I’m travelling to Paris and London and I’m trying to both sketch much more and journal more consistently. The first leg of the trip is a four day stint in Paris and I just completed it.

Here are the sketches that I made:

I was tired and this came out wonky but I don’t mind as it captures the moment well and I had less than 10 minutes to get it done.

Sketch of the wonderful lunch at my favourite cafe:

I bought a Hahnemuhle A5 watercolour sketchbook and a new set of Uni Pin fineliners. This sketch of Place de la Sorbonne was done in situ with a brush pen but I ran out of time so I took reference photos and added the watercolour later.

I went to The Coffee, one of my favourite local cafes. I sketched the shop and the barista:

And had enough time to add watercolour. I was hesitant to show it to the barista once I was done but in the end I mustered the courage and did and she liked it.

Had about 10 minutes to sketch in the St Sulpice square which was enough to get some quick line work done and take some reference photos for later.

Finished it later:

Yesterday I went to the Notre Dame, my favourite, and managed to get a line sketch in my Hahnemuhle A5 watercolour sketchbook but then the heat and crowds were too much for me so I completed the sketch in my hotel room later that evening.

I tried sketching the interior of Patisserie Viennoise, my favourite cafe, this morning but didn’t find an inspiring angle so I just created a brief vignette in my Hahnemuhle:

Later I went to the Luxembourg gardens and sketched the Medici’s fountain. It was closed off to visitors for some sort of maintenance so I sketched it from a distance.

The complete sketch:

Bought an A5 Moleskine sketchbook on sale and made this sketch on the bumpy train ride from Paris to London:

So far I have managed to sketch and journal daily. London’s schedule is more hectic so we’ll see how things go there.