May 19, 20232 min read

travel watercolor sketchbook pages by kindrie grove

Travel watercolor sketchbook pages by Kindrie Grove

These paintings and drawings are seldom seen

except during their creation...

Street in Southern France, pencil and watercolor on paper by Kindrie Grove — Street in Southern France, pencil and watercolor on paper

Traveling evokes a special kind of creativity

that does not often arise in the studio...

Filling my watercolor travel sketchbook pages encompasses an excited deep-delving exploration of new things, of history and place and culture. When I travel, whether it is abroad or locally to camp with my family, my favorite part is filling my sketchbooks with watercolors and drawings of the places I discover.

watercolor painting of lake and forest by Kindrie Grove — Wells Grey Provincial Park, BC, Canada

Ultimately this work is for myself...

From small intimate glimpses at an old door knocker, to the colorful pebbles on the shore of a lake, everything that catches my inspiration finds its way onto the pages of my Moleskin Watercolor journal.

sketchbooks and watercolours by Kindrie Grove — West Coast of BC near Bella Bella,

I love to see how the fresh and quick use of this beautiful watery medium can capture the essence of a place or landscape. Sometimes I spend more time to bring in the details, other times the pages turn while still wet as the next inspiration calls for a page of its own.

watercolour sketchbook and landscape by Kindrie Grove — Lagos, Portugal

I take several books for journal keeping and painting while traveling, ranging in size from wee 2 x 3 inch watercolor books, to larger format ones for collage or pen and ink. Moving between sketchbooks is helpful as I wait for mediums to dry, I can continue to work on several different versions.

Everything that catches my inspiration finds its way

onto the pages of my Moleskin Watercolor journal...

These paintings and drawings are seldom seen except during their creation. They get put away on the bookshelf in the studio until the next trip. Occasionally they are dusted off to share during an art instruction session, or with a curious collector.

watercolor sketch of a minaret by Kindrie Grove — Seville, Spain

Ultimately this work is for myself, to satisfy the urge to document and capture the beauty I see in this extraordinary world, to enjoy the experience of that beauty filtered through my brush or pencil, as my artist's eye sees through an entirely different lens.