Moleskine Travelogue

While on "holiday" or travelling, I tend to gather bits of paper...business cards from restaurants and artists, gallery and city guides, newspaper clippings , etc.  In order to have some sort of hardcopy souvenir of places been and seen, I glue the cuttings into unlined journals from the Dollar Store.  I've found, however, that it's hard to keep up with the cutting, gluing, sorting, arranging and marginal note-making so I usually end up with a bag full of papers and clippings to sort out once I'm back home.  This situation results in a pile of stuff sitting on my desk for months (dare I say years?), awaiting my careful ministrations.  By the time I finally get back to the pile, the memories have faded and it's difficult to put it all into some semblance of order.  A pleasure has turned into a task.

Enter the Moleskine.  My daughter gave me this little book and it seems the perfect solution because it's small. 

Small is beautiful @ 3.5 x 5.5 inches.

(Now she is back in Montreal,

says the back cover)

I personalised the covers.  There's a little pocket in the back where I've stashed luggage tags.

Pages with clippings from gallery guides, ferry ticket, business card, which all serve as memory prompts to things I've done and seen during the trip.

Here, clippings from a local paper, some more gallery guide pictures, and a cut-up paper bag from a native art gallery, where I bought a little souvenir, provide a scrapbook collage effect.

It is not making art, but it is a creative process.  And it's a satisfying way to keep a little trip diary.  I'm not one for journaling and I seem to have given up sketching, so this is a good compromise for me. 

The best way to make art while on holiday is to attend a workshop for that purpose. 

I recently had the opportunity to attend a 2 hour demo of Liquitex acrylics at my favourite art supply store, Opus, presented by Oakland, CA  artist,

Michele Theberge.  She has some free stuff on her website, as well as a link to her blog, if you'd like to check it out.

The demo was informative and fun, but the best part was a complimentary bag of goodies to take home!   Consequently, I have two small canvases that I'm trying to find time and space to paint stashed in my bedroom .  This situation is causing more anxiety than pleasure!  I guess I'll be carting them back home unfinished instead of a paper bag full of clippings this time. 

Not sure if that's much of an improvement!

When will I ever learn?