To join me on a virtual sketching trip, download a travel sketch-journal here.
I add tutorials to them so you can learn the techniques and details you see in the sketchbooks.

My former workshop students asked me to upload my workshop workbooks to make them available to everyone. So you can also download a workbook and give yourself a workshop! Enjoy!


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbooks 1 & 2

I have been scrambling in all directions lately. For some reason, I thought my life would slow down as I approached retirement age, and I HAVE felt sort of "powered down" for the last few months, but when I look at what I've been doing, nothing seems to have gotten more leisurely...

What are centermost in my thoughts these days are the headwaters of the Amazon, where I am going in December. Being a live-aloner, I like to do something exciting on Christmas and my birthday (just after Christmas) to celebrate, and it seemed like a trip to The Headwaters of the Amazon might fill the bill. So I've been putting aside every penny, no dinners out, no movies, no frills atall-atall, for a long time now, and one by one I'm doing the things on my Bucket List. (Click on images to see a bigger versions.)

But that's not what this blog is about. I'll blog my preparations for the Amazon Journey later (it's a sketch/journaling trip, so I've lots of cool stuff to share about the preparation, just in case you're planning something similar ~ or just interested in how one prepares for something like that!).

And this blog isn't about my Second Annual Art Show and Studio Sale I'm getting ready for, just like the one last year, with hundreds of original illustrations being offered at Fire Sale Prices (gotta get those closets cleared out!) on December 11 and 12 in Ashland, OR.

No, dear friend, this blog is about ways YOU can sketch/journal your winter vacation in the tropics (or anywhere else, for that matter), with my two new downloadable e-sketchbooks: Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbook 1 and Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbook 2! Sketchbook 1 is pretty much the same book I published last year called "Costa Rica Feb. '08." So if you bought that one then, skip #1 of this pair. But you probably didn't, because it had such a boring-looking cover and ho-hum title that few people were tempted to even check it out. I can hardly blame them. I'll be interested to see if the new cover and title turn out to be more fetching.

Anyway, I added the companion e-sketchbook, #2, which I had created the following July at El Remanso Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. It's full of my jungle/beach sketching adventures, in ballpoint pen and watercolor pencil. The differences you encounter between wet and dry seasons (in vegetation, climate, animals, flowers, EVERYTHING) are amazing.

These are scrumptious sketchbooks, full of interesting sketching subjects and journal descriptions, plus lots of ideas you can put to use in your own sketch journals. Neither one has a tutorial, which has kept the price WAY down there at $6.95. I hope you'll go take a look.

This is just a short post to alert you to the publication date (today!). I'll be blogging again within the next week or so with more big news.

till then,
Irene

7 comments:

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

Go girl! How exciting - the Amazon! Jumpin' Joe! Can't wait to hear and see about your travels :)

Debo Boddiford said...

These books look great! Are you going to publish Costa Rica Volume 3 when you get back!?! Your trip sounds terrific! Are you meeting up with a friend there or wandering around the Amazon all alone? Looking forward to seeing how/what you pack...please post pictures! Have you been to www.onebag.com?

irene said...

Hi Pam, I'm so excited I can't stand it! So many things to think about and plan for (I love to plan!).
And Debo, yes, I'll be journaling the entire trip, Costa Rica and the Amazon, and when I get back I'll do a tutorial for the sketchbook and put it up online for download.

Thanks for the link to onebag! I went to visit and it has some super packing ideas. A doorstop, for one. It's on my shopping list. I'll be staying in two different hotels, in San José CR, and Iquitos, Peru. You never know if they'll have decent locks ~ and usually the chair isn't the right size or shape to jam under the doorknob ;^}

Unknown said...

Wow!! Costa Rica and the Amazon!! My uncle travels all over the world and he says this is one of the most beautiful places he's visited. Hope you have a great time!!

Florence's Art said...

Good for you! How exciting and inspirational. Its a great idea making the journal of your trip.

Irene said...

raena, I think your uncle must be right about Costa Rica ~ and I have high hopes for the Amazon, as well. It's been a dream since I was a little tyke. And thanks, Florence, for your encouragement. It is a little daunting because I don't speak Spanish. But I've gotten a Spanish course I can work at on my computer, so I am practicing words. Debo, I didn't answer your question: I am going solo, although I do know the people who own the lodge I'll be staying at for a few days in Costa Rica. The Amazon is all new adventure!

ali said...
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