Moleskine Travel Sketchbooks

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Moleskine Travel Sketchbooks

I’m back in the studio after a week-long vacation with family. The moleskine travel sketchbooks made watercolor painting so easy on this trip.

The watercolor sketch above was inspired by the decadent dessert my husband and I shared towards the end of the trip. Taking a small slice of time to relax with people I love in the middle of a tightly packed schedule might be my new Tradition.

Sitting in the sun near children laughing in the pool, sketching watercolors in my moleskine and sipping iced tea – while listening to Christmas music – was a bit surreal.

But it gave me time to ponder the impact of staying in the moment, not thinking about upcoming To-Do’s, and slowing the holiday pace enough to fully enjoy marinating in family-time.

Making Art on Vacation

It was so good to hang out together on consecutive days in bathing suits or pajamas, and share little anecdotes, or recall nostalgic memories.

Witnessing the second-by-second highlight reel of an 8 & 5 year old making hysterical observations, humorous grand-kid-antics and their effusive excitement for what’s next was a joy-marathon. Highly recommended. 🙂

And we made art while sitting on the carpeted floor around a coffee table.

Watercolor and Sketchbooks

I packed light, since I wasn’t sure I’d get art-making time with a week of travel, and little ones in our midst. But just in case, I took my 30 year old Winsor & Newton watercolor palette (I don’t see it available any more, but this one looks comparable)

I also packed a few travel brushes, a mechanical pencil and a 5×8 moleskine watercolor sketchbook, with a few reference photos tucked into the pocket of  the end-paper.

I was indeed inspired by the scenery around us, but I used the reference photos to sketch and paint from on the plane, so I’m glad I took them. I’ll share that in the next post.) I bought the art supplies on Amazon. Oh, and I also tucked some regular printer paper in a book for doodling with my grandkids (see above).

Did You Know?

When searching for watercolor-associated art supplies online, be sure to look for both spellings, since Europe and Canada spell this media “watercolour”, and here in the US, we spell it “watercolor”.

Some of the best-known suppliers we purchase from are British (Winsor & Newton) and European (Senellier, Schminke, Derwent), so they often list their merchandise on Amazon as “watercolour” paper, paint, pigments, brushes, etc.

Traveling with Watercolors

Speaking of traveling and art, have you seen the Art & Travel Club on Facebook? It’s not really a “club” per se, but it is a group of artists who make imagery from their travel adventures.

Anyone can join and share travel-related art on the page (but as in all Groups, check the rules, as some limit the number of images you can post per day, etc.).

Along the same lines, you can join the Urban Sketchers Group (be sure to search for Urban Sketcher groups by city too, so you can keep track of events and join in on a local sketch-crawl).

Travel Watercolors Around the World

Do you ever search for Groups on Facebook?

Just to see who’s gathering over which topics? Type your topic (drawing, figure painting, pastels, etc.) in the search bar at the top of the Facebook page, and then look at the tabs across the top of the search results page, and click on Groups.

And as mentioned above, search *both* spellings for watercolor, and you’ll see two completely different (and lengthy) lists of groups. #happysearching

Moleskine Travel Sketchbook

Where is your next travel adventure? Will you bring art supplies with you?  A palette and a pencil? And maybe some loose leaf paper to share with others who might like to try it with you? 🙂 If you’ve never tried one, I recommend grabbing a moleskine travel sketchbook for your next trip.

Thanks for visiting today, and I’ll see you in the next post!

Belinda

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 Art Quote

I ordered a coffee and a little something to eat and savored the warmth and dryness. Somewhere in the background Nat King Cole sang a perky tune. I watched the rain beat down on the road outside and told myself that one day this would be twenty years ago.

Bill Bryson

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