Have you ever returned home after a trip and felt different? Apart from feeling more energized and renewed, traveling to new places also changes our outlook, helps us see things from a different perspective and even helps us practice gratitude for the beauty of what is around us.
Over recent months, I’ve been lucky enough to travel to a few different parts of France, including Paris and Champagne with dear friends, and I took the opportunity of doing some watercolor sketches while I was there.
As an artist, travel is my main source of inspiration, and I frequently visit new places to find new subjects for my watercolor and glass art.
Here is some of my work that has been inspired by travel and visiting new places:
BLUE WAVES I-IV
A series of watercolor paintings inspired by Lake Marie in Antioch, Illinois and Cedar Creek Lake in Texas.
I spent days studying and painting the rippling movements of the water in watercolor, admiring the beautiful greenery and wildflowers that grow around it, envious that they get to spend every single day by this magnificent lake.
CHIANTI CLASSIC
A watercolor kaleidoscope painting inspired by the mesmerizing Chianti Hills in Tuscany, capturing the beautiful hue light before it disappeared behind the hills.
VENETIAN VIEWS
Renting a top floor apartment which overlooked Murano’s Grand Canal meant that I got to spend hours watching the narrow boats and wide vaporetti bobbing and passing in front of the beautiful old buildings, and this view eventually became the subject of this vibrant watercolor painting.
SANTORINI
The spirit of Santorini, Greece comes to life in this piece made to commemorate the joy of its sweeping vistas, winding streets, and rolling sea.
Immersing ourselves in new places
No matter where I travel to, visiting new places helps me gain a new outlook into not just new places, but also people, and cultures. Different ways of life, beliefs, and values influence my work and see first-hand a different way of life.
Exposing myself to new experiences
Travel has given me inspiration from which to base my work, and the joy of recreating those moments for other people who may want to imagine or remember those places. Art allows us to evoke that same atmosphere that I felt when I first went there and share it with others so they can understand and experience the same emotion through my work.
My source of inspiration
Traveling has given me access to some of the greatest artists in the world, visiting galleries to see masterpieces and seeing their artwork in person has helped me to understand their work on a deeper level.
Finally, when we’re happy, relaxed, and switched off from our daily lives, it helps us be open to new ideas and inspiration will flow more readily.
Whether you’re an artist yourself, or you just love to cherish memories of special places you’ve traveled to, there’s something for everyone in my art collection.