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.
Crescent City, a small coastal town along the iconic Highway 101 in Northern California, feels quite remote. We walk along the beach to find this picturesque lighthouse. The tide is rising so I have to sketch fast before the ocean engulfs the rocky outpost.
The view from our hotel room in San Francisco brings to mind the dense landscape of European cities like Barcelona, where I grew up.
Students line up to get tested for COVID-19 at Cal Poly’s Union Hall in San Luis Obispo, California.
The statue of a mustang, the school’s mascot, seems to keep a close eye on the activity.
The modern architecture of the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea in Santiago de Compostela stands in contrast to the baroque complex next door, a former convent that is now home of the Museo do Povo Galego.
British troops fired against a mob of protesters outside Boston’s Old State House in 1770. Today, visitors listen to a tour guide dressed in period clothing explain how the events of that day marked a turning point in the fight for American independence.
The USS Constitution is a popular attraction along Boston’s “Freedom Trail,” a series of historic locations with ties to the American Revolution. Launched in 1797, it defeated many British battleships over the years, earning the nickname ‘Old Ironsides” for its power.
The odds of a tsunami hitting Cannon Beach during our visit are very slim, but it’s good to know escape routes like this one would lead us to higher ground easily if disaster struck.
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fter a year hunkered down due to the pandemic, I am so glad 2021 brought opportunities to travel again. Looking back at my sketchbook, I’m reminded of fun moments spent with family (a road trip to San Francisco and a weekend in coastal Oregon); with fellow urban sketchers (at an event in Santiago de Compostela); or by myself (exploring Boston’s Freedom Trail after running the city’s storied marathon). You may have seen some of these drawings on Instagram already, but I hope you will enjoy them just as much in this little zine, where you can flip the pages as if you were browsing through my own pocket sketchbook.
Copyright © 2021 by Gabriel Campanario Printed in the USA by Seattle Printworks