Add Art to Your Travel Journal with Elena Brambilla

Turn the memories of a journey into something you can revisit long after you’ve returned home. Travel journaling is about more than recording where you’ve been. It’s an opportunity to pause and really notice your surroundings - the colours, patterns, people and little details that make a place memorable - then capture them through sketches, watercolour and words. In this relaxed, hands-on workshop, Elena will introduce easy ways to incorporate watercolour into a travel journal, with techniques that can be used whether you have an hour to sit and paint or just a few minutes between adventures. There’s no pressure to create a perfect picture; the focus is on observing, experimenting and developing a creative record of your travels. What you’ll explore

• Combining ink and watercolour to create expressive journal pages
• Working in compact notebooks that are easy to carry while travelling
• Simple approaches to sketching and painting wherever you happen to be
• Using colour, shape and small details to capture the feeling of a place

During the workshop, participants will create their own Stationery Festival-inspired journal page celebrating Greytown. The finished page can become the starting point for a personal travel journal — one that can be added to with every new destination. No previous art experience is needed. The workshop welcomes beginners as well as experienced artists and anyone who simply enjoys making things. What’s included Each participant receives a creative stationery pack to get their travel journal started:

• Traveler’s Company Watercolour Paper Notebook - value $11.90
• MD Drawing Pen – Black 0.3 - value $9.90
• Blackwing Natural Pencil - value $7.90
• Watercolour dot cards to use during the workshop and take home

Participants simply need to bring their curiosity, an open mind and a favourite creative spirit. New Zealand Stationery Festival This workshop is presented as part of the New Zealand Stationery Festival. A Festival ticket is not required to attend the workshop, but it is recommended. Workshop attendees who do not have a Festival ticket will not receive a tote bag and will only be able to enter Cobblestones 15 minutes before their class begins. Festival entry times don’t need to be earlier than the workshop. Anyone with both a class ticket and a Festival ticket will be admitted at whichever of their two entry times comes first. About your teacher Elena is an artist, illustrator and the founder of The Sewing Sailor, a New Zealand art studio specialising in eco-conscious artisan stationery and design. Her work transforms delicate watercolour illustrations into beautiful, handmade pieces inspired by the natural world. ### Venue The workshop is held in a historic classroom at Cobblestones Museum. While the paths leading to the classroom are stone-chip, the classroom itself is fully accessible and has an access ramp. ### Tickets $99 per person Tickets are available through Eventfinda from Thursday, 24 September 2026. ### Refund policy Because these workshops have limited places and are prepared specifically for participants, tickets are non-refundable. If a participant can no longer attend, they are welcome to transfer their ticket to someone else. For sold-out workshops, participants can contact the organisers to ask whether a waitlist is available. If there is a waitlist, the organisers can put the ticket holder directly in touch with someone interested in taking their place.