I started an illustrated journal in 2012 as a school project to document my everyday activities while studying in Christchurch, New Zealand. I found this practice so inspiring and relaxing that I have carried a sketchbook ever since!

I see these books as complex examinations of my sense of place. To sketch is to capture a sense of being in a particular place, at a particular moment. Through this focused immersion into an environment I have developed more distinct and intimate relationships with the places I draw. Sketching forces me out of the frame, to deal with live movement, changes in atmosphere, shifts in position. It forces me to deal with every part of the landscape around me.

In the end, my travel journals are not simply collections of drawings; they are collections of specific slices in time. If you go back to that same place, on the same day, at the same time next year and sketch it will not be the same. But here I have a concrete record, and it is something that makes me very proud to produce.

For anyone looking to learn more about travel journal and urban sketching I highly suggest reading The Art of Urban Sketching, by Gabriel Campanario. The secret is this: whatever your ability, you can be an urban sketcher. Just put the pen on the page, and don’t worry about making mistakes.

If you want to see more recent sketches follow me on Instagram @careyoutside.