In April, I decided to take a Greyhound bus to see my birthmother in Indiana, go to a writing conference in Michigan, and pitch an idea to some wonderful publishers in Toronto.  I was out of work, and had been for many months.  The only affordable way to do this that I could see was to go by Greyhound Bus.  It would take almost three weeks.  I knew I would be on the bus for awhile.  But I had this idea, that I would sketch the people and the places I saw outside my window on my journey.  Just for fun.  I would tweet them as “Sketches from the Road”.  On one hand, I wanted to get my drawing hand back into practice.  I used to be a cartoonist a long time ago, and a portrait artist, but I just hadn’t done a lot of that in many years.

So I did these sketches as I went and it kept me busy and made me really look and see the new places around me.  They weren’t people and buildings passing by–I had to know their brickwork and their coats.  And that makes a difference in the experience you have while traveling.  At least it did for me.  

Greyhound liked the whole thing so much that they decided to feature me on their blog, The Hound, and I’m really happy about that.  Geist magazine saw the sketches, via my friend Lily Gontard, and wanted to publish the sketches to tell a story of my journey.  I’m really thrilled about that too.

Here’s the Greyhound Link to their interview with me on The Hound.

I will put up more of these sketches soon, as soon as I know what Geist needs.  I have more wonderful news to share from Toronto soon, and when Geist’s article comes out in the fall, I’ll link you there as well.  Look for more sketches soon.

Until then, enjoy your travels!