Travel With Your Muse

Theres a certain kind of traveler that loves art and beauty. She seeks it out and spends hours trolling through museums, wandering around cathedrals and looking, seeing so much that she may develop a sore neck, or worse, Stendhals Syndrome. Stendhal, a 19th century French novelist, was so overcome with the beauty of Florence that he developed symptoms of disorientation dizziness, sweating, and overwhelm. Over the years, others have reported similar symptoms when faced with so much beauty. The lover of art and beauty is forced to take refuge in caf breaks and deep naps at the hotel. Art, however, can provide the solution for too much beauty. Not viewing it, but doing it.

Simple art exercises provide a way for a traveler to absorb the splendors of travel in a deep, meaningful, and lasting way. Quick sketches done as a drawing or a brief writing of details offer an opportunity to slow down and really soak up a setting. Artist Frederick Franck, in his book The Zen of Seeing, encourages drawing as a way to turn overwhelm into depth an intimate way. Atmospheres build themselves up out of a million imperceptible micro details, elements often too minute, too fleeting for the...