Well, we've been away, and although we haven't been as far afield as we might normally go, space is still at a premium when you are travelling with two kids, food, kit and bikes and all the associated paraphenalia required for a family of four. Given that we were holidaying in the Lake District, which whilst beautiful, is, shall we say, a little unpredictable, weatherwise, we needed to take some 'indoor day' stuff with us. Journaling without that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else, like washing, ironing, hoovering or cleaning is a total joy, and one of the best things about being on holiday. How do you decide what stuff to take with you though? I have it down to a fine art these days; I pack my satchel with a pencil case and my 'Art Doodle Love' book in for 'on the go' stuff, and a bigger, holdall type bag for indoor stuff ( although I have been known to stuff my husband's ski boots with art supplies on occasions). The 'indoor' bag has paint, stencils, gesso, gel medium, a small selection of handmade stamps in and a craft mat or two, and anything else, I just have to improvise with what I can find. Its quite a good exercise in paring down the clutter in your creative space actually, and means that if I ever had to grab a few things to save in the event of a fire, I'd be pretty sure where to start grabbing!
Anyway, whilst the kids were busy canoeing, or mountain biking, or righting rigged tups (putting sheep that have got stuck on their backs back on their feet, for those not in the know), I could happily sit and doodle away. Sometimes the doodles end up being inspiration for other things, like the bunny in the picture above. He made it onto a journal page all of his own, below:
Sometimes, the doodles end up as stamp designs, or ideas for borders that I can cut out of scrapbook paper. Sometimes, its just an opportunity to practice a new technique that I am messing with, like faces, here:
Still so much space to fill, so off to doodle a bit more!
