This week I had a short overnight trip to the Nelson Bay area for the funeral of a dear friend’s father. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time with my friend’s family, so it was good that I was able to get away and attend the funeral. I share in the family’s loss but also rejoice that John is now in heaven with Jesus.

I wasn’t expecting to sketch much, but I still managed to fill a few pages in my sketchbook. As I prepare for my upcoming course on Travel Sketching, I’m constantly thinking about how I typically manage to get a few sketches done when I’m on a tight schedule or around others. The last two days were a good example of this.

On Wednesday, the only sketch I did during the day was of the Service Centre building when I had a brief stop during the 2.5-hour drive north.

I didn’t touch my sketchbook all afternoon during the funeral or afternoon tea and naturally didn’t think about sketching at all! I was invited to dinner with the family group and once I was sitting down at a table, the thought about doing a quick sketch briefly entered my mind. But it was still way too busy. Note:  Sketching is nearly always at the back of my mind when I’m out and back, and whenever I have a moment of downtime, rather than simply reach for my phone (which is the reflex action of most people), I think about whether it’s a sketching opportunity.

At one point, after we had all eaten and were sitting around talking, I was in-between conversations and so I grabbed my sketchbook and started to draw the tablescape. It started as a simple line drawing (and my sketchbook was on my lap so it wasn’t super obvious) but as a number of people at the table were interested, I pulled out some watercolour pencils and my palette. I’m very happy that I have a simple sketch to remember a special time with the family and that I could sneak in a sketch at an appropriate time.

The next day I did a super quick sketch of the view from my hotel room – with a little bit of a water view. I was checking out early and then meeting up with my friend for a coffee.

I had to drive past the cemetery so I wanted to stop and visit John’s grave. I gave myself 10 minutes for this sketch – and so I used ink (fude pen), watercolour pencil and then a little paint (using a waterbrush). If possible, I prefer to complete a sketch on location even if it’s a bit rushed, as it’s a better record of the moment. It was also very special to think about the events and conversations of the day before while doing this sketch. Obviously, if I had had more time to work on this, more memories would have been encoded. But I did what I could.

While catching up with my friend, I managed a little reflex sketching of my coffee (two versions) and a line drawing to record the location. She always expects me to pull my sketchbook out and knows it’s a way for me to remember our conversations.

I then hit the road and drove home so I could get back to work in the afternoon. But in fact, I ended up doing my work in a new cafe (run by friends of the owners of Goodfields).

Finally, that night did a quick map.

So I didn’t have a lot of time for myself during this unexpected overnight trip, but these quick sketches are special to me and will become an important memory in years to come.