Traveling as an Artist - Part 1

Deciding Your Medium

So, you’ve decided to take a trip, and this time you want to go as an artist, not simply a tourist. You want to experience the world in paint or through drawing, capturing your travels in a sketchbook or on canvas. Maybe it’s Paris, or Rome, or a cruise through the Caribbean that you believe will appeal to your visual sensibilities. Traveling as an artist is a different type of travel. You must be intentional with your plans, be prepared for your work, and anticipate that you will not be prepared because your plans will change.

Over the next several weeks I will be posting a series on some of the particulars you should consider if you are interested in drawing or painting on your travels. It can be done with great success as long as your definition of success is not unreasonable. It is helpful to consider success as more of an ongoing process than an end goal. You may only make one or two sketches on your next trip. That is successfully moving in the direction of developing a practice. Developing the practice is the goal, continually moving towards that goal is success.

In this series I am going to briefly discuss how to decide on a medium, how to pack those mediums, the particulars of traveling with oil paint, and some thoughts on painting/drawing on location in a foreign land.

When you are deciding on what mediums you should take on your travels consider a few things. If you are going to work with a particular artist in a workshop setting they may have a specific medium they teach. Or you may be planning to work on your own, or with a friend without instruction. In any of these scenarios, I recommend you not take a medium that you are not already familiar with. The purpose of drawing and painting on your travels is to have a deeper experience. If you are trying to learn a new medium you will likely be frustrated with the outcome and distracted from the environment you went to see. You don’t have to be an expert in the medium, just use something that feels familiar.

The amount of time you will have available to work will be different in these different scenarios. In a workshop setting you will have a lot of dedicated time for art making. Take at least a sketchbook and the mediums recommended by the instructor. Some instructors will focus on a specific medium, and some will assist you with whatever medium you choose. If you are traveling on your own you will also likely have plenty of time to work, if you choose to. Taking multiple mediums can actually overwhelm you, giving you too many options. Again, take only what you’re familiar with. If you’re traveling with another friend who is also an artist then the energy and excitement of the experience can be contagious. You may get more work done this way. And if you’re traveling with your family or others who have no interest in stopping for 30 minutes to an hour for you to sketch… well, you are going to have to get creative with your time. In this case it may be best to only take a sketchbook with pen or pencil. Get up earlier than the group, sneak around the corner to a café, draw looking out of the hotel window while everyone is putting their feet up, draw at a restaurant while you’re waiting on your meal. There are really so many opportunities to get in a quick sketch.

So, having a sketchbook is really key to starting this practice. Or, if you are a writer you can add little sketches in your journal. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many mediums, as I often do. Having the ability to easily access your materials, being able to pull them out when you turn the next corner and are blown away by what you are seeing… this is what will help you have a richer experience and more lasting memories of your next trip.

Jerrod’s pen and watercolor sketch of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece from his Visual Explorations trip in 2022.