Last month I returned from a six-week trip to France. It’s the longest I’ve ever been away from home, and the travel journal I kept during the trip chronicles every one of the forty-four days I spent there.
During my time away, I taught two workshops, vacationed for two weeks with friends, and enjoyed my first-ever river cruise. It was an incredible experience, and, happily, my family survived my absence, even though I’m sure life wasn’t the same without me here.
Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be posting pages from my travel journal which totals a hefty 70 pages. I accomplished a lot during my time away, but it was impossible to complete everything while I was traveling, so I’ll be finishing up a lot of half-completed pages as I find time this winter, snug and cozy in my warm studio while the snow flies outside.
I’m looking forward to it. It’s fun to look back over my photos and remember all the good times I had and the people with whom I shared them. Although I’m anxious to see the completed journal nestled next to the others on a shelf in my studio, I’m setting an intention to give myself some grace and just enjoy the process instead of rushing it. I hope you will follow along as I take steps toward the finish line, and celebrate with me when those 70 pages have all been filled!
The journal I used for the trip was a beautiful hardcover one I made several years ago. It’s filled with 140 lb. Kilimanjaro watercolor paper and measures 7″ x 7″. (You can find a tutorial for how to make a slip-on cover like this one here.)
A few days before I flew to France, I did some pre-trip sketchbook planning and got a start on my journal. I made a decision to keep a complete travelogue during the trip, a daily written record of locations and experiences. It could be a brief recounting, if necessary, but I knew that, if I didn’t write something every day, it would all very quickly become a blur and a lot of memories wouldn’t even make the trip home with me.
I also decided to organize the sketchbook into chapters: Paris, Giverny workshop, Bordeaux river cruise, Alsace vacation, and Alsace workshop. Above, you’ll see the very first chapter title (the first page of the sketchbook).
I designed all the chapter titles with the help of Google images. I Googled “decorative frame designs” and selected some that I liked, then, using Microsoft Publisher, I layered the title lettering over each frame. For continuity, I chose to use the same font, Shorelly, for all of the titles.
I designed all the chapter titles using decorative frame designs I saw online. Using Microsoft Publisher, I overlaid the title lettering onto each frame. For continuity, I used the same “Shorelly” font for all of the titles. (Download it for free here.)
This gave me a rough idea of what I would do for each chapter title , but there were still plenty of decisions to make along the way, as you’ll see. I printed out these rough drafts and took them along on the trip, so I could transfer the designs to my sketchbook when needed.
The framing was inked with a permanent black pen and painted with a small size 2 round brush. The lettering was drawn first with a pencil then painted with a size 0 round brush.
To create the striped background, I used a ruling template to draw a series of lines with a pencil and then painted between them. The blue dashed lines were added using a Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pen. (Here’s a step-by-step tutorial showing the process.)
Following the title page, I added a travel quote and a map of the regions where I would be traveling.
The colors were coordinated across the two pages. I kept the map fairly simple, because the quote page was busy, with its crazy lettering and polka dot patterned wash.
The border on the map page was cut from scrapbooking paper and glued on. Why? Because I had originally drawn and painted a border that I didn’t like. It was too busy and distracting. So I fixed the boo-boo with a bit of collage. Problem solved!
The quote lettering is a combination of two different techniques. The solid blue lettering was done using a calligraphy pen with a flexible pointed nib loaded with watercolor instead of ink.
The “Daring Adventure” lettering was inspired by a font called “Janda Fabulous”. I printed out the lettering and transferred it to the page, then inked it using colored felt-tip pens.
The final prep work I did before heading for the airport was to plan an itinerary calendar page, to give me a visual representation of where I was going and when. This way I could see the whole trip at a glance.
I got it all laid out and mostly inked before the trip, then worked on painting the border when I had time some down time in Paris.
The boxes are colored to show different chunks of my time in France: workshops, cruise, Paris, travel days, etc. The itinerary was penciled in early-on, but I waited until later to ink the place names, just in case my travel plans changed.
It felt good to be able to get a couple of pages done before flying off to Paris, and I liked knowing that I had a plan for breaking up the massive number of pages into chapters which corresponded to sections of my trip.
But this is only the beginning! I’d better get back to the studio now so I can finish up some more of those sketches that are waiting for me.
3 Comments
Wow Leslie what a gift to share with us. Thank you 😊 I just returned from Portugal and am in the process of putting together a journal. How many journals do you have on that shelf?
Hugs,
Karen
I have around 60 sketchbooks – that’s a mix of everyday journals and travel journals. They’re not all filled. Some are ones that I pull out and add to now and then. And a lot of the travel journals have unfinished pages. I wish they were all completed, but I’m always so busy with my teaching that I don’t have enough time to finish everything.
Awesome 🤩