Travel and the Art After

I’ve done a fair share of traveling in my day. Many of the details of our family vacations growing up are lost to me now, but I remember some things: when we lived in Utah, I remember going to Disneyland (I think we went to Universal once too), to the Arches National Park, and to a cave in a mountain (you had to hike up the mountain, then descend through the cave back to the bottom.) I’ve even been to England a few times. The older I’m getting, the more these trips are having an impact on me, and increasingly, my artwork after returning home!
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For example, we took a family trip to New York City in 2018. With three kids. Ages 13, 10, and 9 months. Surprisingly, the baby was the easiest one (no complaining about walking!) When she was tired, she would fall asleep where she was: in a carrier strapped to my chest in the subway, in Times Square in her stroller pushed by her older brother, or safely cradled in daddy’s arms. The boys, on the other hand, complained about the walking Every. Single. Day. Until we got home, and since then it has gone down as a contender for “Best Vacation Ever!”

For me, the city was inspiring. Three years later and I am still painting cities! Times Square’s advertising was overwhelming, but I’m still glad I briefly experienced it once in my life. Here’s the painting I made after we got home from New York, titled “Everyone we met in New York City was Nice Except that One Guy”:

He's not attacking, he's giving the building a hug.

That was the only one I added a monster to, now that I think about it. Actually, I have a cityscape on my easel right now, and it would really benefit from a monster or two. *Note to self, add monster(s) to new painting.*

The title of that painting is actually referencing a story from our trip when my oldest stepson got trapped by the aggressive dressed up characters in Times Square (in particularly a Minnie Mouse, who would not physically release his arm until I demanded that she “Let my son go!”)

Another trip I was artistically inspired by was our trip to Nevada a few months later, this time without my stepsons. We went to Las Vegas with a baby. With a sick baby. She got a bad cold that lasted the whole trip, so in all of our pictures her cheeks are bright red and she just looks miserable!

We saw many of the sights of Vegas in daytime, visited the Hoover Dam, and explored the Valley of Fire. What fascinated me most was the landscape. The lawns are made of gravel! And while we have flat fields in Iowa as far as the eye can see, some of the desert we drove through is FLAT flat!

Regardless, it was an excellent trip and my husband and I both agree it was a near perfect vacation, even with a sick baby. Here’s the painting/mixed media piece I made for my husband when we returned home, I called it “The Natures of Nevada”:

You can't tell, but the signs and moon glow in the dark.

The colors in the Valley of Fire were so unique, and I wanted to have it juxtaposed against the city with so much unnatural lighting. I made the background a dark green, which in hindsight seems a bit cruel as there is so little green in the landscape there.

Our next vacation is already in the works, and we are returning to Florida! Half of our vacation will be in the panhandle, visiting my grandparents. The second half of the vacation will be spent at Universal, where we plan to return to the Wizarding World in full, six-nerd-family-member-Hogwarts-robed glory! I expect there will be some art inspired by this trip – if nothing else, we will have some epically nerdy photos to bring home with us.

…Did I mention that we are driving instead of flying? Prayers are welcome.