Meet Alicia Aradillia, a Spanish artist who travels the world with her colors, brushes and sketchbook. The illustrator sketches 365 days a year. Guess where has her wanderlust landed her? That’s right, her latest trip brings her to India. After having recreated iconic landmarks like the Great Wall of China and the Statue of Liberty in New York in her sketchbook, she now has her eyes on Indian architecture. From the Red Fort in Delhi to Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, she plans to travel through India and paint historical monuments.
She has split her travel into two halves, North India and South India. She is nearly done with her adventure in North through cities like Delhi, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra and Orchha. She now intends to utilize the rest of her time by traveling through South India. She has chosen to commute through Indian Railways as it is the best way to meet a lot of local people there and find out more about the country.
India wasn’t as easy for Alicia as she thought it would be.
For European people India is a very different country, full of contrasts, colors, people… Nothing I can compare with I saw before. So for me to come here and to be able to translate all these things on my sketchbook with my watercolors was a huge challenge.
Her personal favourite from her Indian voyage has been the Taj in Agra.
Taj Mahal was something special. Although they didn’t allow sketching inside the premises of Taj Mahal, so I tried to find different spots outside. I painted it twice, one from the other side of the river and another one from a rooftop until I was satisfied with the end result.”
The advice she would like to give to fellow artists is:
One thing is to travel slowly, with time. Another thing you have to learn is that is more important to live the experience (talk with people, enjoy the moment, etc.) instead of just focusing on getting the perfect piece of art. No matter if the result is not as good as you expected, the main thing is the story behind the drawing.”
Her magical watercolor strokes are a social media rage. Her Instagram profile a.aradillia is a treasure trove for art lovers.
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