I returned from my spring teaching trip to Belgium and Croatia a few weeks ago, and I’ve been getting up early most mornings since I got home to work on finishing up my travel journal. I have a long way to go until I can close the book on that 3-1/2 week trip, but I’ll share sketches as I complete them, and eventually I’ll get there. Slow and steady wins the race…and finishes a journal.
I begin most of my travel sketchbooks with a quote, and for this one I chose a quote that expresses the duality of looking forward to the excitement of travel and seeing new places while also appreciating all the familiar comforts of home.
On the left side of the page, I drew a sign post showing the major cities I would visit while away, and the top right features travel-related images. The lower part of the page shows homey stuff like my house, husband, grandkids, my bed, and my morning cup of coffee.
I used a felt-tip pen for the drawing then painted some shadows with watercolor. White highlights were added with a Signo Uni-ball gel pen. A purple metallic gel pen was used for the dots around the oval.
The title page for the Belgium portion of this two-part travel journal features the colorful buildings of Market Square in Bruges.
For the title lettering, I selected Storybook Ending, a font that looks medieval without being over-the-top Old English. I traced the buildings from an image I found online, so the drawing was easy. The real challenge came in painting them!
I used a size 2 round brush loaded with opaque watercolor to paint the trim on the buildings. (I just keep a tube of opaque titanium white handy and tint it with watercolor to get the color I need.)
I always encourage my students to begin their travel journals before the trip begins. It’s not always easy to find the time, but I managed to squeeze in a few hours in the weeks leading up to this trip to get the quote page and my title page done. Then, on the day of travel, I put together this fun page about traveling from Pittsburgh to Brussels with my friend Pat.
The airplane went on first, drawn from a clip art image I found online. The journaling and boarding passes were sketched in around the plane throughout the day, and, finally, the Grand Hotel Casselbergh was added after we arrived. Working on a sketchbook page is a great way to pass the time during airport layovers.
When I’m on a teaching trip, much of my time is spent helping students, making it challenging for me to find time to work on my own journal. That’s why I come home with so many unfinished pages. It’s also difficult to squeeze in the time required to keep a full-blown daily travel diary, so I’ve started using an alternate approach – a shorthand travelogue. It’s an abbreviated, condensed version of the high points of each day’s itinerary.
I’ve used a variety of approaches for recording these little snippets – for this one, I drew twelve squares and painted large tone-on-tone numbers for the days I would be in Bruges. Each evening, a daily note was added to the proper square. The toughest part of doing this for me is being brief – so much happened each day!
Flying overseas on a red-eye flight is exhausting, but I always stay awake all day after I arrive in Europe to reset my internal clock. I try to get out in the sunshine and keep busy, so I don’t think about how tired I am. When we arrived in Bruges, we dropped our bags at the hotel and set out to explore the historic area.
It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and, as we sat at a nearby cafe enjoying omelets and a cappuccino, horse-drawn carriages clip-clopped by and church bells rang out each quarter hour.
I couldn’t resist sketching what could quite possibly be the prettiest cappuccino I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. Of course, I couldn’t eat the gluten-y pastry and Biscoff cookies, but my friend Pat happily enjoyed them while I looked on longingly.
Bruges captured my heart that first day, and I loved every minute of my stay there. Here are a few snapshots of the city – it you ever have a chance to visit, don’t pass it by. It’s one of a kind.
Hope you’re enjoying your summer so far. I’ll be back soon with more sketches from Belgium.
35 Comments
Absolutely awe struck by your amazing paintings.
I’m blushing! 🙂
So lovely, Leslie!!!
Thanks, Jaynie. Wish you could have come along.
Me too!!! I am currently building a new house but it will be finished before next spring!!!!
Thanks for all the tips on how you put your pages together!
Oh Leslie. Your Bruge journal is going to be so beautiful! Love the first view pages and can’t wait to see more!!!❤️
I so enjoy following your blog posts. Your attention to detail and creative ideas for your sketchbooks are so inspiring and lovely. Love the cappuccino sketch and all your fantastic travel photos. Looking forward to upcoming posts!
Peri
Thank you, Peri. I’m having so much fun working on finishing up my sketches. I like looking back over the photos and remembering all the good times and the great people I shared them with.
Beautiful! Leslie, would you consider selling the instruction booklets for your various trips to those of us who cannot possibly ever have the chance to go on these awesome trips?
I WOULD LOVE THAT ALSO.
Your beautiful paintings are whetting my appetite for my trip!
Oh such a beautiful and delicious display of an unimaginably special experience! You are always so incredibly special!!!
Wow, thanks, Connie. 🙂
That was the most beautiful cappucino indeed. Thank you for sharing this.
It was pretty tasty, too!
Thank you for sharing . I really love these posts.❤️
Cindy
Hope you can come along on another trip with me one of these days, Cindy. Have a great time in Italy this summer!
Fantastic, as always!!
Please come to Queensland, Australia.
Any other countries on your future itinerary where we could meet up with you?
I’d love to visit Australia some day, but all the tour operators I work with only offer European and US workshop trips. I would need to find someone in Australia who organizes art workshop tours. Feel free to email me if you have any ideas. On my Belgium trip, one of the participants was from New Zealand, so it’s not out of the question for you to fly in for one of my workshops in France or Croatia. I’m still finalizing my schedule for 2024, so stay tuned.
Amazing, Leslie! Seeing your paintings and photos, reading your comments—simply delightful! Can’t wait for Italy!
Your work is a fountain of creative ideas. So glad you share them with us. Beautiful journal so far. Can’t wait to see it when its finished.
Looking forward to hearing more about Croatia, too!!
absolutely captures the essence of your trip! The cappuccino looks so good that I’m going to a coffee shop to get a capp right now! How do you get your printing on the cup so straight and refined?
I took a picture of the logo on the restaurant then hand-drew it on the coffee cup. I penciled in curved parallel lines first then drew the block letters. It took some trial and error, but it was a short phrase and the lettering style was very easy, so it wasn’t too challenging. BTW, the shadows were painted on the cup before I drew and painted the lettering.
thank you for that! I am going to experiment a little with my lettering now.
Your journals are always a source of inspiration, with new techniques and ideas. This journal is already so creative and lovely. I only wish I could have been to Belgium with you!
Maybe you can come on a trip next year after you have a brand new hip. Hope so!
Leslie! Your words, pictures, paintings are awesome!!!! Just like being there!!! Cannot wait to see more of your work while in Belgium!!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Most Sincerely, Nancy & Maurice
Thanks so much, Nancy. Glad you enjoyed them. Say hi to Maurice for me.
Awesome, yummy sketches! I really appreciate your journal tips – so helpful! Eager to learn so much at LaRomita!😉
Awesome, yummy sketches! I really appreciate your journal tips – so helpful! Eager to learn so much at LaRomita!😉
We’ll have to sketch some yummy Italian food when we’re there.
I don’t even like coffee but if that cappuccino was as pretty in real life as your painting, I would have ordered it! I like your grid idea, though I’m thinking I might try a grid a day (fewer spots, but more spots for individual memories. Hmmm. Must think on that. I think I need a new journal/sketchbook!
Doing a gridded page every day would be a great way to keep track of all your activities. I’m just not sure I could keep up with doing that plus some other sketches every day when I’m traveling. Let me know if you try that idea.