When An Artist Goes On Vacation

How To Stay Creative Away From Home

(Photo Credit: 123RF.com Copyright: tolikoffphotography)

When an artist goes on vacation, it can pose some interesting challenges. Ultimately, the big question is, are you going on vacation from everything…even your artistic creativity? If the answer is yes, then you should have no real challenge at all other than trying not to over pack. If you do plan to stay creative, then questions arise such as, what type of supplies to take? What do you absolutely need and what can you do without? Do you have an artistic goal for the duration of the trip?

For some, it may be impossible to take their usual cache of supplies. Sculpting and pottery, for example. For them, researching ahead of time to see if there are studio spaces for rent wherever your destination might be, may be worth your while. Painters may resort to smaller scale kits and paint blocks. Graphic designers can easily pack a laptop or drawing tablet. And pencil artists, such as myself, can go with a smaller sketchbook and a small assortment of pencils and erasers. When an artist goes on vacation, the trick is to downsize and travel as lightly as possible.

Well, once again, I find myself in travel mode. The last time I went to visit family, I was in the middle of a commission. Fortunately, the commission I was working on at the time was small enough that it wasn’t difficult to take it with me. This time however, the commission on my table is a bit too large to try to stash it on the plane without damaging it. The good thing is, my deadline is still a ways off and this is a shorter trip than my usual. So, I decided to leave the in-progress work on my drawing table and instead take a sketchbook and pencils.

That’s not to say that I didn’t struggle with the decision about my commissioned work. I did go back and forth on it for quite a while. I ended up having to talk myself into the sketchbook by setting a defined goal as to what I wanted to accomplish. I decided on a number of animal reference photos, one for each day. I also have my laptop with several how-to videos that need editing (a task which I’ve really been dreading and procrastinating).

Yes, I know I’m going on vacation. Obviously, I should be having fun. But it’s like I’ve told my non-fitness friends in the past, “I’m going on vacation. My fitness goals are not.” In this case, I’m going on vacation. My creativity is not. Besides, when you’re traveling about, you are more than likely to see things that you normally wouldn’t. What better way to fuel your creativity?

In my opinion, when an artist goes on vacation and doesn’t go prepared, they’re missing out on countless opportunities. At the very least, take a small pocket-size sketchbook. It should be enough for you to capture basic ideas and jot some notes. That coupled with a cellphone camera and you’ll be able to bring back images and ideas that will hopefully launch a handful of new projects.