A business trip and a day out in Heidelberg

At the beginning of last week, I had to fly to Germany for a business trip in Karlsruhe. For whatever reason, I couldn’t log in to the plane’s WiFi network, so I had to spend the whole flight in airplane mode. After the initial frustration, I realised that it was a perfect opportunity to exercise my sketching skills, so I took out my sketchbook and made an attempt at drawing the cabin.

I’ve been drawn to planes since I was a kid, but until now I just couldn’t muster the courage to draw them. I suppose I lacked the understanding of perspective required to capture their complexity.

On Wednesday, we took a break from meetings and boarded a regional Deutsche Bahn train for a one-hour trip to Heidelberg, a picturesque medieval town known for its castle and old sandstone bridge arching over the Neckar River.

My colleagues and I spent the day wandering the narrow streets and alleys of the medieval city and hiking the hills on both sides of the river. First, we visited the castle, with its pharmacy museum and giant wine barrels. Then, we stopped at a bistro to sample the national Venezuelan dish, Pabellón Criollo, before crossing the bridge to the Philosopher’s Way, an alleyway offering panoramic views of the castle and the old town.

On the flight back, I attempted my first ever sketch in curvilinear perspective. I think this perspective is much more dynamic and better suited to depicting this type of environment than the one-point perspective I used for the first sketch.