Happy New Year, Friends!
I had an amazing holiday with my family this year - we went to Valparaiso, Chile to pickup my daughter Margaret after a semester studying abroad. After 3 days there, we all flew South - REALLY South - to Patagonia. We took a 4 day cruise through the glaciers and around Cape Horn to land in Argentina. Then we flew back to the cosmopolitan city life of Buenos Aires.
Oh, how I LOVE to travel!!!
I had an amazing holiday with my family this year - we went to Valparaiso, Chile to pickup my daughter Margaret after a semester studying abroad. After 3 days there, we all flew South - REALLY South - to Patagonia. We took a 4 day cruise through the glaciers and around Cape Horn to land in Argentina. Then we flew back to the cosmopolitan city life of Buenos Aires.
Oh, how I LOVE to travel!!!
As always, I took a sketch kit. You can see it is small and lightweight and fits easily in my shoulder bag. This time I worked with pens and watercolor pencils - no paint tin! The Caran D'Ache Supracolor-Soft pencils are rich in pigment and great dry or used with a water brush. I found them at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, on a recent trip when my handy, dandy paint tin became a globby mess and had to be abandoned in the hotel. I sketch in pen, usually with a continuous line drawing, then add color with the pencils if time allows. The colors can stay dry (in the penguin sketch above) or I can go over it with my water brush to make it look more like a watercolor (in the Graffiti Dog sketch below.)
 It seemed weird at first, but there are street dogs everywhere in Valparaiso! They are all quite friendly and become part of the artsy scenery, just like this one napping by our hotel. Even better than the cute dogs were the murals and street art EVERYWHERE! From Valparaiso's beach, straight up into the hills, you see gorgeous and clever paintings on every surface. One neighborhood is called Museo a Cielo Abierto - the Open Air Museum! |  These photos show you the essential Valparaiso - blue sky, Pacific ocean, colorful buildings and STEPS, LOTS OF STEPS!  |
I could go on and on about our trip - but for now, let me share a few journal pages. Like most of my travel journals, these pages are created some on location and some at home, when I have more time and supplies at hand.
I made this sketch with just pen and pencil when we were in Valparaiso; I added watercolor at home.
This is as far as I got at the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires - a line drawing combining lots of the different monuments and crypts, but only a little color. I think I like it this way!
 I glued in my ticket from the history museum where we saw one of the Easter Island Moai statues. Seemed like a good place to add some more goofy Moai heads!  My first page, painted during our 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Santiago. |  When we weren't on excursions in Patagonia, we watched the scenery from the lounge on board the Australis ship. Magnificent!  Sailing through Glacier Alley in the Beagle Channel...at the end of the world! Beautiful beyond words.   We got to walk onto an island where THOUSANDS of Magellanic penguins nest every year. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at these adorable birds! |
So CHEERS to you for an excellent 2019! I hope you will find spaces to create and places to explore. You can sketch at the other end of the world, or right in your own window. The most important thing is to look deeply and slowly and notice the beauty in your life. That, and to have fun making art!
Muchas gracias to you all for following me along the art and travel journey. Where to next???
Muchas gracias to you all for following me along the art and travel journey. Where to next???
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