English artist John Ruskin developed a concept for drawing and traveling called “word paint”, a type of democratic approach to drawing for the “people”. Drawing not for fame or competition but for "seeing', what is it we see can reveal ourselves.
Art and travel mirrors British explorers who in 1588, when they were advised to keep daily visual diaries. The first major english essayist Francis Bacon in his essay Of Travel wrote, “It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries, but in land travel wherein so much to be observed, for the most part they omit; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation: let diaries, therefore, be brought in use.” 1
Drawing is a personal and private activity and when combined with new experiences from travel, the act creates a visual memory:
" It is 1993 as I sat on the edge of the stone wall in Havana looking out to Miami sketching the wall as it snakes around towards my hotel. The pencil moves to express the moment, time frozen and unable to be repeated. A moment recorded by the hand and eye for recollection and reflection. The wall looks out to Miami, a location forbidden to Cubans and a wall that protects Havana from the sea." (Havana diary, 1993)
This section provides the opportunity to see works on paper often unexhibited as well as my ongoing interest in artist's books. This section provides a glimpse into the thinking and observations behind my travels.
1 Bacon.1625, Essays (Everyman), P. 54