I had my complex camera with me, of course, and very good advice from all the photographer friends around me. When you go out of the fully air-conditioned hotel, your camera lens fogs up immediately, (you too, by the way) and you can shoot photos with a “David Hamilton” effect, or wait until the lens clears up, which takes 5 minutes.
The beautiful river promenade through Singapore
There were also two sketchbooks in my backpack, one tiny Hahnemühle Sketchbook 9 x 14 cm which I used a lot for simple ink pen drawings as it’s so easy to carry around. The other a Clairefontaine Travel Album, 21 x 29,5 (A4) 180g. I had also Inkpens, pencils, watercolor crayons, and a little Windsor & Newton “COTMAN” watercolor paint box which I always take with me, every day of the year.
The first sketch in the Travel Album, The Botanic Garden in the middle of Singapore. A sudden warm shower helped dilute the watercolor crayons I’d used, as well as some of the non waterproof inkpen lines….
Take your sketchbook everywhere and if what’s going on around you inspires you, then draw it. You can use color on site, if you have the necessary tools with you, or at home, afterwards. Capture one precious moment in time. The more you do it, the more you’ll love it, I promise you that! Don’t let yourself get distracted by the people around you, you’ll get used to them.
Don’t think about what others could think about your sketch. It’s not about producing something correct, exact, accurate. It’s about letting the world into your heart through your eyes! Reflect what you see, feel it, re-create it. Be wild. Do it for yourself.
