Consoli

While perusing the souks (markets) of Marrakech, Consoli discovered a red pigment that he could mix and use as watercolor. Then he happened upon a bigger discovery: the use of local materials in his travel sketchbook gave him an even greater sense of place. The smell and taste of his materials instilled a memory of his travel moments in a way that an image cannot.

Scene from a travel sketchbook reveals the artist's aha moment. (Image © Fabio Consoli)

There’s a whiff and a view of the destinations in Consoli’s sketchbooks.
© Fabio Consoli

Consoli talks about his many travel destinations: “I don’t choose the places because they are interesting to draw. In reality, it’s the place that chooses me.”

And Consoli brings home a bit of each place in his sketchbook. He now uses local fruit, coffee, soy sauce, and wine for color in the location he is drawing. His sketchbook not only serves as a visual memoir but an ongoing sensory experience of the places he has visited.

OIC a Great Way to Slow Down and Focus

If you decide to walk the forests of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) or hike the steep stairs to Machu Picchu, you might run into Kolby Kirk sketching a tree, a bird, a noteworthy leaf, or an ancient ruin.

A journal with writing and drawing of a campsite, showing the aha moment of the travel sketchbook (image © Kolby Kirk).

Notes on the Pacific Crest Trail
© Kolby Kirk

In 2001 Kirk backpacked around Europe, all the while sketching and writing. His aha moment came at the Temple of Apollo in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy. While drawing, he was flooded by a herd of tourists who snapped photos and rushed on to their next site.

Kolby Kirk explains, “I realized that the act of sketching—paying close attention to the details of the scene—was etching this moment into my long-term memory. I can still remember that day, that moment even, now nearly fifteen years ago. I wonder if the same could be said by those tourists?”

A sketchbook with drawings of Pompeii and writing, showing the aha moment of the travel sketchbook (image © Kolby Kirk).

Pompeii 2001
© Kolby Kirk

In Kirk’s sketchbook he gives time and appreciation to a place and, thus, sketching becomes an act of compassion giving him time to look, draw, and study his surroundings.

OIC Power in the Travel Sketchbook

Each mark made in the travel sketchbook absorbs the artist’s experience of a place and imprints its memory.

Drawing of a cactus by an eight-year-old, showing an aha moment uncovered in a travel sketchbook (drawing © Charlotte Conk).

Charlotte Conk, 8, draws her
surroundings on a family trip.
© Charlotte Conk

While cycling in Mexico, I met a family of cyclists who were traveling with their sketchbooks on a trip from Canada to Panama.

I asked eight-year-old Charlotte Conk what she had learned from drawing during her travels. She replied with a smile:

“That the arms of people do not go on their head.”

Her travel sketchbook is a portfolio that shows a developing eye.

Charlotte’s aha moment—learning to look a little harder—is powerful in its simplicity, providing an insight that she’ll use the rest of her life.

Thank you to Roberta and Ken Avidor and Jefferson Lines, Suzanne Cabrera, Fabio Consoli, Kolby Kirk, Charlotte Conk, and all the other artists who offered photos from their sketchbooks. Thank you for inspiring me to continue my travel sketchbook!

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton 6 Comments

Art of Travel/Life Lessons/Worldwide Sites

Dec

Global Citizens Face the Challenge of Climate Change

by Meredith Mullins on December 14, 2015

Ice chunk from Eliasson's Paris Ice Watch, an art work from one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Hommage to the melting glaciers
© Meredith Mullins

COP21 Conference in Paris Brings Focus to the Future of the Planet

Climate change is insidious. Glaciers melt drop by drop, chunk by chunk. Ocean levels rise centimeter by centimeter. Temperatures climb slowly—we sense a warming trend but perhaps cannot see it as dramatic change unless we take a long-term look.

And then there are the more dramatic reminders. Floods. Storms. Droughts. Heat waves. Extinction of certain plants and animals.

The changes are difficult to see day by day, month by month, or even year by year—making the problem of climate change more difficult to bring to the world’s attention. It also makes the problem easy to ignore for those who choose to do so.

But, as global citizens, it is up to all of us to protect the future of the planet.

Signage with message to redesign the world, a poster from one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Redesigning the World: Observe. Understand. Act
© Meredith Mullins

Putting the Spotlight on Climate Change

The Paris COP21 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change brought worldwide focus to the challenges and the possible solutions.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries worked long hours over the past two weeks to reach the final deal, announced on Saturday, December 12.

The agreement includes legally binding actions as well as voluntary actions focused on keeping global temperature increase “well below” 2C and committing at least $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020.

The work was lauded as a significant step toward saving the planet for future generations.

Paris metro poster, a message from one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Paris metro posters focus on climate change.
© Meredith Mullins

Global Citizens Take Action

While delegates hammered out a plan, Paris as host city was filled with messages of support and urgency, and protests for faster, more ambitious solutions.

The “Oh, I see” moment? The issue of climate change is not just for government delegates behind closed doors. It is for everyone.

Artists from around the world created work to focus on greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, air pollution, and deforestation and to engage as many people as possible in the conversation.

