While living in Spain from October 2010-May 2011, and traveling around for a month afterward, I was extremely blessed to get to rove with the end of meeting people, better understanding culture, seeing historical sites and art history, observing things around me and making good documentation of it all. See blog extensive posts for photos details of each leg of the journey.

When asked “What is the one piece of advice you would offer to a young, aspiring…designer?”, interior designer India Hicks, replied:
“For a young designer I would say, explore. Travel fuels ideas. Witness the trappings of another life; look for the tradition and beauty within it. Document each trip and all of the details, whether an upholstery fabric or a roof-tile pattern, a wooden fretwork balustrade or an old painted sign. These will one day inspire your work. My father’s famous tablescapes got much of their energy and interest from mixing poor and rich objects, and many of the poor had been collected by him on his travels. As a designer, you should always be looking, looking, looking.” (From Design*Sponge)

Indeed, that’s what I did.

Here is a little sampling of the many sketchbooks that came home filled with inspiration to draw from for a long time: