The Travelogue Imagined - How Color Creates a World

You all know by now that I’m all about the Journey. Any journey. Inward, outward, in the studio or in the world. Doesn’t matter. Working with a new palette and format is a journey, as the paint leads me down a road I’ve never been before.

The travelogue is the record keeper of the expedition. It’s the guide, the reporter, the narrator. It beckons and records, and brings back secrets and mysteries revealed. I recently painted the small travelogue pages below as a response to my continued grounding, and thought I’d share them with you as one way of venturing forth without leaving home.

Travelogue 1, Acrylic on Arches Paper. 3.75” x 11.25” ©Amy Guion Clay 2021

I love making travelogues. Especially when I am anchored. These log books momentarily satisfy the wanderlust itch. It’s almost like a Harold and the Purple Crayon experience, where the crayon has a life of it’s own and draws my emotional life into being. If I’m fearful, my trembling hand creates a restless sea. If I’m missing home, my crayon draws a little window frame around a crescent moon. If I’m at peace, there is a stillness in simple lines.

Travelogue 2, Acrylic on Arches Paper. 3.75” x 11.25” ©Amy Guion Clay 2021

When working on a travelogue, I like to choose a mood, a format, and a palette to link the pages together. I don’t always adhere to this, sometimes the pages all look different as if I’m writing little short stories that are unrelated. But in this series, I wanted to keep it cohesive, with each page being a night and a day, one after another, in a limited palette of charcoal, ivory and rust.

A mood board I made inspired by my love of this volcanic, earthy landscape palette. ©Amy Guion Clay

A few years ago I was so inspired by the Icelandic northern landscape that I made a mood board and titled it Combustion - reflecting the seismic, scouring quality of the volcanic environment (see above). This mood board has been a steady guide for me whenever I need inspiration. I have many different boards I have created over the years and am always referencing back to them. It’s a great tool to get unstuck, and it can spark a whole series of paintings.

Travelogue 3, Acrylic on Arches Paper. 3.75” x 11.25” ©Amy Guion Clay 2021

With this as my guide, the colors and the format begin to dictate the subject matter, the FEELING, and I allow it to take ME on a curious walkabout. This is what drives me - 2 things playing off each other - the paint informing the work, the work informing the paint, and so it goes, until you eventually reach your destination. No resistance, just curiosity and willingness to take the ride.

Travelogue 4, Acrylic on Arches Paper. 3.75” x 11.25” ©Amy Guion Clay 2021

At the same time, I was inspired by the poem “The Holy Longing” by the great poet/writer/thinker Goethe. So I scribbled in some of the words from the poem to give it a somewhat cryptic narrative.
Each page of my book reveals itself in succession, no need to rush or to hasten the journey. The discovery itself is enough.

Travelogue 5, Acrylic on Arches Paper. 3.75” x 11.25” ©Amy Guion Clay 2021

It’s amazing how just a simple palette and a suggestion of landscape can create a story. The mind puts together it’s own narration, cobbled together by disparate memories and a sense of place. The rest is filled in by the viewer, no version will ever be like another. This I love. I’m just going for the mystery and the open book of possibilities in the present, past and future.

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