If you subscribe to my newsletter for creatives who live to wander, then you got the official word over the weekend that I'm getting ready to finally launch my handmade travel goods business next month; RambleGood. I've been providing little teases around this site for months now and recently added the logo to my side-bar.
Read More
For travelers and creatives alike, the comparison game can be a real ambition killer.
With my newly acquired in-my-thirties attitude and simplify as my one little word for 2015, I'm taking a step back and coming at this game from a new, more productive, angle.
Read More
Post-concussion, I've spent a lot of time thinking about quality and how to best shape my creative process to produce the best possible products. So, in the spirit of what I've been thinking about, I'd like to kick this new series off with a look behind the curtain at the creative process I go through for travel writing.
Read More
Alright, here's my last week plus a few days of 30 Days of Lists & Maps! I played around with mixing a few colors into my maps and really enjoyed the last set of list prompts. Can't wait until the next round of listing comes around!
I swear this month is just jetting by.
It's time for for a summary post about week three of 30 Days of Lists. I did the checkerboard pattern on the maps for the whole week and I have to say - it's way more time consuming then just scribbling away with the paint brush. However, I like the end product way better.
So far I'm finding that the most difficult continents to draw are Africa and South America - they always turn out a little wonky for me.
Last week I let you in on some of my drafts for the Map Design course taught by Anne Ditmeyer of Pret-a-Voyager I've been taking on Skillshare. Our final projects were due this past Sunday and the class ended on Monday. I'll admit, I'm a little bummed it isn't running for longer. I had so much fun sketching maps by hand and then enhancing them with digital resources.
For my final project, I created a two page road trip guide to New Zealand based on the route my husband and I took on our February 2011 trip. The outline of the map and the route were both sketched by hand and scanned. Using Pages (a very inexpensive page layout software from Apple) I added photos and recommendations for what to do, where to eat, and places to stay. For the later two types of recommendations - I included hyperlinks to find more information and for the things to do posts, I've added links to the blog posts I've written about those activities.
Since I've embedded the PDF files into the post - it may take them a minute to load, so have patience. If you would like to download the guides, you can find them here.
Woah there March. How is 30 Days of Lists already halfway over?
Week Two started with one of my favorite subjects; food. I love talking about food and could probably do it all day long, I guess that's why I'm a travel AND food blogger. Since I got to make a list about one of my favorite subjects, I thought it would be appropriate to draw the #1 location on my travel wishlist; Cuba.
During Week Two, I think I've finally started to find at least a bit of a stride in my watercolor - although on Day 12 - I introduced a new brush to my collection. Looking back, I think my Ireland and Eurasia maps are my favorites so far. What really needs to happen is I need to find some time to watch some watercolor tutorials online. Any suggestions for good ones?
On Tuesday, I shared one of my mapping projects with you and today, I'm sharing the first installment of the other one with you. If you've been around for more than a year, you might remember that I participated in 30 Days of Lists last March as well. It's such a fun project and I find it a great way to just center my thoughts and my mind. This year I decided to add an additional component, 30 days of map related art completed with ink and watercolors (which is basically a totally new medium to me - so I'd love to hear your pro tips!).
While I've been sharing my lists on twitter and instagram, I wanted to share them here as well so you see a version that's not cut off at the bottom and get a peek at what's on my mind!
If you follow me on twitter or instagram, you've been seeing a lot of hand drawn maps recently.
After some wonderful connections made at Alt Summit, more connections and an online travel blogger meet-up, and I found a post by Erica from Wayfare Magazine about an online Map Design class taught by Anne Ditmeyer of Pret-a-Voyager via Skillshare.
Read More