Christopher Lambert Books

This delightful little hardback book gave me ideas to enhance my travel sketching techniques. Chris uses a variety of approaches with his handful of sketching implements. I was particularly attracted to his work as he reached Italy in his travels. I carried this wee book on a recent sketching holiday to Turkey for inspiration, and even sought out a fine brown pen in the back streets of Istanbul to trial the effect which pleased me - especially when drawing old buildings or ruins.
It is worth taking the time to decipher Chris' squiggles, as you walk with him through the sights, sounds and smells of the streets and countryside, experiencing what he feels. I read it from cover to cover.
I recommend it to anyone who enjoys quick travel sketching or who wants a flavour of France, Switzerland and Italy.

As a collector of small hand drawn or hand written journals, I was happy to add this one to my bookshelf. It is a fascinating account of an elderly man's walk (with only a knapsack) from Le Havre to Rome. That fact alone I found awesome!! He records his days with keen perception and charming drawings, and the writing--what I could read of it--is quite interesting. His drawings are charming and quite wonderful. My main complaint is that it is rather difficult to read what he wrote, and his journey was so interesting, I felt cheated when I couldn't make it out....hence the three stars. But it is unique among the flurry of little books like this which have been published in the last five years. An evening with a book like this, with its quirky little handwritten comments and completely individual drawings, is an enjoyable antidote to the rigid world of computers, instant copies, and fax machines.