Packing Light Tip for Our Art Trips

It's good to pack light when you travel these days.  Having your things in a small suitcase saves time, money and wear and tear on your body. 

I've developed a wardrobe of fairly thin layers of clothing that just fits in my suitcase along side my art supplies and other travel needs.  

But, I am always thinking of new ways to travel with less. One of the recent ideas I came up with, no one seemed to like or appreciate.  I suggested we all bring one outfit in size one size fits all which we would wear and pass on to another traveler (washed first, of course).  

I know when everyone sees these examples of one size fits all dresses and tops that I found online, they might not consider my idea foolish. 

Finding Your Almost Perfect Travel Sketchbook

When you are traveling anywhere, from your kitchen to your backyard, from Temecula to Tuscany you need to find a sketchbook that suits your particular needs.  

I am always looking for the best travel sketch book, but it doesn't exist, so if you're on a search for a sketchbook too, I suggest you use these questions to help make your choice. 

1. What size and weight sketchbook can you easily carry? 

2. What art supplies will you be using on the pages of your book? Watercolors need watercolor paper or 93 lb. or more mixed media paper.  

3. Do you want a neat, clean looking sketch book or do you prefer a creative looking book?  

4. Do you want your pages to be landscape or portrait?  I must have landscape so I can stretch my work across 2 pages if I need

Best All Around Choice is: the Moleskine WATERCOLOR Book. Make sure its says watercolor on the label because you get the best results with watercolor paper, the moleskine sketch paper doesn't grabbthe watercolor and that alone will make you cry.

Second Choice: put together your own sketchbook. Gather the paper you prefer (I prefer a mix of papers including some watercolor and mixed media paper as well as lined, graph and brown paper.  Either take your paper to a copy shop and have them spiral bind it or diy it. If you choose this option grab a piece of cardboard from the back of an old pad of paper and use that for the last page of your book. You can use cardstock or the front of s crackerbook for the front of your book. I like tonlaminate the front cover using my diy laminating machine I bought at Target or Walmart. 

If you like vintage books, I slice the pages out of an old book, reinforces the spine with web tape and use the phamphlet stitch to connect my folded paper to the spine. I also adore gluing in envelopes and pockets to hold things I find in my travels. 

What do you think? 

SPECIAL OFFER: The 10th person to comment on this post will receive the gift of one of my DIY  blank sketchbooks to record their travel details and images.

Here is the almost perfect sketchbook I took with me on our recent workshop tour of Scotland. It's definately not perfect but it worked well, was easy to carry and fit in my purse!

How About Painting Springtime?

I was employed by our local friends of the library to teach a watercolor class last Saturday.  The topic they gave me to teach was "Springtime". This topic can be translated into a painting in many ways.  Since I had just observed Spring in Scotland, I decided to draw 2 pictures of lambs and daffodils which were popping out everywhere in the Scottish countryside. 

Please tell me how you would paint Spring in your part of the world. 

Feel free to copy and paint my Spring lambs and daffodils. 

A Home for Artists

How can I find time to make art, is the FAQ I hear the most often. You can make your art supplies portable and easy to use, lose your inner art critic, learn some easy art techniques and buy preprepared meals. These are the answers I usually give to help you find art making time. Sometimes these strategies help but sometimes they don't.

So, I have found another possible solution:  

a home for runaway artists, a sort of Never, Neverland, where you can make art all day, in your pj's or fully dressed. 

Here is the home I am purchasing for us runaway artists.

Reflections From Our Watercolor Workshop in Scotland

The trip is complete. We are all home unpacking our suitcases.  I thought I would share with you some moments from our trip. 

My Book is Out!

I just received an email from Amazon suggesting books I might like. The book at the top of the list is mine! I think I will like it. I haven't held it in my hand yet. I didn't preorder my book because the publisher sends me some copies which haven't arrived yet. Since this is my first published book I am enjoying learning about the post publication process. So far I have one review on Amazon and there are a few slightly used copies for sale. How is it there are slightly used copies for sale when the book just came out in print?

As soon as my books arrive I will let you know what I think, other than I think if you are interested in learning how to paint and sketch anywhere, my book will teach you how.  

If you purchase the book and like it, I would appreciate it if you would write a review saying so on Amazon and a thank you from the bottom of my heart for purchasing it.

Painting in Airports

is a good idea if you had not dumped all the water out of your waterbottle and water brush to get through security. Our flight from Edinburgh dropped us in NYC with a 3 hour layover. My plan was to paste my travel ephemera on the empty pages in my journal and finish up some paintings. However the time change has boggled my brain so I think I will just put ink over pencil writing etc.

Scotland Watercolor Workshop Grand Finale

Today was the last day of our workshop in Scotland. We made our way down from the highlands yesterday and spent today exploring the Trossachs area. We wandered through the streets of the town of Callender and met some locals.

Then we visited Doune Castle, a former hunting lodge and one of the filming sites for Outlander. 

Today we all leave for our homes in different directions. Filled with memories of our trip to Scotland, scones and our new favorite Bellhaven's Best Beer.

