A Sketchbook Farewell: Capturing Edinburgh Before I Leave
Me and Edinburgh
In 2018, fresh from finishing my Master’s degree, I left Edinburgh with a quiet promise to myself: I’ll be back. Like so many who fall under the city’s spell — its historic and natural landscapes, it quirky streets and its gorgeous golden hour. I dreamt of making this place my home again. In 2023, I finally did.
Moving here felt like closing a loop. Edinburgh had been the birthplace of my art journey years before, where I first truly noticed the beauty of history and architecture, with soft decay of medieval walls and nature taking over. When I returned, I arrived with my sketchbooks and pencils, ready to see this city not as a visitor, but as someone who lived in its flesh.
For two lovely months after I arrived, before work, before social plans, before travel took over, it was just me, Edinburgh and my sketchbook. I walked the same routes again and again, out of fascination and excitement for finally living my manifestation. Every turn revealed another quiet corner worth sitting down to draw. I spent afternoons in New town and Old Town, capturing its Medieval and Georgian stone buildings; spending hours in Holyrood Park and Water of Leith.
But life happens, and wonderfully so. A job. Weekends away to the Highlands or England. Late nights at new food places or friends homes. Slowly, my sketchbook sat untouched. I told myself constantly, tomorrow.
And now, as it always does — time has sped up. My chapter here is ending. In a few days I’ll be back home in Canada. But before I go, I’ve made a quiet vow to myself: to fill this sketchbook one more time. To capture this city — as it is, as I am — in this fleeting last moment.
The Places I’ve Sketched in These Final Weeks:
Regent Bridge
I walked under bridge and archway every week at one point for my commute to Glasgow where I worked full time.
Tron Kirk
I will always remember this church as an essential actor for the halloween parades. It set a the perfect spooky atmosphere in the background.
The Tollbooth Tavern Clock
I used to walk past this clock almost daily when I did my masters but never fully acknowledged it till later.
The Vennel
This the first view I saw after a welcome party for my masters that made me click that I was truly in a magical place like no other.
Princes Street Garden House
I walked this cottage with friends having deep conversations everytime.
Balmoral Hotel
I would see this view often in my commutes, while shopping, hanging with friends etc. in Awe of all its details.
Sketchbook: A5 Moleskin
Pencils: Pental 0.3 lead pencil (2B), Faber Castell 3B
A Reflection: Drawing as Goodbye
I came to Edinburgh wanting to draw its essence and embrace it slowly, the way only sketching allows. But life swept me along, as life does. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s good. These last sketches feel not like “making up for lost time” but like a gentle closing of a beautiful chapter. They are my way of saying goodbye.
My sketchbook won’t capture everything, but when I look back through its pages in years to come, I hope I’ll remember the wind at Arthurs Seat, the smell of rain on old stone and the quite golden hours. I hope I’ll remember what it felt like to live here — really live here.
I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I carry Edinburgh with me now — in pencil lines and pages, in memory, in heart.
Goodbye for Now, Edinburgh. Until We Meet Again.
Written by Haneen Arshad
July 2. 2025
