Getting Ready to Get Ready

I decided to draw my newspaper experience from yesterday into an Everyday Matters contribution that had been eluding me. Drawing something I am thankful for (#42) was an overwhelming idea ; too much to choose from, a happy problem to have. But with this week's sale of the Washington Post, maybe it's time to express my gratitude for the daily paper. And my Seafirst Bank mug, sturdy, tall, and a memory of my first days in Seattle 18 years ago this week.

My clippings await, but first, a mental warm-up to a day of preparation for my upcoming trip to Italy, Prague, Budapest, and Paris. What's a trip to Europe without Paris, methinks.

Besides reading and taking some notes, and learning a little more French (read, very little, I fear), I want to decide on journal and sketchbook format. Like these artists I highlight below, it is one thing to plan for sketching and painting one's experiences, and quite another to have time or energy or patience of traveling partners to do them. Also, I learned long ago that I do best when I carry light signature sets of pages instead of full journals. I am also a variety junkie. With that in mind, I will soon decide how to divide up the trip to meet all these self-imposed demands and begin to prepare some luscious and/or fun pages: a little of Mary Ann, a little of Molly - two very different approaches to travel journaling, I might add - and a lot of me.

Always enjoy finding new artists and sketchers. And so glad they share.  I just found two that speak to my travel journal mindset today. I found both  from Wendy's (Quirky Artist) post in the Ticket to Venice Yahoo group.

There is a whole lot of artistry out in them thar woods!