2021 Travel sketches
2021
Travel sketches by Gabi Campanario
Sketches of the Pacific Ocean frame this selection of pages from my pocket sketchbook. Looking back at them, I’m grateful the year brought opportunities to travel safely amid the pandemic. Crescent City was a stop on a road trip to San Francisco, where I had to be in early March to regain my Spanish nationality (that’s a long story I can tell you at another time.). In September I was back in California to drop my son in San Luis Obispo, where he started college. Driving 1,000 miles to get there was a record at the steering wheel for me. With the pandemic seemingly under control, I travel to Spain soon after to speak at a travel sketchbooks conference in Santiago de Compostela. Next came Boston, an important date on my calendar. I went there to run the storied marathon, and how could I not take the chance to make a few drawings along the historic Freedom Trail. A long weekend in Cannon Beach, a familiar place where we have gone a few times for some quality rest and relaxation, gave me another chance to take in the view of the ocean. It’s so different from the Mediterranean sea of my childhood around Barcelona, but just as mesmerizing to watch.
By Gabi Campanario
Rain dampens my sketchbook as I draw the scene of pilgrims filling up the square in front of Santiago de Compostela’s impressive cathedral.