Train Journeys, Coffee, and Sketchbook Notes from a Danish Train Ride
Updated: Oct 13
Sketchbook Notes from a Winter Train Journey
On a winter train from Copenhagen to Aarhus, the Danish countryside passed in whites and grays: snow-covered fields, frozen lakes, and groups of bare trees appearing briefly beyond the glass.
I had brought my sketchbook, intending to work on ideas for a landscape drawing—tree lines, open fields, perhaps the beginning of a future illustration. I started sketching, but the changing view soon became more interesting than the plan.
Frost clung to the branches, and the faint reflections of passengers appeared and disappeared in the windows. Steam rose from a cup of coffee farther along the carriage. Beyond the glass, farms and small buildings emerged from the snow before slipping out of sight again.
When the snow began to fall more heavily, the view became less distinct. Fields, frozen lakes, and distant houses were briefly visible before disappearing behind the weather. I stopped trying to turn everything into an immediate idea and allowed the journey to provide its own material.
Eventually, I opened my sketchbook again and began drawing a tree that had caught my attention somewhere along the route. I could not have identified the exact place afterward. The drawing remained unfinished, but it recorded the shape of the trunk and branches while they were still fresh in my mind.
A Winter Afternoon in Aarhus
After arriving in Aarhus, I walked along Graven, one of the older streets in the center of the city, and stopped for coffee. From my table beside the window, I could see the street beyond a tall candle and the reflection in the glass.
Later, I visited Hans og Grete Kaffe & The, an old tea shop filled with tins, packets, and objects collected over many years. I left with two bags of Darjeeling—one as a gift and one for myself—and a vintage tea tin I had not planned to buy.
The sketch from the train remained unfinished, but it preserved something more useful than a polished drawing: the structure of a tree glimpsed during the journey and the beginning of an idea I may return to later.
Travel often enters my illustration work indirectly. A landscape, interior, or object may remain unused for months before becoming part of another scene. This journey left me with a page in my sketchbook, several photographs, and a closer look at the winter landscape between Copenhagen and Aarhus.
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