What is a Travel Journal?

A sampling of my travel journals from the last decade or so. (c) Lee Kellogg

A travel journal is perhaps one of the best things you can make while on a trip and afterwards. It is a place to gather the things, sights and thoughts that make up the journey.

We all have seen many amazing travel journal pages and equally astounding urban sketching drawings that make us all drool. Me too! I constantly wish I could draw like Ian Fennelly or Liz Steele, or many of the other well know artists.

Know what? I draw because I want to and I keep it up so I am constantly improving. I started over a decade ago with the desire to fill books with my sketches and paintings of my travels. My early work was an effort, it shows. However, I can look at those pages, know where I was and who I was with, even recall some of the conversations that were had while I sketched.

I can also see my improvement over the years. A class here and there, lots of pen miles and paint covering pages. Practice, like your mom always tried to get you to do with the piano!

Practice leads to confidence!

All of that is to lead up to what is a travel journal…it is a journal that records your trip. In what ever manner you choose. I have settled on pen and ink with paint along with words. I’ll go over page layout another time. This time I want you to get motivated so you will take a sketch book with you on what ever vacation you are going on this year and practice.

Then you will feel comfortable enough to join me on a group trip where we all practice our sketching while having an amazing time! Get going. Be sure to do the survey so we can make plans.