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Art on the Go: Sketching in a Cemetery and Creative Projects Beyond Halloween
The other weekend my daughter and I headed to Half Moon Bay for some sketching with my local en plein air art group. Although I live relatively close to this moody seaside town, I have never truly explored it to find out all the great sketching opportunities it provides. Our mission was to sketch around the downtown area. Some members of the group are local residents and they had a whole host of good locations to draw, one suggestion being a cemetery only 2 and 1/2 blocks from Main Street. Given it was October, and Halloween was approaching, I was sold! A cemetery sketch outing is a great way to celebrate the…
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Art on the Go: Make a Map of Your Stay
Sometimes a visit to a new place can be a whirlwind. You arrive, you tour, and the next thing you know you’re packing up and heading home. Once back, you try to remember what you did and draw a blank! Well here’s a simple art on the go project to quickly pull out the highlights of your trip – sketch a map of your stay. The map of your stay could be of just one day, it could be of a full week or an entire month. It can be of all the restaurants you ate at, all the hotels you stayed in or all the monuments or sites you…
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Art on the Go: Sketching on a Foreign Newspaper
Whenever I travel, I love to buy a newspaper or two in the country I’m visiting. Although I’m not much of a linguist, I enjoy browsing through the articles, photos, ads and editorials to try to decipher what is being said. My other reason for picking up a local newspaper is for the paper itself. Foreign newsprint can make a great background to a travel sketch. It adds dimension and a hint of context to the location you are sketching. The process for sketching on newsprint is pretty much the same as sketching on paper. You can easily just tear out a part of the paper and start to sketch.…
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Art on the Go: Create an Infographic of Your Trip
Infographics (or information graphics) are all the rage these days. We are very visual people, and it’s clear that we don’t want to read much, so an infographic is the perfect way to relay a lot of information in one quick shot. There is an infographic for almost everything these days, infographics about social media, infographics about a movie, infographics about food pairing, there are even infographics about infographics! So, why not join the trend and create an infographic about your recent trip? Your friends and family will want to know what you did, and how your trip was, so whip up an infographic and share to all. Here’s how……
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Art on the Go: Photo a Day Travel Journal Using Over App
On a recent trip to Lake Tahoe, I wanted to try a new travel journal technique. Writing a travel journal can sometimes be so time consuming. I love the look of text on top of a photograph, so I decided to use this approach for my trip journal. I chose one photo from the day, and put some short highlights of that day’s activities on it. I used an app (for iPhone and iPad) called Over. It has a simple to use interface, and within minutes I had created a great memory of the day. If you want to share your trip with family and friends, after you’ve created the…
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Art on the Go: Sketching en Plein Air in the Country, Sebastopol, California
I love it that my daughter loves art as much as I do! Ever since my kids were little, I’ve always tried to do some art project or another with them– making salt dough, collaging with paper scraps, painting on big paper. Whatever the outcome, they both have loved the experience. So, when I went on a weekend trip to the country with my daughter, we of course had to incorporate an art outing to our plan. We stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Sebastopol, a small artsy town in Sonoma County. The B&B was located 3 miles out of town, so we definitely got the country experience…
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Art on the Go: Quick Landscape Doodle for Fun Travel Memories
Everyone likes to doodle, right? Here’s a fun art exercise for those “down times” during your trip– create a doodle sketch of your surrounding landscape. You can do it while waiting for the plane, on a train, sitting at the beach or resting on a park bench. No fancy art supplies are needed, just a pen and paper… so let’s get doodling! Here’s a quick “how to” for creating your own landscape doodle – just 2 simple steps. First, take a pencil and create a very light (and quick) outline of the major portions of your landscape. Second, start doodling! Begin doodling the main portions of your landscape, then continue…
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Art on the Go: Free Printable Venice Journal and Sketch Page
Gondolas gracefully gliding up the canals, palaces glimmering in Italian splendor, a crowded St. Mark’s Square, a boutique mask shop… capture your memories of Venice with my latest free printable Venice journal page and Venice sketch page. Head to the Rialto bridge and make a quick sketch, or jot down a few notes about the delicious gelato you ate while people watching. Keeping a journal and making some sketches will make your trip to Venice one-of-a-kind. Free Printable City Pages: Venice Journal and Sketch Page Below are my Venice printable Journal and Sketch pages. To use, just select the link below the image and print out from your browser. Use…
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Art on the Go: Tropical Memories Inspired by Matisse Cut Outs
I can’t tell you how many photos I have from tropical vacations. I can never get enough shots of a gorgeous sunset, blooming hibiscus or the ocean. Unfortunately, like many vacation photos… once home they just sit on my computer as I get back to the “real world.” Well, here’s an “art on the go” assignment perfect for reviving those great tropical memories inspired by one of my favorite artists, Henri Matisse. Towards the later part of his life Matisse fell ill with cancer. After a risky surgery, he became confined to a wheelchair. This handicap did not hold him back, though. The last 14 years of his life he…
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Art on the Go: Typography Photoshoot in Your Town
There’s nothing like scouring the cities of Paris, London or Rome and stumbling across vintage signs and old stylized type to photograph– but sometimes, just looking around your own town, you’ll be surprised at what you might find! Although I wish I could travel full-time, the reality is I have kids in school, and a husband with a great job (in an office of all things)– so for now in our lives, we travel during the school breaks. Perhaps that will change soon, but in the meantime, while at home, how can I starve off my incredible wanderlust? Why not head out my own front door on a photo shoot,…
Illustrating Experiences & Inspiring Adventures