Upward view of Shepard Fairey Earth Crisis, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image courtesy of Galerie Itinerrance.)

Shepard Fairey’s “Earth Crisis” sphere at the Eiffel Tower
Photo courtesy of Galerie Itinerrance

Taking a Close Look

American artist Shepard Fairey (aka Obey in his street art life) collaborated with La Galerie Itinerrance in Paris to create a two-ton sphere that commanded the free space between the 1st and 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower.

The giant globe, named Earth Crisis, looked like a cosmic mandala from a distance, with blue and green floral motifs that suggested the air, the sea, and harmony with nature.

As you moved closer, the message became clear. The sphere was covered with threats to the environment, including anti-oil symbols and slogans.

Shepard Fairey's Earth Crisis sphere suspended from Eiffel Tower, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image courtesy of Galerie Itinerrance.)

On closer look, the challenges and solutions become clear.
Photo courtesy of Galerie Itinerrance

The illustrations also offered solutions, such as green energy, respect for ecosystems, and the call to action, “The future is in our hands.”

“I am not an alarmist,” Fairey explained. “But I think people must understand that we are facing a world crisis.”

Like any work of “street art,” Fairey wanted to “engage the public in conversation.” He wanted people to take a closer look at what is really happening on the planet.

Ice installation by Olafur Eliasson at the Pantheon in Paris, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Greenland glacial ice melts at the Pantheon in Paris. (Photo made one week after installation.)
© Meredith Mullins.

Watching Ice Melt

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson transported nearly 100 tons of glacial ice from Greenland to Paris. The 12 huge ice chunks had calved from the ice sheet and were floating in the ocean. He installed them in a circle in front of the Pantheon, like the face of a watch.

The title, Paris Ice Watch, encouraged viewers to see the beauty of the ice, to be aware of the ice melting (in the installation as well as in our colder climates), and to recognize that time is a critical factor in saving the planet from the effects of climate change.

Eliasson asked us to feel the smoothness of this material, to listen to it breathe, and to seek out the small air bubbles trapped inside for thousands of years (perhaps the purest air we have on the planet, he notes).

Protesters and ice installation at the Pantheon in Paris, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Protesters add their voice of urgency to Eliasson’s glacial ice installation.
© Meredith Mullins

Shedding Light on Pollution

Air is invisible, so how do we know what microscopic materials may be floating around us affecting our health?

To help answer that question and to draw attention to the growing issue of pollution, American environmental artist Andrea Polli created a digital waterfall in Paris, cascading down the side of a building on the well-trafficked Avenue de New York.

Blue waterfall, Particle Falls, by Andrea Polli, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Particle Falls, an installation by Andrea Polli, detects pollution in the air.
© Meredith Mullins

The bright blue projection, called Particle Falls, is presented by the Mona Bismarck American Center and uses a nephelometer to measure pollution particles in the immediate environment, which are then translated into bursts of white and color.

The light show is a real-time alarm of the pollution levels in the area—a timely alert given rising pollution levels in Paris (and the world).

Turning the Eiffel Tower Green

For five days during COP21, the Eiffel Tower came alive with images of trees dancing over the iron work. The unique 1 Heart 1 Tree project gave new meaning to the term “going green.” The tower became a virtual forest of light.

Eiffel Tower with projected trees by one heart one tree, an art work by one of the global citizens focused on climate change. (Image © Jean Philippe Pariente.)

The Eiffel Tower was transformed into a virtual forest during COP21.
© Jean Philippe Pariente

Belgian-Tunisian digital art pioneer Naziha Mestaoui designed this engaging participatory environmental project to coincide with the climate change conference.

Visitors were able to plant a “virtual” tree on the tower. For every virtual tree, a real tree was promised to be planted in one of the 1 Heart 1 Tree reforestation projects around the world. To complete the reality, a Google Earth file is sent showing where the actual tree was planted.

The attention to trees—both virtual and real—offered a vital reminder that the protection of forests is essential to combat the change in greenhouse effect and to ensure proper habitat for wildlife.

A Commitment to the Planet

COP21 has taken a critical step forward. Supporters call the Paris Agreement a “transformative diplomatic victory.”

However the real work is just beginning. And, as global citizens, we know that it is not just the governments of the world that have to step up. It is up to each and every one of us.

As Paris Ice Watch artist Eliasson said as he watched his beautiful ice melting, “We underestimate how amazing we are as people. We can fix this.” The planet is ours to save.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

France (Paris)/Making a Difference/Nature Discovery

Mar

The Travel Ninja’s Lost and Found

by Eva Boynton on March 9, 2015

A passport and wallet left on the ground while two people walk away, illustrating one problem a travel ninja must deal with after losing everything. (Image © Creatas)

Travel Tips: How to Bounce Back After Losing Everything

It takes only a moment, literally seconds, to change a trajectory, a plan, a journey. That’s the moment when you lose everything.

I have slippery fingers (in the sense that I often lose things). I misplace an item, forget to take it with me, or stash it somewhere so secret, so perfectly hidden that I never find it again.

