Sheryl liked the ‘Delightful Day Trip’ map and wanted to replicate something similar to capture the memories of her family’s annual road trip.

What a way to celebrate and encapsulate adventures, connections and love for her family.

This was a trip across 4 states, from Washington to Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, the home of Grandpa’s Retreat.

So many memories and inside jokes, plus favorite places to eat and visit, and lots of great stories to tell, are what make collaborations like this magical.

We started with a mood board for our project, with all the photo references shared. I pulled the colors from the pictures for our color palette. It was a delightful surprise to receive the photo of Grandpa’s Retreat sign later on and have it match the burn reds and greens of the initial ideas.

These are the starting ideas:

1. This is a monochromatic rendition, with a clear highlight of the journey.  I pictured "Grandpa's Retreat' sign in a different color to emphasize it.  The background is a texture made up of handwritten memories, places, which created the way to add all sorts of things from ‘fruit pigs’ to ‘Robert Redford’.  The buildings are front facades of the important places in the trip.

2. In this one the emphasis is the family name with a totally made up date.

The buildings are line drawings alongside their proper locations in the journey.  The States are the puzzle pieces that also hold the path together.  I drew the state flowers of the start and end; a rhododendron by Washington and a columbine by Colorado. The leaves are a fusion of both flowers’ leaves and make the pattern overlay.

3. This is a grid like idea.  Where all the important elements are lined up, yet not necessarily in the right location; except for WA and CO.  The buildings would have been rendered like stamps/polaroid pictures of the meaningful places.  To fill the spaces there are icons of each state: mountains, dear, butterflies, aspen leaf, apple, flowers, wheat, tree, dinosaur, boots, tepee, peach.  The circles could have been words or a simple pattern of rain and snow.  

Sheryl like the first idea because it provided the space for the inside jokes and specific things about the places they visited along the way.  They liked walking around the towns they stopped by, used to visit the touristy shops and ate at different restaurants. The Big Thompson River runs in front of the cabin, where they fished and hang out. With no TV at Grandpa’s retreat, they enjoyed games, listening to radio and lots of good conversations.

She describes the cabin as “very small and rustic, but our little slice of heaven :)” and keeper of wonderful memories I must add.
I like what we came up with and how the idea got polished.

I look forward to hearing how it is received, the whole family will be gathered for it. How special!

Sheryl said “I think it will mean a lot to them to have those wonderful memories put together in a piece of art they can enjoy daily” and I think we accomplished just that.

 Is there someone (a family, a friend, yourself, an accomplishment, a legacy) you want to celebrate? I think custom pieces of art do it well. It is a beautiful process of revisiting good memories and what is important to you about them.

I am booked through September 2021. October is a great month to get started on a special holiday gift, so keep that in mind.

I love how memorable “Grandpa’s Retreat” sound, how welcoming and an invitation to adventure it is too.

What would you name your dream vacation cottage? Where would it be?