I’ve just returned from a weeklong vacation…travelled down south with the Southern Man to visit some of his family. Though the airline travel was a tad uncomfortable, the payoff to have time to laugh, play and unplug for a week was well worth it.
My daily routine of creating every day and minding my art process gets a tweak when I am away from home…there’s no workshop studio, no sewing machine, no computer…just a few simple supplies and my travel journal.
Its interesting…I don’t journal when I’m at home…I keep thinking I should…and I try it out…but it never feels right and so I never keep up with it. But I do journal when I’m travelling…as if it connects me with the place and time to spark memories when I return home.
I use a spiral bound notebook (5.5” x 8.5”) of heavy duty sketch paper, with a piece of binder twine to hold it together. I bring along a ziplock bag of random paper scraps and another smaller bag of supplies - small scissors, a glue stick or two, a couple of fine-tip markers and pencils and a small straight edge…usually a metal seam gauge since it serves double duty for measuring as well as tearing paper edges.
I focus on creating collages that utilize papers and ephemera that I pick up while on my current adventure. Supplemented with the small stash of random scraps I bring along, its enough to capture the time and place of my journey.
Some past examples with a summary of the papers used…
Here’s what I created on this last trip…the sleeve from the life-saving cup of coffee after a red-eye flight was perfect with a little scissors editing…
Though none of these collages are finished pieces, they are often a jumping off point for other ideas…or the foundation of a digital collage composition since I can transfer a photo of the collage to my computer once I am home and continue to play with manipulating the photo with layers of additional images and textures.
I highly encourage you to take up this practice…I pack everything I need into a ripstop nylon flat envelope that keeps everything together while taking up minimal space. And of course there’s plenty of space to write, draw, doodle…whatever mechanism of creativity works for you.
Two opportunities coming up to purchase my art…remember…the holidays approach!
- Artist Garage Sale here in Everett on Saturday, September 25. Its a great sale to get fabulous prices on art and supplies as over 100 artists clean out their studios. I’ll have a booth here with supplies, ephemera and original art at unbelievable prices! Get all the info HERE
- I’m working on restocking and beefing up my Etsy shop with original art and Artist Tote Bags in addition to my postcards, prints and magnets. I plan to be done with the overhaul by September 10…and newsletter subscribers can look forward to a special sale coupon in their mailbox to get first dibs on everything in the shop.