When traveling with others who are not artists it is hard to find time to fill your heart and mind with what you are seeing. Simply tell them you want just ½ hour to do your “artist thing”.

Get out your journal supplies, set up your stool and compose your picture. A camera viewfinder helps to decide the best composition. Then take a photo of the scene to use later in your studio should you decide to do a studio painting.

Do your pen sketch starting with just dots to get your large shapes in the right position. Do your dot-to-dot sketch, leaving out the details that are not important to your composition. Decide your colors and wash those colors onto your sketch quickly and freely.

It has been said that if you look at something for 20 minutes it will remain in your memory forever.

I have found that doing these travel sketches and looking through them later truly does take me back to those places and I can feel almost as though I am there again, much more than just taking a photo of the scene. I love looking through my sketch book and reliving my experiences there.

After doing a few of these sketches you will find that you can do a sketch that will please you in just 20 or 30 minutes. Your friends can return to pick you up and you have a really meaningful souvenir to take home with you, whether you eventually turn it into a painting or not. Sketches may also be worthy of framing and sale.

Phyllis Overstreet is an accomplished artist who lives in Wishon. She gives classes and private lessons in Watercolor. 877-2678 or p-art@sti.net.