Travel and Art Journaling an Amazing Adventure
Travel & Art Journal an Amazing AdventureGreece - UK - France
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure.
There is no end to the adventures we can have
if only we seek them with our eyes open.”
– Jawaharial Nehru
Traveling changes you. Keeping an art journal helps process and remind us of the important memories. Going on our amazing adventure to the UK, France and Greece was wonder full! So much beauty! I'm finding my life and perspectives have expanded through the process of going so many new places and meeting new people that have now become friends. Writing and art journaling the journey is so rewarding.
This Year has Brought a lot of Firsts
This was the first time we've gone on a trip for a whole month. We had a marvelous time, but a month is a long time to be traveling.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel
until he comes home and rests his head
on his old, familiar pillow.”
– Lin Yutang
For this big trip adventure I made a travel journal out of a paperback dotted journal and an old book cover I altered in a scrapbook type of journal. This was my main journal for the UK and France part of the journey. In the Greece art part of the trip we made another art journal in class. I also brought my regular journal which I always carry with me. Too many journals to put info in really, but I learned a lot and have no regrets.
1st time to Mont-Saint-Michel, France - checking that off on my bucket list. What an amazing place!
First time to meet Mary Beth and John Shaw, whom I’ve designed stencils for two years. What a delight!
1st time we’ve gone on a group tour. We went on 2 walking tours, one prayer walking with NOVO in London and the other an art walking tour in Greece with the Blue Walk and Mary Beth Shaw from StencilGirl® Products.
1st time I’ve done travel journaling with a group making an abstract travel journal
All the participants made a travel journal in Mary Beth Shaw’s class. She has a casual easy style that allows for each person to create in freedom. Like I said, I had never made an abstract travel journal and was excited for the challenge to make it meaningful and relate to the memories we were making there. In the class there was a focus on pattern, color and texture. Of course we used StenciGirl® stencils. I loved it!
3 Goals for Growth in Travel Art Journaling
I had three goals for my art journal:
Loosen up my style and create meaningful pages without having to represent every thing.
Creatively use collage and mixed media
Use watercolor in new ways since it travels so much easier than acrylic paint.
I was very pleased at what watercolor can do and how it can be used in mixed media and grew in ways to use collage creatively.
Nearly halfway through the Greece tour, I was able to make this new travel art journaling my own by mixing the process I was learning with my own art journaling process. When my pages all had some color, line, pattern and collage on them, I looked through them asking myself if that particular page felt like of any significant place, event or feeling on our trip. They did! I was pleasantly surprised and named some of the pages.
Looking through the photos on my iPad for places, events or things that held significance for me, I incorporated some of those images by sketching and painting them on the pages. What fun! Here are some photos I looked at and the journal pages that represent them.
This revelation of combining abstraction with representational art in new ways is exciting for me.Thank you for joining me for this mini-journey through my travel journal pages.
May you be blessed in your own creative journey at home and abroad!
Stencils Used in This Post
Many stencils were used in Mary Beth's class from StencilGirl® Products.
The stencils in the scrapbook style page are these below:
StencilGirl® ProductsBible Journaling Figures9x12" L
StencilGirl® ProductsFigures Praising9x12" L727
StencilGirl® ProductsGoing Global Small6x6" s556