Blog post: 19 June 2025 - continued (3)

Wish you were here?

I started creating my Digital Postcards in 2023 whilst touring on honeymoon in South Africa. I’d taken lots of other drawing materials with me to try and keep creative momentum whilst taking time out of my Royal Drawing School ODDY23 course. At the last moment, inspired by Fraser Scarfe's digital drawing module on the course, I'd downloaded Pocket Procreate onto my mobile and packed my old Meko stylus.

I soon found that the immediacy of picking up my mobile to make a drawing was easier in short amounts of time between tour stops and much less hassle than carrying around loads of art stuff, especially whilst on the move. I was making more drawings more frequently and with more fluidity than I might otherwise make in traditional media. The mobile format resulted in unusual long and thin compositions, with mark making less dutiful and the drawings benefitted from the reduced time spent on them.

Making a collection of digital drawings from our trips and providing a little commentary has become a fun way to share the amazing experiences we've enjoyed with followers on Instagram. Thus began the habit of sending digital postcards home. I don't pack traditional media items anymore.

Madeira sea view - Madeira postcards were made on iPad Air using Apple Pencil and were more sustained drawings since we were staying in one place for much of the holiday.

Whilst not strictly digital postcards, I was able to make digital drawings on location as the Artist in Residence at Dumfries House, where wet media materials were not permitted inside. I was introduced to each visiting tour group, who were delighted to see the in-progress backlit iPad studies I was making of the interiors. I have also welcomed the curiosity of visitors to Great Dixter who are keen to understand how the iconic borders inspire drawings made on an iPad. Similarly in Mexico whilst drawing the ofrenda in a family house with the tour group we were part of, I became the focus of attention myself.

However, it's also possible as an artist to go entirely unnoticed. Whether silently observing a weaver bird creating a nest from our hotel room in Port Elizabeth, making digital studies in public spaces in hotels or even drawing from a lounger on the beach in Kefalonia nobody will bother you as they are likely to be staring into their mobiles too.

Over time, I've noticed that I can remember things about the places I've visited more clearly through drawing than by taking a photograph. Memories such as in Mexico when I wander up to take in the view from the hotel rooftop to find a gloriously clear morning complete with smoking volcano (Popocatépetl). Moments, watching giraffes appear out of the heat haze on our last morning in Victoria Falls or the light changing in the port of Argostoli as a new weather system came in.

Digital Postcard Series
Marbella 2025
Madeira 2025
Mexico - Day of the Dead 2024
Kefalonia 2024
Andalusia 2024
Miami 2024
South Africa 2023

Day of the Dead selfie created on mobile with a Mekon stylus and later used to inspire my first screen print.

More about Karen's digital drawing practice | 1 | 2 ‎ | 3 ‎ |