Earl Thollander’s “Back Roads…” books are informative, fun,
and artistically inspired.  As an Arizona native, I always enjoyed re-reading his “Back Roads of Arizona” book but he did many “Back
Road…” books including travels through New England, Texas, and the Carolinas. Each one filled with quick travel sketches of familiar places rendered in a unique spontaneous style.

His onsite sketches of scenery, animals, and people are constant
reminders that you can see more if you slow your pace and take some time to look carefully at the fine grain of places overlooked.

I corresponded with Earl for a short time and managed to acquire
a couple of his Arizona sketches before he passed away in 2001. 
Even his letters were an inspiration with his quick style of writing on a note page that was mostly filled with a large sketch.

Earl’s travel sketches were done with a simple set of tools – an old Rapidograph pen, a fountain pen, or my favorite for the variety of lines was his hand carved bamboo pen dipped in India ink.  Color was usually added afterward.  His family has created a valuable web site that has a good biography and samples of
his work.  He was a prolific illustrator of many books, but his travel
sketches are what inspired me to take a sketch book whenever I travel.

Earl’s web site is at:
http://earlthollander.com/index.html








Here is a list of Earl Thollander’s “Back Road…” series of books:
Back Roads of California
Back Roads of Washington: 74 Trips on Washington's Scenic
Byways Earl Thollander's San Francisco: 30 Walking Tours from the Embarcadero to the Golden Gate
Back Roads of Oregon
Back Roads of New England
Back Roads of Arizona
Back Roads of the Carolinas
Back Roads of Texas
Back Roads to the California Coast: Scenic Byways and Highways to the Edge of the Golden State
Arizona's Scenic Byways
Sunset Back Roads of California
Barns of California: A collection

My watercolour sketches actually started when Lindy signed us up for a weekend workshop with Kath Macauley to do “pocket sketches” (see http://pocketsketching.com).  Kath conducted a fun but brilliant workshop that demonstrated a truly quick approach to doing travel sketches.  Not only did she have a simple technique for quick sketches, but she had the whole kit figured out.  She used a small 6 x 9 inch sketchbook that worked well with felt tip pens and watercolors, a Pilot Razor Pen, the Winsor & Newton Water Colour Compact Set, two plastic film canisters for the watercolour brush, and her specially designed kit that holds everything and also becomes a tummy pack for holding the sketchbook.

Everything was so well thought out and compact - I was hooked!  The other trick that she introduced to us was the concept of letting a felt pen bleed and using that bleeding technique for effect.  Below I've attached examples of her work.

She is a remarkable teacher and I highly recommend her web site and her classes – she makes everyone feel talented and special.

If you have an opportunity to take one of her classes, you will not only learn how to do quick sketches, but you will also learn great teaching
techniques.  Look at the image below from our class with Kath. 
She is celebrating a student’s work by placing it in a frame.  How special is that!

Kath’s web site is at:
http://pocketsketching.com/