Last Saturday I tweeted a link to a previous post asking:

“Do you write, draw or collect in your travel journal?”

Ian, of @EagerExistance

  replied:

“write and collect. 

what would i draw?” 

So I answered:

“Not so much ‘drawing’ as doing impressionistic doodles that’ll jog your memory better than words”

 

Having recently spent a few weeks in France, while I wouldn’t usually share the scrappy doodling I scribble on my travels, it may illustrate how a few impressionistic lines can convey better than words, what you’ve done, and add details that later would be missed to even images that you’ve photographed.

Here’s a journal extract to set the scene…

“Lunch of salad + bread + goats cheese outside on patio -

“Walk through countryside – poppies and dog roses a mass - 

“Found ourselves in another hamlet/chateau? “

 ”stainglass in walkway/bridge connecting 2 parts of ‘house’”

 The stained glass window is a small detail. But a detail nonetheless that was noticed and jotted down in my journal – Its a detail, I would not have remembered when flicking through the photographs had it not been for this little notation -

But the memory of this village is all the richer for it.

 

Like the turrets and spires and fortress architecture seen clinging to hillsides.

Doodle sketches do not have to be works of art to be expressive.

 

The almond swirl bread (above) was amazingly delicious, and that little twirl of the pen gets my mouth watering remembering the flaky, crumbly, sugary, croissant like, almond stuffed and sprinkled, twist… we bought in the Saint Quentin market

 

And the refreshing sparkling beer enjoyed in Uzes square…

Where, having brought my journal for the trip (I never buy a generic journal prior to a trip – My first encounter with local shop owners is always the purchase of a local notebook for jotting memories) …

we sat back “to take in the ambience of France”

It’s rather daunting to show one’s version of the room in which one stayed in France when the likes of Van Gough have made French bedrooms so infamous -

There’s a feeling comparisons and judgements will be made…

But this is my point -

• We’re not aiming to create a work of art -
• We’re not looking for something even worthy of judging for its aesthetic appearance…
• We’ll looking for a twiddle of the pen that’ll convey the essence of a moment
• Not to everyone…

But to you!

If I’d thought I’d be using this image to illustrate this post when I did it, it would look very different

But you get the gist?

A squiggle brings memories flooding back that would not be so richly expressed by any other means…

Like a beautiful evening spent with newly made friends…

…Walking around their vegetable garden in the balmy Mediterranean evening air, picking sweet crunchy beans off the beautifully staked runners.

Or even a final baguette at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris where I spent the last of my loose change before flying out of France.

I’m not saying that its not fun to sometimes add a bit of colour when there’s the time or inclination, but…

‘D’ is for Doodle not for fancy-pants Drawing

Do you doodle in your travel journal?

If not… Why not?

Do tell all in the comment below

 

Other posts you may also enjoy -

• S is for Souvenir - Happy Hints for Remembering your Journey
• 'En Plein Air'... Happy Hints for Breathing In your Travels
• Travel Notebook