Lynn Fisher - Write Where I Am

Travel Journaling...Minnesota to Yellowstone, Wyoming

I've just gotten back from a long trip to Yellowstone, Wyoming and thought you might like to see what became of my travel journal.

Most of these pages were done in the back seat of a moving car...that is, when I wasn't driving.  Please forgive the repetition of words, misspellings and iffy sketches. I was only trying to capture the experience, however brief, of running into buffalo along a small remote bridge, seeing the Badlands for the very first time, and feeling my heart in my throat while hearing mud volcano's roar, and feeling eerily small.

Feel free to enlarge the pages and try to read them if you like. I'll let the pages do the talking.

Most pages were done with Pitt pens and watercolor pencils, and others with torn travel brochures...some pages were pre-done with watercolor.

 

 

   

 

  

Home at last.

What a fun trip! I had no idea that North Dakota was so beautiful...well, parts of it anyway....and Yellowstone was amazing, the trip of a lifetime.

Spaces, Shadows and Symbols

A year or two ago I added a post on creating your own symbols for the purpose of journaling. You can read it again here.

I try to keep my personal symbols in mind whether I'm writing or creating art. The symbols stand for something, and that may change from time to time but my feelings toward them usually remains. I find them to be a useful tools in creating journal pages.

What are some symbols that occur over and over again in your journal pages? If you can't think of any, try simplifying parts of photographs or magazine cut-outs by drawing them or cutting them out of unique papers.  

Don't want to draw...get out your camera and run around taking photo of the shadows that objects make. Don't pay too mush attention to the object but more to the shadow it casts and the spaces in between.

Blow the photo up as large as you can on a color copier, then try writing on the photo. Describe the photo in as many words as you can think of or write only in the shapes that interest you.

Write about your experience while taking the photo, where you traveled to take the photo, and how it makes you feel. Beyond the actual photo, describe each shape the shadows make within the shape itself. What do they remind you of...what feelings do they unearth? That should keep you busy.

Stay tuned. In the upcoming months I have a travel journal to share, a new article coming out, a reading at a local art center, and in November I'll be participating in and posting updates on the National Novel Writers Month. 

 

Putting together a Travel Journal Bag

When it's time to take my journaling show on the road there are a few must-have's that I always bring.

First, I pull out my super sturdy ArtFest bag from 2008. This bag is nearly indestructible, has plenty of room, and is washable. I also always bring a small camera and remember to pack it in its own travel hard-case, (so when you drop it you won't cry)that you can get at most camera stores...then just pack all your cables and cords separately in your suitcase. You won't need them to draw but you may use them later if you travel with your laptop. (I much prefer to leave the technology behind, personally)

Next, pick  a small journal. I was recently introduced to the small Handbook journals and LOVE them. They are tough, and their paper is yummy, heavy and will take almost any medium. My friends and I got together at Kim's studio and made this great removable and reusable covers for our journals out of scrap fabric that was woven onto a rug-hook backing and stitched over and over again. Pretty, no?

 Now, drawing supplies: Of course when I took this photo I forgot the most important thing, GLUE-STICK...put some Uhu-glue in there to stick down all your travel ephemera that you can draw on or around. Then pick the tools you most use while sketching. I use about 4 to five water-color pencils all the time, several point sizes of Pitt Pens, a few colors of brush Pitt Pens, and mechanical pencil and a good eraser. Add a small brush and you're ready. I put all my supplies in this great, sturdy, small pencil bag that comes with a hook closure to hook to your belt loops or outside your bag for easy access.

There, we're set to go. When I'm traveling I like to keep the supplies to a minimum...then you do much more drawing an having fun than packing and un-packing and re-packing again....and cursing all the while. Keep things simple and have fun!

 

Big Writing - Tiny Sketches

When traveling or anytime that I'm writing more than I'm drawing...or doing anything visual in my journals, I opt for using tiny sketches.

This is the easiest way I've found to incorporate a colorful background, photos, and any other travel ephemera I may have collected. Seriously, I put it all in there!

The sketches don't have to be highly involved or terribly...good, just something that I'm satisfied with and if need be I can paste something over it if I end up hating it.

These mini sketches are perfect if you don't want to bring a lot of supplies along.  Just get as many pages in your journal ready as you have days on the road that you expect you can journal. A watercolor background is perfect for sketching. Try a variety of colors.

Bring a variety of pen colors to help on darker backgrounds. 

I did a lot of these sort of sketches while I was at a writers retreat for women, Norcroft.

The retreat was wonderful and while not writing I would take a break and do some tiny sketching, something that didn't take that much time away from what I'd actually gone there for.

 Pretty soon I was doing this all the time. I often took a sketchbook (not my journal) out to places that I needed something lighter to carry, (my journals tend to be "honking big", as Roz Stendahl puts it) and would sketch in india ink markers (Pitt Pens) and later color copy them, and Uhu-glue them into my journal.

On trips where I don't know when I get to be alone and journal, this turned out to be a great idea.

I could then then arrange the tiny sketches and where I wanted, and then write around them. Lucky me, almost everywhere I go has someplace with a pretty good color copier.

...get those pens out, and see if you can add a tiny sketch or two to your journal pages.

Crappy Photo Transfer = Pretty Good Journal Page

It has been a while since my last photo transfer (why does sound like a confession?), so needless to say, I forgot a few steps...like putting the gel matte medium on the side of ink jet print that actually has the ink on it.

You laugh now, but just you wait.

Anyway, what resulted was an extremely sketchy transfer. (the lines of the cup and knife you see are mine, drawn in pencil) I could really only make out where the tea was!

Instead of pasting over the entire page, which was my first reaction, I instead decided to salvage what I had by drawing in the cup,knife and tea bag label. Then using my arsenal of art supplies I filled in the rest, and added another transfer (this one done correctly) in the middle of the cup. 

 As I added acrylic paint and color pencil, things started to look, well, better than they did.

After a few details were added with pen and ink, I began to feel like I may have saved this one.

 

 

It's called: Make Tea and the Ships Will Come.

I've been on vacation and it's time to get back to work. In a week or so I will begin the 10-day writing challenge, that traditionally follows the 10-day-collage challenge. So if you'd like to participate...just start writing. If you did the collages use those as writing prompts; what do you see, what is something that keeps appearing in your collages, and anything else you can think of...but don't post until next week. E-mail me if you wish to participate and  I will add you to the list. 

Just write, a page a day, 10 consecutive days. ( I may have small page days if my arm bugs me)

On your bikes!