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Since so many of us will be going on vacation I though we could talk about art journaling on the road. Would you even bother or just leave it until you get back home. What would you consider the essentials for an "Art Journaling" travel kit?
You know, we're going on a road trip from NYC to New Orleans this Sunday, and I was just thinking about this. I find that doing something creative every day keeps me sane and alleviates stress. I'm trying to put together a travel kit myself. I'm planning to bring my small Dylusions journal. I'll share what I decide to bring, and I'd love to read what others would suggest. Thanks for starting this thread, Stacy!
My art journal is metric A5 sized and spiral bound artist sketchbook. I normally take that with a pack of blendable (or watercolour depending on my mood) pencil crayons, a few sketching and drawing pencils and an ink pen. I add a small stick of glue and some small scissors for if I want to cut and stick from tourist brochures etc.
This is a timely post! Great idea Toucan Scraps to pack scissors and glue to get it done. I struggled to figure out what to do in the car for the four hour ride. I'm new to art journaling and decided to continue to do research with my hotspot and trusty ipad by watching videos on YouTube. Conveniently located near me in the front seat was my 3.5x5 Strathmore visual journal pens and pens to "practice" doodling. I'm still in the fascinated mode so I found a Jerry's Artarama that I MUST stop in.
Anyway, for future car rides I'm thinking portability and dry mediums. I have soft pastels so if I prep a couple of pages (gesso) first, I can play around with that. If your vacation destination is like a home setting (beach house) and not in a hotel, why not load up one of those 12x12 containers for paper and such and just load it up with a little of everything? That way you have a choice on what you might want to work on/with. Those Iris bins fit well in large suitcases too.
Since we're going on a road trip, I'm going to bring dry mediums as well. I'll also bring my water brushes, since I can fill them up at the hotels. I think I'll bring a set of watercolor paints and pencils. I might bring the Gelatos, but I'm not sure how they will hold up in a hot car trunk.
I've watched a few videos about making a travel watercolor kit, which got me thinking about travel mixed media "kits". So now I'm curious what others will and will not be taking along with them on vacation. I'll be going on 3 road trips before summer is gone and my needs will be different for each probably.
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trip to beach with the in-law family, ugh gotta take something to help keep me sane for this one but I am worried about lil ones getting into my stuff and nosy adults that can't keep eyes, hands or opinions to themselves.
Moving my son back to school and into his first apartment, sigh - will need arty stuff to cheer me up
annual reunion trip with my family. honestly probably won't take anything on this one except maybe a notepad since it is always a jam packed, on the go few days and no one else is crafty like me anyway.
I'm thinking lots of pages/papers with background already done will be a must, although a few blank pages might be nice if I take some pencils, not my Prisma's though and a few basic colored markers. This way I could do some pages start to finish if I want and then save the other pages with backgrounds already on them for when I only have time/energy to write or cut & paste. Glad you mentioned scissors and glue stick, gotta remember that...
No crafting in the car for me, I can't even read in the car usually due to motion sickness. I have a few crafting books and magazines downloaded for reading and looking at once we are at our destination though. By fall I will probably have tons of notes for things I saw online that I want to try! I even picked up a couple of journaling prompt books as freebies, yeah!!
On the beach trip I might opt for a homemade watercolor kit instead of my watercolor pencils. I don't want to worry about the pencils getting lost or broken. I plan on squirting a small bits of watercolors into the wells of one of those pill reminder things you get at the dollar stores. No big expense if lost or destroyed by small hands.
Guess I better get a crafty shopping list together.... only good thing about the in-law trip is dh OWES me big time come Christmas.
I found a couple of smaller sized water brushes, yeah! They are so going in my "kit". So far my list includes:
paper/journal with lots of backgrounds already done but a few blank pages too
Black Micron pens
a few water based and sharpie markers
watercolor paints in a homemade palette/kit
travel watercolor brushes
colored pencils - wonder is sunscreen if oily enough for oms techniques -kidding
scissors
glue stick or tape runner
some pre-stamped images, pre-cut die shapes and zip bag of cut out images and words
What about everyone else, how is your "kit" coming along.
I was thinking I may bring a roll of temp adhesive, that way I could work on page layout basics and then glue a page together when I got home.
I'm not sure if I did this right or if I'm even allowed to but (hopefully) these are links to one of my favorite art journal artists..Jennibellie on youtube. these were really helpful for me in creating a travel art journal kit especially the watercolor pamphlet, now I don't have to carry my watercolor pencils just the water brush.
I had an old organizer that I never used and now it's a mini art box...love it.
I'll be sure to check them out, thanks. I have some brief case art organizer like inserts that I purchased dirt cheap years ago but have never really used. I need to dig them out of the bottom of the closet. Oh boy doesn't that sound fun, lol. They have lots of zip pockets, spots to store brushes or pencils, one insert even had Velcro straps so you can convert it to an easel/stand.
I got my pill box from the dollar store yesterday, it has so many compartments! First there is the larger main plastic container and then when you open it up it has 7 more individual three compartment containers. That is a lot of places to mix up watercolor combinations and for only a dollar. Whoa-hoo!!
I've got a couple trips coming up this fall so I need to figure out a travel kit. At the very least I want to take paper,pencil,pens,eraser,mini watercolor set,& a waterbrush. I need to find a good case for carrying them all.
How are everyone's kits working out for them so far?
I chickened out and didn't take one with on my trip. Just too many people in one house and too much beach stuff that needed taking with already.
I still want to put one together so I can take it to the park occasionally or something.
Split-pea it sounds like you have a good list started. Don't forget a small water bottle and some baby wipes. I'm also thinking a clip board and some binder clips might come in handy for my kit.
I'm not travelling as such but I am. Twice a week I collect my son from college (he's living at home) and the let out time is variable so I have been taking my journal (I think it is 11 x 14) to work on. So far it has been mostly pen work. I do take my watercolors but haven't used them yet.
I know Lindsay the Frugalcrafter takes a quart bag of a travel watercolor set, waterbrush, and watercolor paper, when she takes her kids to the beach. I think with watercolor sets as long as you can let them dry out completely at some point (in your room overnight) they are very portable and take up the least space.
I don't know if I would take much more if I was going longer. It actually pushes me to start multiple pages rather than obsessing with one by primarily having just pens and paper.
Here's an idea I found yesterday on You Tube. Even though it is for a planner it could be substituted for a journal. I don't think it has been shared here yet:
I came across this link and thought folks that frequent this forum would be interested. Chose this thread in hopes it helps to make choices when traveling. Here's the link k:
Art Journaling travel kit
