I love watercolour for its portability.
For me it’s the perfect on-the-go medium to capture travel memories. So when I found this tiniest of accordion sketchbooks (the Hahnemühle Zigzag in 5cmx5cm) it had to come with me to document the summer’s adventures in Svalbard.
Keen Arctic travellers might recognise the cabin – Bamsebu at Ahlstrandhalvøya. This site was used through the 1930s as a hunting ground for beluga. The bones of hundreds of beluga still litter the beach, now bleached white as the whales. Happily, it is now common to see pods of living Beluga in the fjord, their ivory backs arching above the water’s ripples. The Bamsebu hut has more recently been home to two Norwegian climate advocates, who spent two winters in residence during the coronavirus pandemic as part of the amazing project “Hearts in the Ice”. Check out their website for more information and for resources on ecology and climate for students around the world: https://www.heartsintheice.com/