Travel journaling involves a substantial time commitment. When I keep a full-fledged illustrated travel journal that includes watercolor sketches plus written daily commentary on where I went and what I saw and did each day, it can be challenging to find enough hours in the day to complete everything during the trip. I usually have to finish up some of the sketches afterwards at home. But one thing that I make a top priority on every trip is to keep a written record of each day’s activities.
Some of my travel journals include a complete daily travelogue where I tell the full story of the trip in paragraphs of handwritten text which are woven throughout the journal, but I’ve discovered a quicker way to keep track of a trip itinerary when I don’t want to commit to that level of documentation, and it only takes a minute or two each evening.
I call it a Snapshot Travel Itinerary. Instead of writing long paragraphs of text, describing in detail all of the experiences I had on a particular day, I simply jot down a few concise phrases to serve as memory joggers. I design a page for these daily comments at the beginning of a trip and then write each day’s notes before I go to bed at night. (If I don’t keep up with it, things start to become a blur!)
The beauty of the Snapshot Travel Itinerary is that it’s so doable. When I’m worn out after a long day of touring and teaching, it’s easy enough to look back over the day, distill it down to a few short sentences (a written “snapshot” of my day), and pencil them in on my pre-drawn itinerary sketch.
For my trip to Croatia last year, I knew I wanted the itinerary page to have a theme that included the beautiful aquamarine water that’s such a part of our stay on the island of Korcula. I was in a fun and happy mood when I decided to do an underwater scene filled with colorful fish and use air bubbles for the daily jottings of our activities.
The sketch was drawn with Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner pens. I used an aqua color for the bubbles and yellow ochre for the fish. Since the ink in the Stabilo pens is water-soluble, the lines would blend into the watercolor when the sketch was painted.
I applied Pebeo Drawing Gum to the smallest bubbles, to make it easier to paint the background wash over them. The large bubbles were left open (no masking) so I would be able to pencil in my notes each day. I also masked the dot patterns on the large fish.
The first step in painting the pages was to brush on some soft, light washes of blues and pinks in the large bubbles to give them a bit of subtle coloring.
That’s all the painting I had time to do on this sketch during the trip, but I dutifully filled in my activities every day while we were there so I wouldn’t forget all the fun we had during those 12 days in the mainland town of Cavtat and on the island of Korcula.
Then the sketch sat untouched for eight months. Yes, eight months! When I get home from a trip, I always get busy working on the next class I have to teach, and my travel journal from the last trip sits on a stack waiting to be finished. It’s one of the biggest frustrations of my life! But I knew I had to get this sketch done because of that masking fluid I had slathered on eight months before. I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to get it off at this late date.
So the other day I decided I HAD to finish this page and find out whether I had ruined it by leaving it to languish for so long. I painted the watery background first, dropping salt into the wet wash as I moved across the page. It created an interesting bubble-like pattern that was just what I was hoping for.
Then I painted the largest fish using a rich variegated wash on the body and bright New Gamboge yellow and orange on the head, tail, and fins. All of the blue, yellow, green, and white dots were ones which had been masked eight months ago.
As you can see, I was able to lift off the masking fluid, even though it was old and dark and dried up. I used a masking fluid pickup and rubbed over it quite firmly. Believe it or not, every speck of masking fluid came off the sturdy 140 lb. Kilimanjaro cold-press paper.
What a relief! The page was saved!
I’m happy with the way it turned out. It’s cute, colorful, functional, and fun.
The bubbles worked out great for jotting down notes each day. The toughest part was being concise with my daily commentary. Brevity is not my strong suit. 🙂 But the cryptic notes are enough to remind me of all the amazing experiences I had during my time in Croatia.
It’s kind of a wild and crazy sketch, but that’s part of the fun of playing around in my sketchbooks. There’s no need to worry about making serious art or impressing anyone. If I want to paint a huge colorful fish that sprawls across a two-page spread, I can do it!
So keep this Snapshot Travel Itinerary sketch idea in mind for your next trip. It can be drawn up weeks ahead of time to give you a headstart on your travel journaling.
Happy travels!
14 Comments
Love this! Beautiful pages and brilliant concept! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Sharon!
Leslie,
These are great!!! Love the theme!
I would like to do some pages ahead for our trip to the Cotswolds. Any suggestions will be appreciated! Jaynie
I’ll be sending some pre-trip lessons that have lots of ideas for getting started on your trael journal.
Oh my God it is beautiful well worth the wait and the memories it brought back. Thanks for sharing.
Wish you had been able to do more during the trip. Sorry you were sick for so much of it. We need a do-over!
Leslie
Everything is stunning!
Are you going to offer any online courses?
Georgette
I don’t have any on the schedule. I prefer teaching in person.
What a cool idea, and a stunning result!
I may “borrow” this idea for an upcoming trip to Italy. Maybe an olive branch with BIG olives in which to write?
Great idea! You should definitely do that.
Dear Leslie,
I see that you visited Croatia. Well, I live in Croatia, in Zadar, specifically. You visited some places that I didn’t 🙂
I really like your works, ideas, creativity. It is huge. Thank you for sharing.
Best regards.
Darinka
Thanks so much for your kind remarks, Darinka!
You are so creative! I’ve had a few (of what I thought were) imaginative ideas for my sketchbook in the past-but this takes it to a whole new level😳! Thanks for your informative posts.
Side note-a long drive home is taking us through Charlotte so I can stop at Cheap Joe’s to buy one of your designed journal writing grids (and other things, too!)
Thanks, Denise – I was pretty excited about the idea, too. Have fun shopping! Someone told me that they don’t stock the SketchLiner Stencil in Charlotte, but be sure to ask when you’re there. Even if the stencil isn’t available, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other goodies!