“Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist.”
—Georges Seurat, Neo-Impressionist painter
At the time I began planning my journey to Lofoten last fall in San Francisco, two of my best friends there—a couple named Cara and Jerimiah—began planning an adventure of their own: a two-week trip to Europe, which would include spending a night in Stockholm at the very start of their trip, just as I was also going to do.
As we helped plot each other’s journeys in the following months—usually over wine around their wooden dining room table, which overlooks a beautiful expanse of the Pacific Ocean just south of the city—a plan was slowly hatched.
Cara and Jerimiah are both incredible artists and illustrators, and it was even an Urban Sketchers group sketching event (known as a Sketch Crawl, no less) that first led us to meet in the Bay Area in 2013. With art at the very foundation of our friendship, and with both our upcoming trips to Europe taking us to Sweden, we thus decided to set a little sketching mission for ourselves: We would stay at the same hotel in Stockholm—a boat hotel, in fact, called the Mälardrottningen—and we would all sketch the charming, curtained porthole window found in each cabin.
The mission would be our way of having a shared travel experience, even if not on the same trip…and hopefully with some fun sketches to show for it at the end, too.
Cara and Jerimiah left on their trip in late January of this year, and I even had the chance to housesit for them in their absence, hanging out with their lovable dog Ender. And as I sat at their table the first afternoon they were away, I loved every time my phone would ping with an update from Sweden. I’d be staring out at the ocean hard at work writing, while on my phone was a photo of Cara already out sketching in the snow in Gamla Stan, or of Jerimiah drawing one of the brass lamps in the hotel’s bar, after they escaped back inside for warmth.
“Seriously in LOVE with Sweden,” Cara texted that first night from Stockholm. “And we are so glad we get to have a shared experience with you here. We even told the hotel about you. They’re excited you are coming and that we both booked it together.”
But the update I was most looking forward to were the long-awaited porthole sketches. When photos of them arrived the next morning, painted by Cara and Jerimiah in the remaining hours before their next flight to Venice, a smile immediately broke out on my face—not only at the gorgeous sketches themselves, but at the thought that I’d have the chance to create my own version in just a couple of months.
I couldn’t wait to follow in the footsteps of my friends in Stockholm—and of their sketchbooks…
* * *
Two weeks later, Cara and Jerimiah returned home with brimming sketchbooks, I reluctantly returned Ender to his parents, and even more reluctantly said goodbye to their dining room table and its sweeping ocean views.
And then, a few weeks after that, I pulled out my backpack, packed up my apartment, and prepared to say the hardest goodbye of all—to a city I had called home for seven months and the community of friends I had found there. For the first time in years, I was leaving for a trip after being settled in a place I loved. For the first time, a huge part of me didn’t want to get on the flight for Sweden—no matter how excited I was for what awaited me at the other end of it.
And so it turned out that our little sketching mission played a not-so-little role in helping me find my feet on this journey. To land in Stockholm, and have my first port-of-call be a place that some of my best friends had stayed in not two months earlier, was a welcome point of connection to my San Francisco community. Having already seen the cozy cabins, breakfast buffet, and epic porthole windows in Cara and Jerimiah’s photos made arriving on the boat feel like coming home in a way—as did finally getting to sketch one of the portholes myself that night.
And as I stood there sketching, taking in the window’s light-blue curtains and bolted metal frame, I thought back to checking into the hotel a few hours earlier. As the receptionist entered my information into the computer, he’d studied the screen for a moment before saying, “There’s a note under your name—it says you have stayed here before?”
I was confused at first, but then couldn’t hold back a smile as understanding clicked into place. “I haven’t,” I explained to him, “but my friends have.”
* * *
Hi Candace, So wonderful to hear from you once more. What a wonderful introduction to Sweden you had. Hoping to hear more of the trip and to see more sketches. Happy Spring.
Roberta! It is such a delight to hear from you here–can you believe I was just thinking about you a few weeks ago and wondering how you are? I hope everything is wonderfully well with you! It was a very quiet transition into life in San Francisco, but I’m truly thrilled to be back on the blog and can’t wait to share more sketches with you soon…it’s been a blast to create them here in Scandinavia so far 🙂 Wishing you a very joy-filled spring as well!
Candace, it’s so nice to have you back on the blog. In reviewing some of your comment, I came across one when you said that San Francisco was your “right-for-now place,” which reminded me of a recent conversation with my 19 year old grandson and his crazy goings on while in high school. Now that he’s finishing up his second year of college, he’s not interested in dying his hair orange or purple any more, saying that there’s a time for everything and it was just right back then to do that sort of stuff. From the vantage point of 83 years, I can look back and see that most of my life (and probably for many of us) has been fairly compartmentalized, doing things and being places that were just right at the time. It’s a good feeling, recognizing that there might be some sort of structure in our lives after all. I’m so looking forward to your latest sketches. Happy Spring and welcome back.
Happy spring to you as well, Roberta! And as always, I can’t thank you enough for your thoughtful comment here–I’ve truly learned so much from the wisdom you’ve shared with me these past few years 🙂 What you said about things and places being right at the time resonates with me so much right now–I’ve been thinking hard about whether San Francisco is the right place for me to return to after this journey, and I ultimately decided last week that it *is* right, even if only for a year…I tried to shift from thinking about it as a be-all-end-all sort of place, and just the next step in my journey–so what you shared fits with that so perfectly 🙂 Thank you again for sharing your wisdom and perspective with me, and I can’t wait to share more sketches from the far north with you very soon!
Candace, I have only just started following you in earnest, but I am so inspired by your craft and art! Thanks for sharing yet another captivating tale 🙂
I can’t thank you enough for your kind words, Valerie! It’s a delight to connect with you here, and I can’t wait to share more stories with you soon 🙂 Wishing you a weekend full of inspiration!
WOW! This is a new level of writing and sketching for you Candace! The juxtaposition between the sketches and the related emotions was sublime. I feel transported. Thank you!
Susann, please know how very moved I was by your generous words here–what an honor it was to read them! I can honestly say that it feels like I’m writing from a new place emotionally, so I’m just thrilled to hear that seems to be coming through the stories and sketches. Thank you again, and have a wonder-filled weekend!
This is a beautiful story, Candace. Thank you, as always, for sharing.
Thank you so much, JoAnna! By the way, I was so surprised and thrilled to read about your own big transition a couple of days ago, and will be thinking of you guys as you continue moving through this season of life change…can’t wait to read more about your new adventure 🙂
What a great story! Isn’t it amazing how different places connect us to different people in our lives? There are certain places I cannot visit without thinking of the ones I’ve shared the experience with before or those who recommended the place to me. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful anecdote 🙂
I love those thoughts so much, Veena! And I couldn’t agree more…I think as I’ve come to place more and more value on the personal relationships in my life, and on the role my friends play in keeping me anchored in life, it’s been very cool to see how certain places and people become, as you said so perfectly, connected and intertwined. I hope you’re doing great, and can’t wait to share more stories with you soon! xo
What a touching story. I love the lines and movement in the curtains in your sketch. You are so talented!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the story, Erin! And thank you for your kind words about the sketch as well–I always find the folds of fabric an interesting challenge to try and capture, so these curtains were a perfect chance to keep working on that 🙂 Hope all is very well in Costa Rica!
Thank you for sharing stories like that. It ‘s awesome to see the passion on people that value art, that love to share notes, stories, photos, videos and like you, sketches. I ‘m reading your interview and suggestion from with Matt ‘s blog course and it really helped me a lot. Thank you for sharing also your experience. (superstar bloggers ). It really gives me more motivation and knowledge in this field.
Tchau
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