Summer time means vacation time, a great opportunity to sketch!

This is the time of year that we all take vacations, it is also the perfect opportunity to capture that wonderful trip in your sketchbooks. By taking the time to journal and sketch you will preserve your trip forever. You can relive that special time for free! I find I would much rather look through my journal than through a photo album.  

Here are some tips for keeping a successful travel journal.

  

1. Travel light, take a journal, a mechanical pencil, eraser, small paint box and a water brush.

2. Remember that this is your sketchbook and it should represent the scene, not be a perfect studio painting. Here I quickly painted in the bushes and trees capturing how green everything was. The Elk was a bonus!    

3. If you want to take the time to capture more details like this pencil sketch in Yosemite, start it and then take a photo with your camera to work on later.

4. Sometimes it's hard to take the time away from family or friends if traveling with others. Try to grab a few moments and paint or sketch and do all of your journaling later at night before you go to bed. I traveled in Italy and I would paint during the day and journal in bed at night. I am so glad I did that too since many of the wonderful adventures might have been forgotten since we crammed so much into a few weeks. Here I have left room on the left to journal later. 

5. Remember its your journal so capture the things that are special to you! Journal about your adventures, both good and bad. Sometimes the view out of your hotel window is a perfect thing to sketch. 

6. Add pockets or glue in ticket stubs and special napkins from restaurants and collage them onto your sketchbook page before you sketch and paint over them. That can make for some great sketchbooks pages. 

7.Maybe sketch your suitcase or the clothes you are packing. Make it a whole sketchbook of your vacation and have fun!  

Happy Summer Vacation!!