Meet the correspondents: KANSAS CITY > Cathy Johnson

The Savoy Hotel is in Kansas City — the Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward movie, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, was filmed there! We spent a night of our honeymoon there, too...

"Cities and other collections of humans are fascinating — the culture, the people, the architecture, the history, the music, the art, and the food, all intertwined in one place. Each one seems to have its distinctive "flavor," doesn't it? And I enjoy the diverse tastes, whether the back alleys and mineral water wells of the small city I live in, to the incredibly urbane atmosphere of San Francisco, to the nightlife in Washington, D.C.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be an architect — until I discovered how much math they needed! NOT my long suit, but I never got over my love of buildings, of human habitations, whether Anasazi cliff dwellings or the crowded oceanside cottages in and around San Clemente, the brownstones, cheek-by-jowl, in Georgetown, or the old hotels, public buildings and museums in my native Kansas City, Missouri.

I've sketched ever since I was a kid — baby-book drawings from age 2 attest to that! And I've kept a journal for 25 years or so, dragging it through airports, onto buses and into cars, along with whatever art supplies I absolutely HAD to have. No matter where I am, city or country, I sketch. And when I do, I take time to experience and respond to my environment in ways I couldn't begin to, without pen in hand. I capture memories like a fly in amber."

• Cathy's blog.

• Cathy's art on Flickr.

• Cathy's website.