When Beth googled “magical places in Europe” to visit during our big adventure, I noticed a shift in my thinking. It wasn’t just castles that seemed magic, but it was like there was some indefinable sparkle in the air where almost anything seemed special. I suppose that looking at things through a sketchbook does that to you too – where you really focus on the tiniest little things – and even the way the light comes in a window can spark your imagination.

That’s what this drawing was about. We were staying in Pip’s airbnb in Edinburgh, and I was lazing on the couch looking out the window when it seemed like the whole scene just lit up, beckoning us to explore further, and wondering what lay out there, just beyond our reach.

It’s hard to show, but Pip has these amazing red velvet curtains, and the sun was coming in the window in a way that made the curtains glitter and the wooden window frames light up like a precious metal. Through the shine of the velvet curtains there was this gorgeous old church, with its stones set “just so” and, I’m sure, a lot of stories to tell, if only we knew …

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