When I travel abroad, however, lost and found has come to have a different meaning for me. Yes, I have left on flights from Lima, Zurich, and Mexico City without money and belongings—all lost— but I have also come home with wisdom found through a series of “Oh, I see” moments.

The wise travel tips here surfaced during these moments after losing what seemed like everything and finding the creativity of my travel ninja within.

Green mountains in the Basque country of northern Spain, showing the location of the travel ninja's first "Oh, I see" moment that led to important travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

A Fairytale Landscape Sets the Scene

In 2011, I started walking the Camino de Santiago (Road to Santiago). The Camino is a network of pilgrimage routes and trails across Europe, each leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the cathedral there that is said to house the remains of the apostle Saint James.

Walking from one small town to another, I met Camino walkers from around the world. The first major city I encountered was on the sixth day when I confidently strode up to the walls of Pamplona.

A yellow arrow sign on the side of the Camino de Santiago for walkers to follow, showing the start of the travel ninja's education in travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

With each step of my mud-caked boots, foreboding music squished out from underneath the soles. But somehow I missed the cue.

I left my backpack with two fellow walkers while I used a cafe’s bathroom.

When I returned to my friends, I quickly realized I was empty-handed. The wallet I had carried with me into the bathroom was missing.

I ran right back, but to my utter dismay and feared prediction I found a bare room.

Travel Ninja Tip #1: Slow down and organize. Secure important belongings by designating separate pockets for them in luggage and clothing or by duct-taping them onto your body. Always take a moment to scan an area before leaving.

An old travel wallet with passport, illustrating the lost item of a travel ninja. (image © Eva Boynton)

Stopped in My Tracks

My wallet held my passport and the last of my traveling money (about 300 dollars/276 euros).

A lump formed in my throat. I was nauseous. The consequences of these life-changing minutes and seconds simmered. I felt the loss that always comes with abrupt and unwanted change.

Goodbye walking. Hello bureaucratic paperwork and phone calls. I had to backtrack to France by bus on a ticket funded by my Camino friends.

Sad-faced woman seen through the window of a train, showing a moment of learning after everything is lost that led to travel tips by a wiser travel ninja. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Right outside my window were fairytale hills decorated with sheep, cows and wild horses. But I spent the ride cursing my reflection and missing out on the view.

Once we reached France, the bus stopped and so did my pernicious wallowing. It was time to move on and decide my next move.

Travel Ninja Tip #2: Accept and move on. Rip off the band aid of self-pity to uncover a new journey. This helps to avoid a bad case of the should-a, would-a, could-a’s.

Passport book open with overlapping stamps, showing what the travel ninja lost and found (image © Jon Rawlinson

Securing a New Identity

With the last of my gifted money and the help of generous strangers, I reached the American Embassy in Paris. I was asked a series of questions to verify my identity.

Unfortunately, I got the main one wrong (my parents’ dates of birth, now engraved in my brain). The clerk was suspicious and angry with me. To make matters worse I did not have a second form of ID. Behind the glass window, embassy staff spent 30 minutes discussing my future.

My name was called and, to my surprise, I was asked to raise my right hand and answer the question, “Do you swear you are Eva Claire Boynton?”

I replied, “I do.” I was stamped, verified, and half-way home.

Travel Ninja Tip #3: Embrace unlikely surprises. While traveling, solutions to roadblocks can appear out of thin air. With a little luck and good humor someone may offer to bend the rules or lead you along the back roads.

TGV train in Paris, France, showing a challenge for the penniless travel ninja and inspiring creative travel tips. (Image © Sheron Long)

Although they are time-efficient, fast trains cost a pretty penny.
That’s bad news for the penniless traveler.
© Sheron Long

The Travel Ninja Awakens

My last challenge was getting to Zurich for my flight. I had found my Eurail pass, allowing me to ride trains in France. But, of course, there was a catch.

Although Eurail passes function as a ticket, a costly reservation is also needed to claim a seat on a TGV (train à grande vitesse, or high-speed train). I was in the homestretch: Paris to Zurich. I needed 20 euros to reserve a seat. I had no cash left, and I was $150 in debt from borrowing money for my passport.

TGV train stopped at a station, illustrating the journey of a travel ninja that led to travel tips for what to do when you lose everything. (Image © Sheron Long)

I took a deep breath, stepped onto the TGV, stored my backpack, walked three cars down, and opened the bathroom door. I split the next eight hours between four bathrooms (switching so as not to appear suspicious).

My flight was leaving the following morning, and I was going to be on it.

Girl in train bathroom with scared expression, showing the travel ninja's journey after losing everything and gaining insight for her travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Walls of a public latrine were no French countryside, but I was
not about to be derailed by a simple reservation fee.
© Eva Boynton

The stress of being caught eased as time passed and I realized my quick thinking had paid off. After losing everything, I was going to make my flight.

My journey began and ended with a bathroom. The travel ninja within me turned the birthplace of my problem into an unlikely solution. I lost my wallet and found my own, creative way home.

Travel Ninja Tip #4: Adapt and get creative. You are more creative than you think. Keep your eyes and ears open for your own lavatory, ready to be adapted into a ticket home.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton Comments

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