Vacation Sketching
I’m back from a week on the island of Vinalhaven, which lies 15 miles off the coast of Rockland, Maine. While I’m incredibly grateful for the time away, I’m also longing for more. My week was full of exploring tidal coves, hiking through moss carpeted spruce forests, swimming in the island’s former granite quarries, sinking into new books, and sketching. I could have easily kept going and, as the week wound down, I realized too late that I didn’t schedule quite enough time for painting. Alas, it’s all good. I’m happily thinking of next year.
Tips and Techniques– Take my advice and think about how much sketching and painting time you want to have while traveling or on vacation. Then factor it into your schedule. I wish I had set aside larger blocks of time each day rather than fitting it in around other activities. There’s always so much to do, but you run the risk of letting everything else come first if you don’t plan for it.
Drawn In 
Beautiful sketchbook pages, I am inspired!
Lovely work, as always. I never thought to add a map; what a great idea. You certainly picked the right time to be off shore with the awful heat wave!
I love adding a map as an element that conveys both place and the journey. We did pick a good week, though it was hot on the island, too.
I’m so happy you got to be
Hi, Jean,
These are just lovely, and so timely, as it is summer trip season.
Just wanted to mention that the quote is not from Pablo Picasso. Here’s a great article about the quote https://www.chapelofhopestories.com/2017/07/13/who-said-what/index.html, and reflects my sentiments.
Take care,
Julie
Hi Julie- Thanks for this– it’s a fascinating piece and so interesting as I must have seen at least six different references to Picasso as the originator. The article makes me wonder about how to double check a quote, as I certainly would want to get it correct. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, thanks for saying that, and being a good sport. I am programmed to check into these things. It’s like a stone in my shoe.
This is your most beautiful journal entry to date.
Thanks Diane. Appreciate it!
Jean, your work is so exquisite! I just love this most recent one from your vacation in Maine. They are a feast for my eyes, and I got to thinking about how much I would love a book! Please, please consider publishing a book of your sketches, your nature journaling. Not only are they always so informative, they are so beautifully rendered, so perfect. If anyone should publish such a book it should be you.!!
Thank you so much. I’d love to do a book– I just need time to pursue finding a publisher and putting it together. I’ve been playing with themes for awhile. So, hopefully, I’ll make it happen at some point. I appreciate your encouragement.
Oh my Jean – your sketches are beautiful and inspiring. I agree with the book sentiment, please consider it.
It would take me weeks to finish as many sketches as you created on your trip! They are fantastic!
Dorothy Person
Thanks Dorothy- Hope you are doing well. There are so many things I’d like to paint while in Maine and never enough time. But I realized that I could set aside more time than I typically do. The trade off is exploring fewer places, which is tough to do! I have book ideas in mind, I just need time to pursue them…there’s this thing called a full-time job, which makes it hard, but I’ll get there!
Oh, that Red maple! Superb! Sorry about the mosquitoes but I’m glad you stuck it out long enough. The sepia ink is beautiful – so are the colors throughout the drawings – the bits of purple popping up and the greens. From history to low tide finds (too bad about the lack of Sea stars) to birds, you tell so much about your trip in a very small space.
Hi Lynn– Glad you caught the mosquito note! I sketched the tree on a rainy/overcast day and even covered head to toe, those mosquitoes were relentless. It takes me about an hour to do as sketch like this and I had to finish some of the shading inside. But isn’t she a beauty? As for the lack of sea stars, my journals over the years reveal a troubling trend in tide pool diversity. I’m glad I have the record, but hate finding so much less than in prior years.
You really did stick with it! That’s a tree whose character only gets better with every passing year. I like getting to know certain trees around here and I’m sure you have familiar trees near your house…you can always return to this one next year, right? 🙂 The West Coast has had problems with something called Sea star wasting disease. In general, tide pools are suffering, I suspect – like insects and birds and other beings we haven’t even discovered. But to make you feel more encouraged, check out Wendy5’s observations on iNaturalist. I’ve never met her but I follow her on iNat. She lives across the water, in Port Townsend on the peninsula. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=wendy5&verifiable=any
Jean, you continue to inspire me, not only with your gorgeous sketchbook pages, but with how you make an impact and get across a meaningful message in just a few well-thought sentences! I find my blog posts getting too long sometimes, and I’m working on getting the same message across in fewer words and let the sketchbook pages tell the story, too. Thanks for sharing!
I figure that most people are pretty busy and don’t want to read too much, so I try to hone in on what I want to convey or provide a little context. Glad to leave you feeling inspired!
Beautiful!
Thank you!
Lovely sketch
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