Written by When it comes to travel, one of the things I enjoy most is sneaking out away from the crowds and finding a nice quiet place to sit and enjoy the view. Our prompt of palm trees made me think about how birds, or specifically in this doodlewash, a couple of parrots, have the best view of all. High above all of the hustle and bustle. Since I’m not able to fly and just a bit too heavy to sit on thin branches, I can only sit under a palm tree. That’s equally relaxing if it’s perfectly secluded. And like these little birds, if you can cuddle up next to someone you adore, it’s twice as amazing. Though we should adore those people equally the same all year round, travel does add a touch of magic to the experience. And for this month, I’m on the hunt for new views, focusing a bit more on trying to find unique vantage points in my sketches. Perspective is one of those elusive things that’s always something worth exploring in art, and in life, really. Pushing oneself to think about things a bit differently and look at the world from new and unusual viewpoints. Travel is a wonderful thing to inspire this thinking, but even if you find yourself in the same old place, as I have this month, you can use those memories to help you discover new ideas.
Though Philippe and I aren’t traveling anywhere this month, we’re still finding fun new things to do. Tonight, Philippe made homemade bread that was so amazing it felt like we’d traveled back to France. This reminded us that we still need to plan and book our next trip to visit our family there, so we hopped online to look at rates. By rates, I mean the perfectly arbitrary numbers that show up next to whatever date selection you enter into the system, in the very moment you decided to enter it. Move things by a single day, wait a few minutes or even a couple days, and you could miraculously save hundreds of dollars. This is a stupidly devious and exhausting process. It strikes me that booking travel is not unlike visiting a casino. If you happen to arrive at just the right moment, you could be the lucky winner, or if you’re willing to sit with a drink and wait things out, you might still just hit the jackpot. I’m rather sure the two systems use the same game logic and algorithm. Thankfully, everyday things like buying groceries don’t work like this. “I’m sorry sir, it’s 2pm on a Thursday, so that eggplant will cost you $8. If you’re willing to wait 22.5 minutes, it will only be $3, but if you wait 22.6 minutes, the price will be $10. Thank you so much for shopping Mugger’s Market!”
Despite the trials involved in actually booking travel, we’re quite accustomed to the game by now and can play with aplomb. And though travel comes with plenty of initial stress, which seems devilish that the airlines would start your journey with a casino game, it’s always worth the effort in the end. As comfortable as it may be to stay at home, travel gives us new perspectives on life that we simply couldn’t experience any other way. After returning from a trip I always feel a bit transformed. It makes me reconsider things I thought I knew and look for new things in my everyday life. I try to bottle up this feeling and reapply it, even when I’m going nowhere special at all. Though I adore my daily routines, it’s easy to get trapped in them and forget to look just beyond to see what other possibilities might be waiting there. And when we show up to sketch and paint each day, it’s good to remember that although there’s what we see in front of us, there’s also a wealth of past memories to be used as well. Between the now and the past, we can always piece together something rather extraordinary and always succeed in finding the best view.
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About the DoodlewashM. Graham Watercolors: Indian Yellow, Permanent Green Pale, Permanent Green Light, and Cobalt Teal. Da Vinci Watercolors: Indigo. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop! |
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Your posts are so very ultra head shaking inspiring to me…I have been on a search for fresh ways myself, and recently located some old lists I’d made… where I would try to see how many ways I could think of using a subject in some sort of children’s book for instance….one was to be about alligators—I am amazed that I found 87 ways..eighty seven !! .(such as snappy zylophone…reindeer substitute and tub toy)….and well, never did the work…probably a big loss for me. Now the different perspective channel..hummmmmm..will tune that in soon. I think your “palm tree” post…is the BESTEST EVER !!!!!!!
Aww thanks so much, Edwina! I really appreciate your comment!! 😃💕So happy you enjoyed this post! 87 ways? That sounds like a wonderful idea if I’ve ever heard one! Methinks you should revisit it! 😉
What a great post! Fortunately I have my peeps do the searching for accommodations and we usually don’t go anywhere that requires flight.
I love your parrots. I hope I can do that well in drawing and painting some day. I look at the prompt and the blank paper and it is like a 4 yr. old drawing a house. Drawing people… don’t even get me started.
Thanks so much, Viki! 😃💕 Glad you enjoyed this! And I had to giggle at your comment, because I STILL feel like that each and every day I show up to sketch! lol But… there are worse things… a 4 year old ALWAYS knows what to do next. Simply DO it! 😉 And yeah… I still don’t paint people… I’m not at all gifted when it comes to that!
Your parrots look so sweet! I hope your gambles pay off and you find the right flight at the right price for your trip to France.
Thanks so much, Sandra! 😃💕 Still pulling the slot handle! LOL We’ll likely book sometime in the next couple of weeks. 😉
The parrots are love-birds! Travel is transformative for me as well. I never come home exactly the same person that I was when the journey began. One of my favorite things about visiting is new place is imagining what it would be like to live there, and more importantly, how I would be different if I lived there. One of the joys of travel for me.
Thanks, Sharon! 😃💕 Ah, I love the description! I feel much the same way. I always imagine what it would be like to live there. I think the imagining alone is so transformative. Perhaps I do become bits of that person I would be if I actually did live there for time.
Liked the parrots nice. Hopefully you will find the write time to go .
Thanks so much lie.
Thanks so much, Snehlata! 😃💕 Everything always works out as it’s meant to… hehe… I’m never worried.
Wonderful parrots!! We have small flocks of these characters around and they chatter among themselves as they zoom from one spot to another. Love seeing them and they always make me smile.
Thanks so much, Mary! 😃💕 Aww that’s so awesome you have these little creatures around you! That would be so cool!
Hahaaaa, Charlie!! Mugger’s Market- good one!👍. I’m not patient enough to try the “spin the wheel, find the deal” for airline tickets. I just get disgusted and end up mortgaging the house for tickets. Just kidding. But, I get it. Love your posts and paintings! Keep them coming!
haha! Thanks, Linda! 😃💕 Yeah, I usually did the same thing, but Philippe is cheap. So… he feigns a heart attack behind me and says a million things in French I can’t quite understand, telling me I should wait a bit or try another slot machine. In the end, it’s saved us hundreds of dollars, but it’s so exhausting. I’d rather just mortgage the house! lol
Yep, twice a year I play that game. I’d like to throw in the pot that they keep those dates tucked away so they can keep those prices up. I just keep checking, hoping one day they let their guard down and usually they do. Same game I play with my internet serive every year. It’s tiring, but oh how I love to go on vacation! Love your birds!
Thanks so much! 😃💕hehe! Yeah, it’s a stupid game of travel they make us play, but they know we love travel, so we’ll be willing to endure it!
Your parrot painting is adorable, should be the image for an engagement card for a lucky couple of lovebirds.
As for travel – oy! Airline travel has become odious. The super early check ins, long lines, long waits, tiny cramped cabins, small seats, lack of amenities, general dirtiness, and now the demand travel domestically with a current passport – beam my up please!
OK, calm down, find a sweet painting of green lovebirds – ahhhh. Much better.
hehe! Thanks, Sharon! 😃💕 Glad my little birds could calm you. I agree… travel has become stupidly complex and horrible in the planning. It’s never a fun experience to actually know you’re getting conned and screwed at every stage of the process. But the end result is usually always worth the effort.
These birds are so pretty! Happy weekend, Charlie! 😊
Thanks so much, Ann! 😃💕 Happy weekend to you as well!