Idle Minutes

Well we’re back from the Maine vacation. They don’t call Maine “vacationland” for nothing. It’s a great place to go on a get-a-way trip, particularly Acadia National Park. Just be sure you go in the summer…unless you like snow and bitter cold.

I’ve got a few travel sketches from the trip I’ll post over the next few days.

A travel sketchbook wouldn’t be complete without sketching my fellow travelers on the plane now would it? Besides, it gave me something to do while stuffed into my little seat. You know you’re stuffed into your seat when the magazines you’re trying to read are too close for your reading glasses to keep them in focus. But sketching was a little easier.

So here’s the first sketch. I’ll post them in order.

Portland was our first stop. Sketches from there tomorrow.

For those who sketch and draw…

• These were done in a little Moleskine watercolor notebook (the small one) with pencil and watercolor.
• I masked off the area for the sketch with 1/2″ masking tape made for drafting (called drafting tape in the art supply stores). I saw that done in a sketchbook somewhere and liked the result so I thought I’d try it.
• I cut a little 2.5″ x 3.5″ piece of mat board for a template and kept it in the pocket in the back of the notebook. I set the template on the page, ran the pencil around it, taped up to the lines, and started sketching.
• Once I was done, I carefully peeled away the tape. The result was a nice clean rectangular sketch on the page with room around it to make notes.
• A few I sketched while on site and added color in the room that evening. On others, I took digital photos on site and did the whole thing back in the room that evening, referencing the photo from the screen built into the camera back. And one or two were done from memory.