Holiday or vacation sketching is pretty high on a lot of artists list. Who doesn't want to come back from a trip whether at home or abroad, with a travel journal full of lively sketches of your destination? They dutifully pack a few (or a lot) of supplies. And guess what? The supplies come back with a great sun tan, but haven't been used. I want to share my travel sketchbook, not because it is perfect in anyway, but it shows what can be done in a short time to capture lots of wonderful travel and holiday memories. I hope it inspires you to do a travel sketchbook or your own on your next vacation.
This sketchbook is a mix of urban sketching, nature journal, a diary and notebook. Most sketchers were done from life, but some were done from photos. Most are line and wash, as I find that the fastest way to capture my impressions of a place.
I've just returned from a six week trip to Hawaii, Australia and Thailand (I know, I am incredibly lucky) and was determined to keep a travel sketchbook to remind me of this amazing trip. Sketching your surroundings is a brilliant way of improving your mindfulness, getting to know your destination better, improving your art, making your memories stronger and meeting new people. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
But this trip was for my husband, so I didn't want to hijack it and so I kept most sketches to 20-30 minutes and did one every other day (ish). I thought that was pretty fair.
I took as few supplies as possible:
Etchr watercolour sketch book
Stabilo Point 88 pens - black and brown
Pigment fineliners - black and sepia - in a range of widths 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.8mm
Waterbrush
Spritz bottle
Derwent line and wash paint set with a few added colours
No pencil or eraser - no time to erase mistakes!!
Here are some films you might also find helpful:
Make your own sketchbook to take on holiday - • How to make a watercol...
Review of Etchr watercolour book - • Which is the best sket...
Painting the cover of the Etchr sketchbook - • Painting the cover of ...
Make your own travel palette - • How to make a mini wat...
In the near future I will put together a film about my top tips and hints for travel sketching, so please watch out for that. Each week I do a short film to share a technique or subject, so please like and subscribe and hit the notification bell and you will know when the next one is out.
I also run a lovely, friendly Facebook group which is a great place to meet up with like minded artists, to share your work or to ask questions. You can find it here: groups/watercolourstudiowithlizchaderton.
#lizchaderton #lineandwash #travelsketch
If you want more in depth training, I have pre recorded courses available at www.lizchadertonstudio.co.uk so that you can study whenever and wherever you like.