A First for All of Us
I'm getting on a plane to Scotland for the first time. We're heading there as a family with our young adult kids and I cannot wait to explore with them. This is a family trip first and a painting trip second, and I'm trying to hold both of those at once. We picked Scotland because none of us had ever been, we're Scottish, and honestly, that was reason enough!
What I Already Know I'll Be Chasing
I haven't landed yet, but I already know where my eyes are going to go. I'm a nature girl before anything else, so I'm hoping for native flowers along the paths, the kind of wildflowers that don't show up in a garden back home. I want the sweeping views, the ones that make you stop mid-sentence. And I want Edinburgh. I've seen enough photos of that city to know the little architectural details, a doorway, a stone carving, the way the buildings stack up a hill, are going to pull me in. Those are the things I hope to capture, not the postcard shot, but the little details.
Trying Something I've Never Tried
Here's the part that has me a little nervous and a lot excited. I started painting just last year, and up until now it has been small subjects. I have not painted a landscape, not really, and I definitely have not tried abstract work. But something about those sweeping Scottish views and all that stone is pulling me toward abstract landscapes, and I think this trip might be the place I finally try it. I don't know if it will work. I don't know if what comes home in my sketchbook will look anything like what I saw. That is kind of the point though, isn't it? You don't grow as an artist by staying in the lane you already know you're good at.
The Early Mornings Are the Plan
This is a family trip, which means the days belong to everyone, not just to me and a paintbrush. So my plan is early mornings. I'll get up before my family is awake, before the day's plans start pulling everyone in different directions, and find twenty or thirty minutes to sketch or paint before breakfast. It won't be much. It will probably be messy some days. But I've learned that a little bit of painting time, claimed on purpose, is worth more than waiting for a big open afternoon that never comes.
I'll be checking in from the road, so pull up a chair. I have no idea what I'm going to find in Scotland, and I'm going to enjoy the adventure of it all, instead of rushing through an itinerary. I hope you join me!
