Sketchbook Journaling in MOROCCO!

It's time for a Summer Sketchbook Journaling Retreat Rundown!

We just wrapped up our THIRD retreat, and it was incredible. This year's was in a country Katrin and I had never been to. Here's a little recap of the week with a weird footnote at the end. 

What is a sketchbook retreat?

A few years ago, my wife (and partner and studio mate) Katrin Wiehle and I were asked to lead an art retreat in Spain. (see my post about our first retreat here)

We'd never done anything like that, but it combined a few of our favorite things, 

• Keeping a sketchbook
• Travel
• Great food
• New friends

So we tried it, and we loved the whole experience. Only a few days into that first retreat, we were already planning the next one. Now we do one every year. We are hooked!

a small collection of mine and Katrin's travel sketchbooks. 

From the beginning, we decided to focus our workshops on how to keep a travel sketchbook. We wanted to share how much keeping a sketchbook in this way has absolutely impacted both of our lives.

It was a total reset.

This year's retreat came at the perfect time. For a few months, I had been working on overlapping writing and illustration projects (like this book about a pizza shark), and my brain was totally zapped. I needed a chance to recharge and reset and get back into the habit of keeping a daily sketchbook.

Our week in Morocco did precisely that.

A Few Days in Morocco

We chose Morocco as this year's location because we wanted to try a new country we hadn't explored yet. Plus, the reviews from past guests of the Atlas Kasbah (the ecolodge that hosted it) were all stunning. 

It's hard to sum up how great this place was.

It was a whole week of sketching, laughing, eating great meals, and fascinating day trips in a stunning location.

Our biggest fear was that it was going to be really hot. That makes sense. It's not far from the Sahara desert, so surely Agadir would be blazing, right? Nope. The weather was perfect. In fact, a few nights it was downright CHILLY. We were shocked in the best way possible.

The Workshops

We would meet at a long table in the shade every day and draw. The light in Morocco was perfect for drawing. We would give suggested tasks but everyone was free to explore their sketchbooks how they liked. The workshops were fun and easy. 

It was a total NO STRESS zone.

A few of our art goals for the week were to,

• Learn to keep a daily travel journal
• Try new art supplies and techniques
• Have fun making art
• Leave the retreat with ideas and motivation to keep a daily sketchbook

Did you notice that I didn't say something like, "Fill up an entire sketchbook" or, "Draw every single thing that happened?" We set realistic, accessible goals for the week.

These retreats always bring together the most incredible people. This year, we were joined by artists from all over the world (USA, England, Singapore, Australia, Belgium, and Canada) at all skill levels, and no one felt out of place. We even had TWO newbies who had never drawn much. They fit right in with the rest of the group and did a fantastic job.

Seeing the sights.

Throughout the week, we took various excursions into the surrounding areas. One favorite was a trip to the local souks, aka the market. Agadir has the largest market in Northern Africa!

 My personal favorite was to the surfer village of Taghazout. We sat, ate, and drew at a small restaurant overlooking a beach where camels, donkeys, and fishmongers mingled.

We also loved the excursion to Paradise Valley. After a short hike to see natural swimming pools, tiny fish gently nibbled our feet at the FISH SPA (we opted out of the taxi service.)

On our way home, we stopped to buy bananas at a village known for its smaller and sweeter varieties. I used the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sketchbook time.

 A Magical Experience.

There's something about getting together to relax, draw, explore, talk, and eat… it's just magical. Yes, I'm aware that it might sound cheesy to use a word like "magical," but there's no other way to describe it! I tried to use different words! But they didn't do it justice.

It was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, and we were so thankful to be a part of it. We left with totally packed sketchbook journals, new friends, and great memories.

I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to this group for making it such a great week!

And guess what? We are doing it again!

The countdown to our 2025 Sketchbook Journaling retreat has already begun! Katrin and I have been working with the Uptrek team to find the perfect place. I can't wait to share with you what we've chosen. It's going to be amazing, and we hope you can join us.

I'll announce more details soon in my newsletter, so keep those eyes peeled.

WEIRD LITTLE FOOTNOTE

I haven't seen my new NYT-Bestselling book!

Remember above where I mentioned the projects I had been finishing up before Morocco? One of those projects was illustrations for a book by Drew Daywalt, who wrote "The Day the Crayons Quit." That new book, "NO SAM!" actually came out while we were overseas! As of writing this post, I still haven't seen a physical copy of the book.  Check out the book here.

Thanks for reading.