My visit to the Grand Canyon was a dream come true! It was on my bucket list and everything I hoped for. Keith was a great sport too. He does not like heights, but went along, delighted and cringing at my joy of feeling on top of the world.

The little Moleskine watercolor journal offered me various ways to include photos, write, paint etc.Some pages were title pages such as this page below. Here is a photo that shows the process: painted with a fine pointed tipped waterbrush using the watercolor kit, and then outlined in black:

Here is the page finished:

And in the spread with a photo of me at the entrance of the canyon. It was fun to take our photos at the national park signs. We often took photos of other groups and they took ours, a place of pleasant connection with those on a similar journey.

You may have noticed, I've outlined the photos with a wobbly fine line (XS Pitt pen) to tie in the hand done feel of the book, linking the photos with hand written text and watercolor painting.

Usually, it is not practical for me to paint on locations when we travel, so I take photos and then airdrop them onto my mini iPad and paint a little painting from that. I try and paint it as soon as possible after I took the photo. There were opportunities in the heat of some of the days when we were resting in the comfort of air conditioning. This spread shows the photo and the painting. When I paint, I try and capture the feeling I felt when being there. No pressure to replicate the place. After all, I have the photo, right?

Sometimes I write around the photos too:

One thing I really like is when my travel companion is willing to write in my journal. It is good to get other perspectives and handwriting in my travel journals:

If my favorite part was standing on the heights, Keith's was hiking at the base of a canyon wall, in water. Here at Zion National Park, his dream was realized. I love that!

At Zion, along the Virgin River, we hiked (along with many other people) along the beautiful river bed, such as the photo below on the left. On the right I drew and painted a stack of stone cairns people had left on a big rock in the river. Keith ventured out to take a photo of them. It reminded me of the lesson I looked for each day on our trip. The lesson for that day was that each person's desire and dream is important. We lived it as we made choices and took action during our visits to the Grand Canyon And Zion national parks.

We go farther, deeper, and higher with each other than on our own. I am so thankful!

SUPPLIES USED:

• Moleskine Journal - 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" watercolor journal

• Koi Water Colors Pocket Field Sketch Box, by Sakura (It comes with one Medium/small tip waterbrush)

• Yasutomo Niji Waterbrush, Small

• Prismacolor pencil sharpener

• Kneaded eraser

• White eraser (The one in the link below is not the one in the photo, but I have used it and it works well)

• 2 HB pencils

• Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens: size XS, S and C (Calligraphy) Note: I did have a Sharpie no-bleed pen on hand, but if the Faber-Castell Pitt fineliner pen set is purchased (a better deal in the link below), the Sharpie is not needed.

Amazon Links to Supplies:

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