Journal Craft Inspirations

A great way to capture little things as you are travelling, is the 3 minute sketch technique featured in Dory Kanter’s book ‘Art Escapes’. By drawing a small box on the page beforehand you avoid the ‘blank page syndrome’ and can record small things that catch your eye.

“Long wait at Lille station for our TGV. My eye was caught by two musicians travelling with their cello’s when they were standing at the ticket machine.

I loved Dory Kanter’s suggestion in her wonderful book “Art Escapes” that you draw little boxes on the page and sketch inside them - far less intimidating than having to fill a whole page, it also meant I could get away with drawing only the bottom half of the ‘french chic’ girl - the top half was too difficult!”

From the Travel  Journal of Gill McCowen
(Click on the image to view original)

[Read more →]

I love this sketchy page in Jenni’s journal - showing different tile patterns she found while travelling in Venice.

“You can put ANYTHING you like in your journal - it’s a record of all your interests and likes and dislikes, not just a diary! This was drawn in a hand-bound journal with a mixture of different weight cartridge papers in it. I used a regular Pilot Precise or Fineliner pen because I like to use the same one for both writing and drawing. Whichever, it would have had soluble ink to achieve the washed effect. The colouring medium then would have been an ancient box of Winsor and Newton watercolours dating from my college days - and they’re a long time past!“

From the Travel Journal of - Jenni Last
(Click on the image to view original)

[Read more →]

Anna uses her daily planner, rather than a dedicated sketchbook, to illustrate her diary.

Aquarell pencils, copic markers, crayons, and black markers in a Moleskine Planner

From the travel journal of Anna Denise van der Reijden
(Click on the image to view original)

Reproduced with permission under a Creative Commons licence

[Read more →]

An effective addition to a Travel Journal is a map of the route or the locations visited.

“In preparation for my week in Paris, I’ve drawn maps of the area we will be staying in and added details from walks through the area. The writing is miniscule! I normally have a big bold hand, but this time I didn’t want to take up valuable sketching room in my book, so I somehow managed to write like this.”
From the travel journal of Jan Allsopp
(Click on the image to view original)

[Read more →]

A lovely record of a camping trip - with a mixture of sketches, pasted in pictures and handwritten journaling.

From the Travel Journal of - Leigh Koegler
(Click on the image to view original)

[Read more →]

In her book ‘Art Escapes’ Dory Kanter has some wonderful ideas for travel journals. This first image was an idea taken from the book - to record the scents and smells of your trip and turn them into a visual memory.

The Scents of France
“By engaging all the senses, this page takes me right back to France”

From the Travel Journal of Gill McCowen
(Click on the image to view original)

[Read more →]

“My travel journals consist of minor details, but they work very well as memory joggers”

From the travel journal of Jane Humphrey

Click on the image to view original

[Read more →]

A small page that conveys a lot of information recording a weekend trip. The page shows a map of the location and manages to convey memories by including general views and detail drawings.

From the Travel Journal of - Jane la Fazio
(to see more of her work, click on the image)

[Read more →]

Maps are always a good addition to a travel journal as in this example -

“I thought it would be a good memory prompt to show visually some of the places we visited in Cornwall. I traced a map of the area and overwrote it with notes.”

Watercolour pencils in Moleskine sketchbook  

From the travel journal of Gill McCowen
Click on the image to view original

[Read more →]