Anywhere Art Goes Wild

Brian our guide mentioned we had to see what he thought was the most beautiful spot in the world. Naturally we had to include it in our tour itinerary. We drove to an inlet on the Isle of Skye and hopped on the ferry to the island to get to the most beautiful spot. 

We were handed oil cloth ponchos to wear for our journey.   The ponchos became indespensible when a light rain began to fall. We passed seals lounging on the rocks as we motored in to the cove. The boat dropped us off and sailed away. 

It was the most beautiful spot. 

Isle of Skye and Underwear Report

Yesterday was our first day exploring the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is filled with beautiful isolated landscapes dotted with white houses, barns and sheep.

Even though it looks chilly in the photo, the weather is 50 degrees, not too cold with no need for the 2 pairs of long underwear I packed. 

Continuing to Have Adventures in Scotland

In addition to touring Scotland, painting a bit and learning Scottish history, today some of us got a chance to practice Scottish battlefield moves.  

Art Supply Shop Pilgrimage

Some people seek out landmarks, religious sites and museums when they travel. I like to seek out those kind of places too, but my favorite place to find in a new city is the art supply shop. I am always searching for a new brush or paint color or ink pen or some type of supply that I have never seen before.  Also I enjoy going to these art shoppes because they are not big box stores like many of our art supply stores in the U.S. They are like the one I visited in Edinburgh this week, a quaint shop with windows filled with tempting supplies.

In this shop I purchased a 6" metal ruler, a tube of burnt sienna watercolor paint and a new kind of brown ink pen. I used no coupons and nothing was advertised  buy one, get your second one 50% off.

Royal Botanical Gardens

Note to self: have Rick build a gazebo just like this one we saw in the Royal Botanicals Gardens. It would be prefect in our backyard.

Finally Have A Picture Hanging In A Museum

We visited the National Portrait Gallery today. They had a station set up where you could draw a self portrait.  When you finished their were clips and wires to hang it up. Now I can say I have a piece hanging in a Scottish museum.  Right? 

Edinburgh, Scotland is Filled With Endless Watercolor Painting Subjects

Wouldn't this make a nice painting? There are beautiful doors everywhere in Edinburgh. I had to explain to Rick about how I liked to bring photos home of inspired images when I don't have time to sit and paint them on the spot. He wasn't quite sure why I was photographing every one's front doors... 

How to Happily Create Comissioned Paintings

I finished this tryptic painting for a client yesterday. Creating this work was a positively joyous experience.  

Comissions can be a lucrative part of an artist's income stream. However in an artist's eagerness to sell their work, its easy to become too much of a pleaser painter. A pleaser painter is a term I just invented which means you want to please the client and paint whatever they want in whatever colors they want. If someone is paying for a work of art it is understandable that they need to be happy with the painting, however we artists need clients that love our style of painting and trust us to take their ideas and imput and create our painting our way. 

A contract needs to be given to a client stating specifics like: once rough drafts are okayed a non refundable deposit must be paid, what the final cost will be, art material are included in the price, completion date and how many small changes are included in the cost + the cost of additional changes.

I must admit I had no contract in place for this painting (below) but the client gave me a deposit, asked for only one minor change and trusted me to do the painting my way. I am sure that's why doing this painting was such a positive experience for me.

One last positive thing my client did was to match her new bedroom accessories to the colors in my painting!  

Have you had any experiences with commissions that we need to know about?Send them to me in the comment section.

First Official Watercolor Wandering Class a Big Success!

Yesterday I met up with 2 ladies at the Art Lounge on the 101 in Encinitas for my first watercolor wandering workshop.  I equipped them with their necessities: a recycled mint tin filled with 6 colors, a thimble sized water container, a water brush, a small journal and some artists tissues. After a little classroom instruction they were ready to wander.  

We meandered to Rhino Art then to the coffee shop.  The students  worked really hard and produced great watercolor work.

The best thing of all was we all laughed and chatted as we painted and I forgot it was a class (I did remember to teach though), it seemed like I was painting with old friends. 

Watercolor Tryptic on Canvas

I am painting a typtich for a commission. The client wanted a large original watercolor painting on a canvas. I had to figure out how to do this. Its been a good learning experience. First I learned about Golden Absorbant Ground from a wonderful clerk at our Artists and Craftsmen shop in Hillcrest in downtown San Diego. I was looking for something called Fredrix Watercolor Canvas but that wasn't carried in our local shops in San Diego. Actually I think the Absorbant Ground is more versatile.  However, you need to paint at least 3 layers of it on the canvas. 

The painting is almost finished. I just got some feedback from the client and need to make some slight changes.  

I will post the finished painting soon. 

Cooking with Watercolor

I can't help myself, I am seeing watercolor still lifes everywhere in my house.  I look around and see some objects I left out on the counter from my breakfast.  I start to put these items away but am stopped by my need to admire their colors and shapes and how their color harmony.  I never get around to putting these things away, because I decide to get out my paints and paint them.  Have you have similar artistic encounters like mine? Can you please tell me about them in the comment section, so I can show your comment to my husband?

Watercolor and Sushi

At lunch on Saturday my sushi bowl posed for me.