This flowery two-page spread chronicles the day our group of sketchers visited Monet’s garden in Giverny.
I had so much I wanted to write that day that I had to glue an extra page (the one on the left) into my sketchbook to make room for more journaling.
That’s always one of the trickiest parts of keeping a travel journal, figuring out how much space to save for writing when I’m out sketching during the day.
Visiting Monet’s garden was a dream come true for me, and I knew a few brief phrases in my journal couldn’t capture everything I wanted to write about the day, so I added this fold-out panel to give myself plenty of space to record my memories.
The facing page was done as a “5-5-5 Sketch Challenge” with my students. The idea was to walk for 5 minutes, draw for 5 minutes, and paint for 5 minutes to fill one box on the grid. The process was repeated as many times as needed to fill all the boxes on the page.
So, we each gathered a small portable sketch kit consisting of a sketchbook, a mini palette, a water brush, and a pencil or pen, then we walked around and did quick little sketches on a pre-drawn grid.
I should mention, too, that we had pre-painted our pages with a variegated wash of Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose (Quinacridone), and Cadmium Yellow Medium. It gives a page a nice unified look when you draw and paint on top of a colorful background like this. And the background wash acts as the lightest value in the painting, saving time when sketching on location outdoors.
To read earlier posts about this 2025 France travel journal, check out these links:
In my next post, I’ll share one of my favorite sketches from this journal. It’s an iconic view that almost anyone would recognize…stay tuned!
