Mexico

This sketchbook was given to me the first time I went to Mexico. It was a gift to my boyfriend from the art fair where he'd participated in a talk. I attended and made as much as I could of their Spanish. He gave it to me since he had little use for a sketchbook.

I did some location sketching on the trip, but haven't used it since, but I rediscovered it recently while cleaning and think I could do well making a habit of location sketching more often. Sketching like this is great meditation and when traveling leaves a really nice impression of a place. Working with this makes me want to carry around 2 sketchbooks; one for filling with nice drawings and more polished work and another cheaper one for half baked ideas and sketching out concepts (rarely a pretty final product from that)

I've returned to DF since and have another trip coming up. It's a great city to get inspired in, but in a very mellow fashion. For me, a place where things feel a little slower and chilled out is the best place to be creative. I've never thrived in fast paced high pressure environments - my ideas need to incubate and change and evolve. If I could get the cash to spend 6 months there I'd buckle down and finish a graphic novel.

Besides Berlin it's my favorite city, followed by Tokyo which is overdue for another visit. New York is home and always will be, even if I move away but there are cities out there that support my spirit in a bigger way.