Journal Archives - Nikki Martinez

Sketching Villa Bernasconi, The “Silk Villa”

Posted on 25/02/2019by Nyx

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Welcome, we’ve been expecting you.” It’s the first line on the paper you are handed at the entrance of Villa…

Posted on 10/09/2018by Nyx

Reading Time: 6 minutes Stillness is a good place to start. I’m flat on my back, eyes closed, head tilted upward. Hints of coconut…

Posted on 16/08/2018by Nyx

Reading Time: 4 minutes At 4 am, sunlight was already starting to filter through my open window at Hostinec U Hubálků. We zombied out…

Posted on 11/08/2018by Nyx

Reading Time: 4 minutes The first time I stepped into the chilly Czech Republic, John and I weren’t yet married. It was our first…

Posted on 14/07/2018by Nyx

Reading Time: 4 minutes Want to hear the true heartbeat of a city? Head to its local farmer’s markets. In Kampala, it was Owino,…

Posted on 13/11/2017by Nyx

Reading Time: 1 minute Temperatures have dropped drastically and the cold wind sets in. But the Fall season is still my favorite time of…

Posted on 29/07/2017by Nyx

Reading Time: 4 minutes If there was any place in Italy I’d always wanted to see, it was Pompeii. Here, I sketched with great…

Posted on 19/07/2017by Nyx

Reading Time: 2 minutes Up close with the leaning tower of Pisa, the iconic structure seems tiny. Tourists with selfie-sticks, crowds of visitors,…

Posted on 15/07/2017by Nyx

Reading Time: 2 minutes The goal is a little ambitious: to see as much of the Italian coast as we can while the kids…

Posted on 25/05/2017by Nyx

Reading Time: 4 minutes Ferrara took me and my sketchbook by surprise. On a whim, I went with Ellie, my four-year-old, to this city I’d…