From Open Ocean to Open Invitation

Why I’m Spending More Time at Home and Bringing Illustrated Vagabond to Live Events

For years, my classroom floated.

I taught watercolour while crossing the Atlantic. I demonstrated colour theory between Alaska and Vancouver. I sketched fjords in New Zealand and Mediterranean ports from the deck of elegant ships. Teaching art on cruise ships allowed me to fully embody the spirit of Illustrated Vagabond: leveraging creativity to travel the world.

It has been one of the great privileges of my career.

But something has been quietly shifting.

After years of living between embarkation days, airport lounges, and ever-changing horizons, I began craving something different. Not less creative. Not less adventurous. Just more rooted.

More mornings in the Okanagan.
More time building community in Vancouver.
More space to develop work that lives beyond an itinerary.

Travel will always shape my practice. My sketchbooks are filled with ports, vineyards, mountain towns, and markets from more than eighty countries. That global perspective is woven into everything I create.

But right now, I feel called to plant deeper creative roots closer to home.

From Capturing Ports to Capturing People

Live event illustration feels like a natural evolution of the work I have already been doing for years.

On ships, I taught guests how to see the world through art. I demonstrated how to capture a moment quickly and confidently. I worked in real time, in public spaces, translating atmosphere into line and colour.

At weddings and events in the Okanagan and Vancouver, I am doing the same thing. The difference is intimacy.

Instead of sketching a harbour in Spain, I am painting a first dance at a vineyard in Naramata. Instead of documenting a coastal skyline, I am capturing the expression on a bride’s face as she hugs her grandmother.

The skill set is the same: observation, efficiency, storytelling, and presence.

The subject matter is simply more personal.

There is something profoundly moving about handing someone a portrait of themselves mid-celebration and watching their face light up. These are not souvenirs from a destination. They are heirlooms from a milestone.

Illustrated Vagabond, Reimagined

This is not a departure from cruise ship teaching. It is an expansion.

Illustrated Vagabond has never been about constant movement for its own sake. It has always been about perspective. About documenting life as it unfolds. About honouring place and experience through sketchbook and print.

Whether I am teaching on Cunard or Oceania, sketching in a European plaza, or painting guests at a Vancouver wedding, the through line remains consistent:

See carefully.
Work confidently.
Create something lasting.

Live event illustration allows me to bring that philosophy into local communities that have supported my work for years. It allows me to collaborate with planners and venues throughout the Okanagan and Vancouver. It allows me to assemble custom watercolour sketchbooks that tell the story of an entire wedding day, from engagement portrait to final toast.

And it allows me to be more present at home while still building a dynamic, creative life.

A Different Kind of Voyage

I still believe in adventure.

But adventure does not always require an ocean crossing.

Sometimes it looks like setting up an elegant sketch booth at a vineyard. Sometimes it looks like capturing laughter at a garden party. Sometimes it means translating a celebration into a keepsake book that will be opened on anniversaries for decades.

The journey continues. It simply looks a little different in this season.

If you are planning a wedding or special event in the Okanagan or Vancouver and would like your day captured in watercolour, I would be honoured to bring my sketchbook to your celebration.

Illustrated Vagabond is still travelling.
Just a little closer to home.