My husband, artist Kurt Isgreen, and I just returned from a three week road trip to the Texas hill country and Gulf coast. After acquiring a small Hawk popup camper for our pickup truck last winter and taking several short trips last year, we decided we were ready for a more ambitious trip. After three days of traveling and figuring out the logistics of camping, grocery shopping, and navigating, we were ready to begin recording our travels in sketches.

For this trip I took a 6″ square multimedia sketchbook. The size was a bit of a challenge; being quite small, I had to determine what to include and what needed to be simplified. The square format was also somewhat of a challenge, as city scenes lend themselves better in landscape layout. The plus side: the size was ideal for walking and hopping buses; the paper weight allowed for a variety of media, including markers and watercolor.
San Antonio:







After leaving the Hill Country, we traveled to the Gulf Coast. We camped at Mustang Island the first night, visited Padre Island National Seashore, then on to Rockport, Fulton, Goose Island State Park, and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

Leaving the Coast, we camped a Blanco State Park. We explored the smaller towns of the Hill Country, including Luckenbach, Texas and Fredericksburg. Both Rockport and Fredericksburg are art colonies. The final night at Blanco, a hard rain fell which made national news. I was quite worried about flooding and tornados, but we came through it safely.
Enjoyed your trip through your sketches! What materials did you use for your sepia colored sketches?
I have Copic markers in several values in the warm and neutral ranges. They are supposed to be refillable, but I have explored that option yet.
LOVE, LOVE your sketch book Steph. >
Thanks Steph- planning to develop new work from the sketch trip:)
Cheri you recorded the trip beautifully!
Thanks Lisa. this was such a good trip- really like the progression and variety of subjects we got to explore!
Sounds like a wonderful trip and such a creative way to document your memories of the places that interested you most. You and Kurt will always have fond memories of this trip, especially since you did the art trip together and shared so much. I wish you would have posted his sketches also. I would love to see them. I love your work. I had no idea you had such depth in your artwork and you are not just an artist about horses. I must say though, I love all of your horse related art work. So much talent, so hidden from me so long. Keep up the great work. Love to you both,, Mom/Julie
Thanks; it was a great trip- lots of variety!
I didn’t know Texas would be so interesting.