Travel Journal: Florida

I escaped to Florida this winter, and took my travel journal and a small art kit along with me.

A vacation is a great time to play with your art supplies!

You can record the little details of your trip, and later you'll have a memory book to look back on.

I used a sketchbook I had taken on a previous trip to Florida.  You can see that entry here.

I began with rough sketches of the waterbirds

Each sketch you make helps you to see your subject -- here a shorebird -- better and to draw it more accurately.

We encountered Magnificent Frigatebirds on our trip.  Amazing masters of riding air currents, they remain aloft for days and months at a time.  You can see how taken I was by these massive birds -- I made a lot of sketches of them!

The dune grasses bent by the ocean breezes created lovely shapes and graceful curves.

Peering over the crest of the dune, I found a wild sunflower blooming -- in January!

The ocean carries a variety of interesting flotsam and jetsam, to the beach.  This coconut and seaweed sprig washed up on the shore.  

The first few days of our trip were overcast and windy, and you can see the gray sky in this watercolor sketch.

Sometimes, the tiniest things tell the story of the beauty of the beach.

This beach was decked with a variety of intricate seashells and driftwood. 

Are you planning any travel?  I hope you take along a journal and a few art supplies!

Happy creating! 

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All rights reserved.

Travel Journal Art Kit

Here's the final collection of supplies I chose to travel to England with:

• A Stillman & Birn Mixed Media Sketchbook

• A Winsor & Newton Travel Watercolor kit (Lemon Yellow Hue, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Hue, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Viridian, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber and Chinese White).  I use this tiny kit a lot at home!  It packs a wide variety of colors into a small box.  You can see the array of colors I mixed in "Discover New Possibilities with Color Swatching!"



• An Altoids Tin Palette with Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Permanent Blue Violet & Permanent Rose.  It's tricky to mix a rich, vibrant violet, and I love the rosy color of Permanent Rose. Also, I found I was using so much Lemon Yellow Hue that I emptied the well and had to refill it.  Since I had the extra space, I added Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue as a back-up.
• Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils, 36 colors
• A selection of Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils for added pop.
• A Faber-Castell Pencil Sharpener.
• A Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser
• A gum eraser
• Binder clips for clipping book pages open,
• A small sponge, a rag and a piece of paper towel for blotting.
• A Water cup for rinsing brushes,
• A Water spray bottle to wet paint palettes,
• Several fine point waterproof black pens: Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Winsor & Newton, and one by Bic.
• A mechanical pencil (Bic Velocity #2, 0.9),
• A Conte a Paris 2B graphite pencil,
• A Pentel India Ink Brush Pen with refill, &
• Sakura Water Brush Pens in 3 sizes.

I fit the little items into a small makeup case I found at my local Goodwill Thrift Store for a dollar, and stuffed it all into my carry-on backpack, ready for adventure!

It was thrilling testing out supplies, planning and preparing for this voyage.  And I find that having a small kit of materials makes it easier to create, even when I'm at home.  It prevents overwhelm in searching for the "perfect" material, as there is no such thing as perfect in real life and art.

What is your minimum kit of supplies?  Even if you don't have plans for a getaway, why not put together a grab-&-go kit that you can stuff in a backpack or purse for mini sketch expeditions?!

I hope you make an Adventure Kit & put it to use this week!