‘Northern Girl’ Goes West
Hi! Change from the norm here…we are making our way from East Coast to the Mid West to do some over-landing through Capitol Reef Nat. Park in Utah, with a group of Jake’s closest buddies (and the pups)! Have you been?? I’ve dreamed of experiencing the grandness of the mid-west and now the pieces have fallen into place!
It’ll be a mix of exploring on-foot and by Jeep (from designated roads in the park that range from smooth cruising, to technical rock crawling). I have my on-the-go art tools (and plenty of snacks) to capture big vistas…maybe make some mini original paintings and bring back inspiration for a few “special edition” mid-west inspired jewelry pieces!
Over these next couple weeks I hope you don’t mind me taking you along as I drop a few of these in your inbox, sharing pics from my watercolor journal, offer up ideas for your own creativity on trips and of course shenanigans traveling with 3 dogs and 5 guys and a partridge in a pear tree!
Sites to See
So far it’s definitely showing me how much of a northern girl I am 😆 We made our way from Plymouth, MA > Jake’s parents in St. Louis, MO over the course of 2 days! Today, we are caravanning our way towards Moab.
Then, we’ll be attempting to check out as many places on our wishlist (as we all agree on). We are thinking Pleasant Creek, Gooseneck Overlook, Temple of the Moon, Gifford Homestead, some of the petroglyphs, the Burr trail, Upper Muley Twist Canyon, Rim Overlook, Hickman Ridge, Cathedral Valley and a Cider Tour! Have you visited any of these?! Would love to know your experience!
And for all the 🐾 pup parents, are you familiar with the Bark Ranger programs? We hope to “certify” Lily and the other two pups as official Bark Rangers, before the end of the trip! The “Bark” in Bark Ranger, is an acronym for B (Bag your waste) A (Always use a leash) R (Respect the wildlife) and K (Know where you can go) promoted by the National Park Service. Many of the parks have Bark Ranger Ambassadors with their own IG accounts!
Etsy (Vacation Mode)
Just a quick note that my Etsy shop is on “vacation mode” until 10/11. In other words, since I won’t be home to fulfill any orders, the shop is closed just until I’m back! And if I can get my sh*t together, maybe I’ll re-open with those mini originals I mentioned!…no promises 😉
Art Toolkit Essentials for Travel
I’m not bringing anything much different than what I carry with me when I’m out exploring back home, but I did refresh my supplies and changed out the colors in my travel watercolor palette! I thought I’d share to connect you with some of my “must have’s” for field art of any kind!
Toolkit Bag: I had the bright idea of using an over-the-door toiletry bag! Little compartments and water resistant. It just fits my 8x8 watercolor journal and has many pockets for brushes, palette, collecting treasures, etc. Jake found a great one at Target, in their travel section.
Brushes: I tend to get lazy and just use my travel water brushes. Haven’t found one with as small a brush size as I’d like, but close! This mini water brush is my “everyday” brush. I also brought a full-size water brush that has a slightly larger brush tip and water reservoir.
Mini Travel Palette: This is by Art Toolkit. They have some awesome staples for field artwork and journaling! Their tools are compact and sturdy! I am using the smallest, black Demi Palette that comes with fillable pans. These travel palette’s are magnetic, so you can buy additional little pans to swap out and arrange as you like! The inside lid has a waterproof film that acts as a mixing space.
Misc. Supplies: I like to carry small scraps of paper towel to use when cleaning my brush or soak up water that might leak from the brush. I also like to bring a mini syringe (no needle) to re-fill the water brushes, a few rubber bands (to hold down pages in windy areas), my mini jewelers magnifying loop (can just use a small magnifying glass) to get up close with cool details of stones and such, retractable eraser (self-explanatory) and always pack back-up snack’s to keep hands from getting shaky!
TALK SOON!
I’m already looking forward to sharing more on the pigments and colors I chose to re-fill my paint palette with. Colors I think will depict the park vista’s really well! I’ll elaborate on that, this Sunday/Monday (phone service permitting).
Originally shared via e-mail in 9/2022