SKETCHBOOK

Eleanor Doughty on Hiroshima.

“Of course, I knew about the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima almost 75 years ago,” says Seattle-based illustrator Eleanor Doughty of her visit to the southern Japanese city last September. “But only as I started wandering around did I begin to really comprehend that every inch of the place had been destroyed— and to appreciate the tenacity it must have taken for people to come back to rebuild Hiroshima into the quiet, charming riverside city it is today, full of street trolleys and cyclists.” One partially rebuilt site is Hiroshima Castle, a 16th-century landmark whose outer gate, accessed via a gently arched footbridge that spans a koi-filled moat, is depicted here. “As you can see from the raindrops in the water, it was a wet day, but I managed to rig my umbrella in a tree to keep me dry as I sat and painted,” Doughty recalls. “I later learned that there are several old trees on the castle grounds that had somehow survived the blast, even though the bomb detonated just blocks away. If that’s not a symbol of perseverance, I don’t know what is.”