Getting Started with Travel Journaling: Sketchbooks & Going Slowly

Travel journaling has very little to do with being a great artist.

In fact, some of the most meaningful travel journals are made up of quick sketches, colour swatches, handwritten observations, ticket stubs, coffee stains, and half-finished thoughts. What matters isn't how polished the pages look. It's that they help you pay attention.

For anyone wondering how to start a travel journal, the good news is that you don't need much. A simple sketchbook, a few portable materials, and a willingness to slow down are enough.

Whether you're heading abroad this summer, taking day trips close to home, or simply spending more time outdoors, a travel journal can become a way of collecting moments rather than souvenirs.

When we're travelling, it's easy to move quickly from one place to the next. We take photographs, make plans, and try to fit everything in.

A travel journal invites the opposite.

Instead of documenting everything, it encourages you to notice one thing. The shape of a building. The colour of evening light. The pattern of leaves on a path. The conversation overheard at a café.

Drawing, painting, or writing these small observations helps fix them in memory in a way that photographs often don't.

The goal isn't to create a masterpiece. It's to create a record of attention.

One of the best ways to ensure a sketchbook gets used is to choose one you'll actually want to carry.

Small formats often work best. A sketchbook that slips easily into a backpack, tote bag, or jacket pocket is far more likely to come with you than a larger, heavier book.

The Opus Essential Sketchbook range offers a variety of sizes suitable for everyday carrying, while Sennelier sketchbooks provide beautiful surfaces for combining drawing, writing, and collected ephemera.

If you enjoy working with watercolour or gouache, a dedicated travel journal can be a wonderful companion. The Arches Watercolour Travel Journal combines professional-quality 140lb/300gsm cold-pressed paper with a portable format designed to travel well.

Whether you're making quick colour notes from a café table or spending an hour sketching in a park, having paper that can handle washes and layering allows you to focus on observing rather than worrying about the page.

Remember: the "perfect" sketchbook is usually the one that is open in front of you.

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is packing too much.

A travel kit should feel easy to reach for, not like a second suitcase.

A simple setup might include:

• A small sketchbook
• A pencil or waterproof pen
• A portable watercolour or gouache set
• One travel brush or waterbrush
• A small cloth or paper towel

Portable pan sets such as Opus Essential Watercolours are ideal because they take up very little space while offering a wide range of colour.

A waterbrush can be especially useful for sketching outdoors, eliminating the need for a separate water container.

The lighter your kit, the more likely you'll use it.

One helpful mindset shift is to think less about making finished artwork and more about collecting experiences.

A page might include:

• A quick sketch of a café window
• Notes about the weather
• A colour swatch matching the sea
• A train ticket
• A list of things you noticed that day

These fragments often become more meaningful than highly finished drawings because they capture a specific moment in time.

Travel journaling isn't studio practice.

Sometimes you'll have five minutes while waiting for a train. Sometimes you'll have twenty minutes in a park. Sometimes you'll simply write a sentence before moving on.

The pages don't need to be complete.

In fact, unfinished sketches often become some of the most evocative records because they preserve the energy of the moment.

One reason many people never begin a travel journal is the belief that every page should look beautiful.

Social media has made it easy to assume that travel sketchbooks are filled with perfectly rendered landscapes and carefully designed spreads. In reality, most artists accumulate plenty of awkward pages, unfinished sketches, and experiments that don't quite work.

A travel journal isn't a portfolio. It's a record of your experience.

If you're returning to creativity after a long break, this can be an especially helpful mindset. Rather than worrying about the final result, focus on the act of showing up. Draw the view from your train window. Make a quick colour study of the sky. Write down something you overheard at lunch.

The value comes from the noticing, not the perfection.

Many artists find that removing the expectation of creating "good art" makes them more willing to open their sketchbook in public and more likely to maintain the habit over time.

One of the easiest ways to keep a travel journal going is to establish a simple routine.

Instead of waiting for a spectacular view or a major landmark, choose a small daily practice. You might spend ten minutes sketching before breakfast, make a colour note at the end of the day, or collect one observation each afternoon.

The consistency matters more than the amount of time spent.

Some travel journalers dedicate a page to each day, while others work more freely, filling spreads with sketches, notes, maps, receipts, and snippets of conversation. There is no right or wrong approach.

If you're using a gouache sketchbook, remember that small studies can be just as satisfying as larger paintings. A quick five-minute sketch of a doorway, a market stall, or a houseplant can capture the feeling of a place remarkably well.

The same is true if you're working with watercolour. A few loose washes and handwritten notes can often say more than a highly detailed painting.

Over time, these pages begin to build a personal archive of places visited, moments experienced, and things noticed along the way.

If you're unsure what to put on the page, start with simple observations.

Try sketching:

• Your morning coffee
• A favourite building
• Trees or plants you encounter
• Interesting shadows
• Street signs
• Local food
• The view from a bench

You can also combine writing and drawing, recording small details that might otherwise be forgotten.

The best travel journals often become a mixture of sketchbook, diary, scrapbook, and field notes.

For those looking for more travel sketchbook ideas, try dedicating a page to a single colour you notice throughout the day, creating a visual map of a neighbourhood, or documenting a meal through a combination of sketches and written observations. These simple prompts can remove the pressure of deciding what to draw and help you focus on the experience itself.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that travel journaling doesn't require a major adventure.

A travel journal can begin on your commute to work, during a weekend walk, at a local café, or while sitting in the garden. The skills you develop by observing your everyday surroundings are exactly the same skills you'll use when travelling further afield.

In many ways, travel journaling is simply a practice of curiosity.

The more often you pause to look closely, the more details you begin to notice: changing seasons, shifting light, unexpected colours, small interactions, and fleeting moments that might otherwise pass by unnoticed.

You don't need to fill every page. You don't need to sketch every landmark. And you certainly don't need to create perfect artwork.

The purpose of travel journaling art isn't to impress anyone. It's to create a personal record of where you've been, what you've seen, and how a place felt in a particular moment.

If you're looking for inspiration, artist Charlie Easton speaks beautifully about observation, travel, and painting outdoors in our interview Painting While Travelling: Charlie Easton on India, Plein Air & Seeing Differently.

And if you'd like to share your own summer observations, keep an eye on our Art Everywhere Challenge. You can also pick up a free Winsor & Newton ArtMail postcard with qualifying watercolour purchases — a simple way to send a small piece of your creative journey to someone else.

Whether you're filling pages with sketches, notes, colour studies, or collected ephemera, the best travel journal is the one you keep returning to. Start small, travel light, and allow yourself to go slowly. You may discover that the most memorable part of the journey is simply learning to pay attention.