As always, I wish I could capture a place with style, charm, and (most importantly) a vague likeness with something other than a camera. I can't draw. I can't sketch (is sketching drawing?). And I sure as heck can't paint. But thank goodness there are folks out there who can. What a wonderful way to travel and remember the world. Watercolors like this are my favorite. So lovely.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - rufusdos - photo - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: London, England ★
Photo courtesy of rufusdos

Have you been to London? I haven't. Not yet, anyway. Therefore it's still very much an imagined place for me. With no firsthand knowledge of what it's actually like, I'm constantly forming a dreamy version of the reality I might find, based on photos, and movies, and delicious watercolor sketches like these. Ignorance is bliss, in this case. It's actually half the fun; that impressionable state we find ourselves in when conjuring up a foreign destination before we've even been there. And more so than pictures, I like to dream of (personally) uncharted places through the eyes of artists whose medium is pen or pencil, paint and paper. Without a doubt, the dreamiest!

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - Alvaro Carnicero - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: London, England ★
Sketch courtesy of Alvaro Carnicero

I wish like the dickens I could draw. Don't you? I find it fabulous when artists have a distinctive style - like handwriting - that identifies a piece immediately as a such-and-such (Picasso, Van Gogh, etc.) This artist definitely has that developed voice when it comes to sketches. I love these three drawings of Venice. Love, love, love! Oh what I wouldn't give to have similar skill and sense of style. I love taking pictures, but I think I'd love the ability to draw even more.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - La Ola - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Venice, Italy ★
Sketch courtesy of La Ola

If you could be granted one talent that you don't already possess, what would it be? Without hesitation, for me, it'd be the skill to sketch or paint. I can't think of many things more charming or intriguing than an artist's sketchbook, full of drawings or watercolors of moments illustrated abroad. Photography is great and all, but photographs don't hold a candle to compositions captured and painstakingly rendered by hand. It's the element of je ne sais quoi, I guess.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - roeschzwo - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Paris, France ★
Sketch courtesy of roeschzwo