Tintagel, England. Claire Simpson Jones, artist
By Julie Ann Bell
Has the travel bug bitten you this spring? Familiar and new places are calling out with budding trees, blooming gardens and great weather for exploring. Hiking trails, quaint towns, gardens and sidewalk cafes are ready to grab your imagination. Many of us capture these moments with cameras, diaries or notes on our calendar.
Another way to save memories of a place and time is to sketch, whether on a napkin, map or whatever surface you have at hand. Claire Simpson Jones, a watercolor artist at Trackside Studios, loves to bring her sketchbook, pencil and small watercolor travel set on her journeys to be ready for these moments. “I have had a serious case of wanderlust my whole life,” she says. Her travels have taken her to many countries, sketchbook in hand, but, she says, “the UK is my favorite place on earth.” She finds herself returning time and again to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland where “the lush green countrysides, timelessness and enchanting atmosphere touch my soul.”
Drawing and painting has been “a passion and refuge throughout my life,” says Simpson Jones. She taught high school art for 24 years and now teaches at Trackside Studios and elsewhere. Watercolors, she says, “suit my nature and keep my interest. They have so many wonderful, unique qualities—above all, their luminosity and transparency, allowing light to reflect from the white paper underneath the layers of washes. It’s a medium that begs the artist to let go and trust in the process.”
So many people love sketching to capture the essence of a place and time, that an international non-profit organization, Urban Sketchers, was formed in 2009. It includes members in 70 countries with chapters in 549 cities, including Asheville. Members are people who love to sketch on location to capture their surroundings in real time. “There is nothing to substitute for actually being out in nature with all my senses alive, working quickly to capture the true essence of a scene before me, with light and atmosphere changing before my eyes,” says Simpson Jones.
The local Asheville, Charlotte and Greenville, SC, chapters of Urban Sketchers will be convening in the River Arts District the first week of June for their Carolinas Sketch Crawl 2026. Trackside Studios is hosting one of their community events, Sketching Without Fear, on June 5. We will also be displaying sketches, sketchbooks and travel sketches from several of our artists in our Stairway Gallery and Hallway Gallery throughout May and June.
Various sketching classes will be offered, including Pat Abrams’ class for people who say they can’t draw or who want to try to loosen up their sketching and Simpson Jones’ travel sketching with watercolors.
For those interested in travel sketching, Simpson Jones recommends starting with a good quality sketchbook with 100 percent cotton paper, preferably cold press; a small travel watercolor paint set; a set of watercolor travel brushes; and a collapsible water container.
If the travel sketching bug bites, we’d love to see what you create!
Trackside Studios is located at 375 Depot Street in the River Arts District. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, and by appointment. Learn more at TracksideStudios.com.
