Artistic Inspiration on the Danube

Writer and illustrator Angela Staehling located her artistic inspiration with us this earlier April aboard Heart of the Danube: Bavaria to Budapest – and chronicled her journey in a sequence of illustrations, perfectly capturing the essence of the river cruise in her artwork! She shared her story with us in a recent interview:

Q & A with Angela

Q. It appears to be like this is your very first time touring with Tauck, how did you listen to about us?

A. My husband is a vacation agent and is familiar with that Tauck has normally been a person of the primary brand names in luxurious journey. A Tauck river cruise has been on our bucket listing for decades, and ideally this will be the 1st of lots of more Tauck outings to come.

Q. You have a playful, eye-catching, style of artwork – can you explain to us how you describe it?

A. My art design has adjusted quite a little bit above the many years. I have been designing dwelling décor and reward items for about 20 a long time and my style has developed from extremely-real looking to a much more fun, colourful illustration. These days, I take pleasure in illustrating in a a great deal looser design and style with daring, vivid hues. Even though a whole lot of my art has a constant model, I do do the job in a wide variety of mediums and other designs. I also operate with numerous shoppers on challenge-dependent art and my designs will transform to fulfill their needs.

Q. Why did you decide to vacation with us on The Heart of the Danube river cruise?

A. With so many tour choices in Europe, we decided to get started with one of the staples, that becoming The Heart of the Danube. Whilst Munich, Vienna, and Budapest are a number of of our preferred metropolitan areas, we under no circumstances experienced a likelihood to investigate some of the smaller cities alongside the river. We knew that Tauck’s numerous tour alternatives and tour tutorial connections would enable us embrace the region in a much more personal way.

Q. You were evidently encouraged by what you saw cruising together the Danube, can you convey to us a bit about the inner thoughts you experienced and what motivated you to sit down and produce While you have been touring?

A. I carefully enjoyed our Danube cruise as there have been so quite a few picturesque towns and pastoral landscapes from which to acquire inspiration. The stress-free tempo of the vacation authorized me to carve out time to illustrate while enjoying the sights. Several instances, I would go for a wander and take a look at the very little villages with our tour team, or even by yourself, taking quite a few photos alongside the way. I would even go for a bicycle ride with a person of the on-board bikes to soak in as a great deal of the countryside as achievable alongside our several stops. Whilst I was not anticipating to get as much illustration finished although touring as I did, I was joyful to squeeze in a few renderings even though on board. Of class, I took quite a few photographs to use as reference for upcoming illustrations while I’m at residence.

Q. We seen you were being using a specific sort of pen for your river cruise do the job, is that your typical medium, and if you have a lot more, what’s your preferred?

A. I acquired a variety of paint markers from Blick Art Materials before our vacation. I ordinarily operate with liquid acrylic paints again dwelling, but understood that liquid paints would be tough to vacation with. I needed to obtain an artwork medium that would be less complicated to tote all over, yet have the very same opaque design and style that I am utilized to working in. I acquired a selection of marker hues and sizes from Posca and Molotow brands and was rather pleased with the similarity in physical appearance to precise paints.

Q. Do you typically choose your work on the highway with you and generate when you vacation?

A. I do attempt and choose a sketchbook with me any time I journey. Having said that, it is not constantly quick to uncover the time to illustrate when touring. The finest instances for me to illustrate whilst traveling are ordinarily when I’m commuting, this sort of as on a aircraft, practice, or boat, in this situation. If we have downtime at a hotel, or other accommodation, I will consider to illustrate a place from our travels.

Q. Where by will you journey next?

A. We have a family vacation this summer months to Iceland, Copenhagen, and Sweden. We are touring with another relatives and are hoping to stop by other mates who live in the area.

Q. Have you constantly been an artist? Or is this some thing that came to you later in daily life?

A. I have always cherished illustrating at any time due to the fact I was a boy or girl. I acquired my diploma in Graphic Design and style from the University of Illinois and labored in quite a few advertising and marketing businesses out of school. Immediately after about 5 years doing the job as an artwork director, I shifted my profession to portray murals in peoples’ residences and enterprises. I also established commissioned artwork and would market original paintings in neighborhood suppliers. Soon afterwards, I discovered the planet of artwork licensing, in which I would produce models and license my artwork to household decor manufacturers. These makers develop merchandise these types of as dinnerware, stationery, wall art, and textiles, and offer to vendors around the globe. I continue to get the job done with these producers now to license my artwork on this kind of dwelling decor goods. Similarly, I develop and sell some of my personal products by means of my website and Etsy Store.

Q. You have just composed and illustrated a guide “How to Pet a Cat” is that your initial? Tell us about that course of action.

A. “How to Pet a Cat” is my second ebook. My to start with guide is termed, “Happy Houseplants”. I have a adore for cats, vegetation, and of class, journey. So producing and illustrating a ebook about these subjects is a aspiration come accurate for me! It only looks fitting that I work on some vacation books soon – that is my want! The approach of writing and illustrating a book is actually a function of art in by itself. There is a whole lot of time and research that goes into the creating, as nicely as creating the art. I was lucky to collaborate with 1 of the leading publishers of very best-marketing gift and art books, Chronicle Books. My How to Pet a Cat book is now accessible as a result of most online and brick and mortar suppliers, including Barnes & Noble, Goal, and Amazon.

Q. How can folks see and discover out additional about your art?

A. You can view my do the job on my internet site, AngelaStaehling.com and Etsy Shop remember to don’t be reluctant to arrive at out by way of my web page right here, or my e mail at: [email protected]

Angela can also be located on Instagram and Fb