Travel Drawings

Time does fly when you're having fun!

I drew these in a little pocket Moleskine book. The thing with Moleskines is that there are lots of different paper qualities and it's not clear to me what is what from the sketchbook itself. All I'll say is that the paper in this one is so light I have to leave a blank page between each drawing, or it would all have been a mess. And even then, you can see some of the drawings showing through the pages. Otherwise, it's the perfect book - no bigger than an iPhone, so you can carry it with you everywhere and people don't really notice what you're doing.

The first drawing (the pointy-nose airplane) is pencil (a big square Moleskine pencil, which feels gorgeous in the hand). I'm a messy drawer, so pencil always smudges on me.

The other drawing were made with a Uni-ball pen. It's one of my favourite pens - completely reliable, waterproof, and it glides so smoothly!

It wasn't the first time that I was attempting sketching while travelling. But this was definitely my most productive to date. At Check-in, American Airline staff told everybody that there was big delays at US Customs, and to go straight there, not to go wandering around the duty free shops. So we rushed there, and of course, no queue, no panic, nothing. But once you've gone through US security and customs, you can't go back. So here we were in this boring area, with just a little café and no shopping to keep me entertained. But, wait, not so boring. There was a big fat plane, our plane, just outside the window. And forty minutes went in a flash. It's a pointy-nosed plane, but it's our plane, and I'm very fond of it.

Once on the plane, I did a couple more drawings that I'm happy with. Although the first one looks like nothing recognisable. Except it's my favourite pink Longchamps bag, and my orange Kipling satchel, and a pillow and a blanket on the little shelf above. I know that. That's enough for me.

The one in the lounge in Philadelphia is not quite as detailed as I would have liked. But we had another plane to catch.

PS: Good movies also help on long flights: we had Bridge of Spies, the latest Spielberg, with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. Brilliant movie, brilliant actors. "Aren't you worried? Would it help?"