Each month, different members of our Tampa-based Dunn&Co. team work from our London office. Senior Art Director Joel Santana was the latest to venture across the Atlantic. Read what he had to say about his time there:

This is a trip I’ve wanted to take all my life, but there was always something holding me back. As a young artist I thought, “When I get older I’ll go for sure.” Years later after getting married, we planned and planned, but life would keep happening and “getting in the way.” When the opportunity came about this year, we couldn’t pass it up. I couldn’t believe I would finally make my way out to Europe.

Walking through the streets of London, I was inspired by everything from the red phone booths to little 17th-century Pubs to historically beautiful and massive architecture. Living in London for several weeks was a wonderful experience and gave us the opportunity to jump over to Paris to enjoy the cinematic streets of Montmartre, which is located on a hill with incredible views. As an artist who always dreamed of visiting these places, I wanted to capture everything I saw. I wanted to draw, paint, photograph and record everything I experienced. No matter how many different angles I sketched the things I saw—or how many 360 rotation videos I took—nothing fully captured the entire experience. It was definitely a mental library overload, which will provide inspiration for many pieces of art. So many, in fact, that I’m sure I’ll never get to them all.

I’m not sure when I’ll make a second trip, and while life has an annoying tendency of getting in the way, I do hope we find our way back soon.