i finished preparing my signatures for travel.
had lots of leftover vintage italian envelopes from TICKET TO VENICE. so i used all the little pieces here and there on the pages. swiped some gesso over the top and i will write & sketch over the page in umbria with my ambitious landscape, piazza, duomo sketches. i’ve probably gotten in way over my head but what the hell. may as well do something artistically that frightens me every now and then.
i know that you, my loyal verizon team cheerleaders, will be kind even if i come home with a big soupy second grade mess.
i included quite a few fold-out flap pages that i sewed on by machine.
and i added some light watercolor washes…on top of which i will compose sweeping vistas of olive groves. or maybe just cartoony scenes of my sister in the hot tub.
it’s hard to say what i will come home with in my suitcase.
everyday i will pop a signature in my bag and head out for a day of sketching adventure.
Love your travel sketchbook ideas! Have a wonderful trip!
– Tina
Love the idea of portable signatures! And thanks for those links to other sketchers, very inspiring (thanks Judy as well!) Can’t wait to see what you create in Umbria, I know it will be fabuloso.
I am finding your sketching technique to be quite enchanting, M.A. You are tempting me with ink to get to work myself! I’m almost done with “Living in a Foreign Language” by Michael Tucker and so appreciated the recommendation. I’m sure you will enjoy the local haunts he described.
If you are looking for an touching, funny and sweet read, I highly recommend “Buddy…How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man” by Brian McGrory (recently appointed editor of the Boston Globe). I think you will get a kick out of the role this rooster plays in the family’s life.
Hope you are enjoying your watercolor painting.
Enjoyed the post
leslie ive heard lots about peerless over the years and i hear they are fabulous!
going to stick with my little sakuras for now. im more interested in getting the sketching down before i get some daniel smith/windsor newtons i have my eye on. jacqueline newbold has a palette i covet and she uses the kind i want.
A big second-grade soupy mess would still make me grin from ear-to-ear…..your signatures look great. I just saw some watercolors recently called “Peerless” (I think) and they are on strips of paper. I need to remember where I saw that! Anywho, that person who had them cut them into strips and put them on a piece of paper and then put that paper into the back of her journal. Easy access and transportability. Just take a loaded waterbrush with you and are you are ready to paint at a moment’s notice. Thought it was darn handy for trips like yours, and the simplicity of it would be something that would go along with your new wonderful idea of just taking your signatures. Happy Thursday!
You just keep pulling surprises out of your hat and I jump around with excitement for you. Watercolors, sketching and bouncing all over the world, you’ve got your own 3 ring circus happening and the really sweet thing is you are the Master of Ceremonies. You get to do whatever you want. I for one will be doing cartwheels and spins in anticipation for whatever you bring back from Umbria. I love how your journal is coming together and think it’s genius to bind it all into the cover after you’ve created your pages. Love the soupy,painty,delicious pages. Go Team Moss!!!!!
michele i ordinarily prefer somewhat large travel journals that stay put on the table of the house/apt. rental and i journal in a separate small notebook when out and about, but ill need the signature with me in order to sketch on the go. i cant wait to try it. when i get home i will just cut the thread binding each of the 3 sigs together and resew into the covers/spine that are already prepared. think that part will be v. easy.
Mary Ann, you’ve infected a whole lot of us with the sketching bug I believe. Here is one of my gurus: http://marinagrechanik.blogspot.com/
xo
Mary Ann – Something to put on you “To Do One Day – Maybe” list. At LA Valley College, art teacher Carol Bishop teaches a water color class once every couple of years. (She usually teaches acrylic at that time – Tuesday evenings – 6:00-9:00 pm. She’s a fab instructor and maybe LAVC isn’t too far from you. You are always an inspiration. Your blogs have brightened many a dull work day. Thanks!
“big soupy second grade mess” sounds fine for me.
“i find it really useful for a beginner who wants to keep a travel journal/sketchbook. i’ve watched it twice so far!” makes my head spin. You are SOOOO everything BUT a beginner… Grin. Nobody can learn you anything about making travel books. You Crazy One you!
I am wondering with Michele how the binding will go when you get back home. Of course, if you stick to sketches your book will not bulk, but then that is the key isn’t it: how much stubs and paper pieces and tickets and napkins and entrance proofs will you stick down. Interesting. I need to keep an eye on you!
I am very interested to hear how you like traveling with the signatures unbound. It sounds like a practical way to create a travel journal. Do you anticipate issues trying to bind it all together when you return home?
It’s very beautiful, BTW, and makes me itch to work in my journal right NOW!
Love seeing your new journal and your sketches. I think you sketch really well and it’s so nice that you show them all, yeah for you. Have fun. Love the sites you just posted.
I think your idea of single signatures is brilliant!
I participated in a webinar not too long ago with Jacqueline Newbold and am buying her dvd. I got a lot out of her talk so I’m sure the dvd will be a goldmine.
Thank you Mary – I love this! So glad to hear you like my DVD!