hello there!
i’m ready to start sharing my travel journal. going to start in any old order.
towards the end of my journey i started adding flaps & foldouts with cards, watercolor paper, postcards.
I made my book for 2 weeks, but as you know stayed 3. so the back of the journal especially, has some foldouts that are the width of 3 pages.
the page above opens to reveal…
these 2 pages. which in turn flip over to reveal…
2 more pages.
the most important part of my travel journal, or the thing i never go without doing each day, is the writing. i like to get it all scribbled down.
wherever i can fit it on the page.
these pods are based on sketches i made at the park in my tiny carry-along moleskine that goes in my bag. i drew them larger into my big book.
it’s a cool cloudy morn in LA. a mild summer day is beginning. i’ll just be here with the cat posse wrapped around my ankles. wrapping up the travel journal.
see you soon!
Hi Mary Ann: You have inspired me to start a sketch journal. Plain writing journals have never really held my interest for long. I’m thinking the combo might. Question: what kind of pens/supplies do you carry with you (glue, scissors, brads??) Thanks. Your journals and writing are a constant joy.
Mary Ann–Sorry for the loss of your friend, Erin. My young niece has that name. It’s so good that you have her writings to read as an additional remembrance.
Your journal is so filled with wonderful memories. You can look back and remember that moment always. I have learned so much from you my friend.
I wondered if your original travel journal would be big enough to hold another week’s worth of sketches and notes. Clever girl! Tip ins, of course….I should have known. It is a feast for the eyes. Thanks for sharing!
XO from sunny Hood River, OR in-route to Bend….
leaning in to my screen with my old eyeballs to savor every bit … got a smile out of the name Meatballs 4 the People – so sorry they were closed ACK! besotted with your mirror, so charming. taking in all of the wonderfulness, can’t wait to see more!
Love your travel journal – the pages are such a delight to look at. beautiful as always.
First of all, I am so sorry about Erin. For some reason that song “only the good die young” popped in my head. I am glad she had so many people to love her and to keep her memory alive.
I absolutely adore those poppy pods on red and on graph paper! Be still, my heart. And the mirror is gorgeous and looks like it took awhile for all of that detail. The whole thing is just a smorgasbord of delicacies for the eye. Hey…is “smorgasbord” a Swedish
word??? I sure understand the loner thing. it can be hard to be a loner when you are married and your husband is in partial retirement. trying to get used to it. If I don’t get quality alone time I get grouchy. ask my poor hubby.
Thanks for sharing so generously, Mary Ann!
Love the reference to a legal pad of paper
LOVE that mirror sketch! And everything else!
I just love that you share and show your beautiful, colorful, stuffed-full-of-goodness journals. Thanks for being generous like that! We’re headed on vaca ourselves soon, and you’ve just inspired this weekends art project.
I could spend hours basking in your journals, looking at each detail, taking in the hidden hidey spaces and fold out and flaps…gosh I adore flaps and fold outs and flip overs…ya know your journals could very well just be gymnastic gold medalists…really they could…. I would never joke about a thing like that…I promise Love your pages Mary Ann 😉
thank you for sharing a lovely piece of Erin. Also thanks for the reminder that everyone is not an extrovert. lol p.s. I love living vicariously through your wonderful blogging and art.
You know I love this journal. I especially love the little yellow bird. And I’m very sorry about, Erin. I lost a couple of women friends to cancer not long ago, so I know it sucks big time.
You know what? That first picture of your sketchbook with THAT mirror, done with THAT paint is stunning-a real masterpiece, that one! I have a client I’m working with who is stressed right now, and I sent her to your site to ‘visit’ Sweden and she told me she immediately relaxed! See how much good you do? See?
I have been intrigued with this blog from Day One. Now, I have just started my own, and have the utmost respect for all the postings you have done, accompanied by your incredible, lush photography giving us all so much enjoyment.
AND: when you showed the Swedish luncheon (with herring) I copied it, and we had our own Swedish luncheon here at home, and toasted you…and Sweden, so there!
Thanks for everything,
Sandy in Dublin, CA.
Mary Ann
So very sorry to hear about Erin. I lost my best friend to pa cancer last July.How I HATE that ugly ugly word . I hate it so much I must abbreviate it.
karen
oh but odette i DO hit the must see sites. just not all in the same trip. next time in stockholm for example i can finally make it to city hall and the sophia church and many many other places i didn’t get to.
i could never spend my days shuffling from one tourist site in a book to another. too exhausting. i’m more interested in the quieter places. i seek them out. if you have a good map (google maps works too) you can find little green spaces and wonder about them. then you can visit them to see what’s there. also jumping on and off city busses (not the tourist ones) is a great way to see a place. i’m a spur of the moment person. i only make loose plans and change my mind a lot. depends on what i SEE.
i let my own curiosity determine where i go. i love guide books though. they keep the other tourists occupied and out of my way. ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!
i hate being inside a museum. next time i’m in stockholm i’ll go to another one.
I’m smitten with the maps and frames and seed pods…and as usual, wish I could hold it in my hands and just ooooh and aaah and nod along! We did a Pacific Northwest trip this summer, which was glorious & inspiring (despite the New Yorker article that declares the next BIG earthquake will crumple the entire region). The problem with a continental trip is the lack of a foreign language! I have no GULSPARVs nor LIDINGSVARGATEN to script out. Woe is me.
So beautiful!! Thank you for sharing.
Your journals feel so joy-filled and real, spontaneous. So glad you had such a fine trip. xo
I love seeing your yummy pages! In a future post, would you please talk about how you can spend three weeks in a place and not feel the need to go to museums and all the must-see sites? I know you don’t like crowds, but do you ever feel like you’re missing an important part of your trip? Thanks for sharing the ride!
Oh!!!!
I hope in my next lifetime (if I have to do this all over again!!) I can draw as beautifully as you!!! What an amazing gift you have!! Happy weekend!! xo
~ Wendy
http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/