I finally completed my third adventure journal which chronicles a day trip that I made to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh this past October.
Since this was just a one day adventure, I made a smaller journal than what I used for the two previous adventure journals. This one doesn't contain any flaps or fold-out pages--it's just a very simple 10-page journal made from watercolor paper. I'm all for using whatever supplies are on hand, but I don't really care for the paper that I found in my studio and used on this journal. It has a very soft texture and didn't take watercolor as well as the paper that I used for the other two journals. By the time I realized I didn't like it, I was too far along to quit.
The majority of the journal was created after the trip, but I did do some sketching and writing on the day of the adventure.
This page tells the story of how I got busted sketching a stranger on the bus.
Luckily, the museum was only a short walk from the bus stop. A quick stroll across the bridge and we were there in no time.
The museum is quite large as you can see from this photo which I cut from the museum brochure.
About half of this spread was written or drawn on-site from exhibit text or images.
In addition to the artwork of Warhol, the museum also featured exhibits and work of other artists. I sat on a bench and sketched this giant paper mache elephant by Keith Haring. I only managed to sketch a few of the black and white figures while I was there and had to fill the rest in later. I basically just made it up--but I think you get the idea of the piece.
The final spread is just a few memories from the day written around an iconic Warhol soup can which I cut from an old 365-day calendar of art from the Metropolitan Museum.
Naturally I had to eat tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch in the museum cafe.
I had a lot of fun taking these adventures and then recording them in these little adventure journals. You don't have to go far or do something extravagant to have an adventure. I think adventure is primarily a state of mind.
I probably spent more time journaling about my adventures than actually living them--but now I can re-live them over and over and over. For someone with a rapidly shrinking memory, that's priceless.
So there you have it--my 2011 adventures all neatly tied up with a bow. I don't know yet what adventures 2012 will hold in store for me, but I have a brand new blank journal all ready to go when the times comes.
Happy journaling my friends!
