Artistic Inspiration on the Danube

Writer and illustrator Angela Staehling discovered her creative 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 tale with us in a current job interview:

Q & A with Angela

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

A. My partner is a journey agent and is familiar with that Tauck has generally been one of the primary models in luxury vacation. A Tauck river cruise has been on our bucket list for several years, and ideally this will be the initial of many more Tauck outings to occur.

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

A. My artwork design has transformed rather a bit in excess of the decades. I have been designing home décor and present products and solutions for around 20 many years and my design has progressed from extremely-reasonable to a additional entertaining, colorful illustration. Nowadays, I appreciate illustrating in a substantially looser style with daring, vivid shades. Although a lot of my artwork has a constant design and style, I do function in a variety of mediums and other designs. I also work with a number of consumers on undertaking-based art and my variations will adjust to meet up with their requirements.

Q. Why did you select to travel with us on The Coronary heart of the Danube river cruise?

A. With so many tour selections in Europe, we resolved to start out with 1 of the staples, that currently being The Coronary heart of the Danube. Though Munich, Vienna, and Budapest are a number of of our preferred metropolitan areas, we by no means had a probability to explore some of the smaller cities along the river. We knew that Tauck’s quite a few tour possibilities and tour guideline connections would permit us embrace the area in a more intimate way.

Q. You were obviously encouraged by what you saw cruising alongside the Danube, can you inform us a little bit about the feelings you experienced and what inspired you to sit down and build While you had been traveling?

A. I carefully appreciated our Danube cruise as there ended up so many picturesque cities and pastoral landscapes from which to gather inspiration. The enjoyable speed of the journey permitted me to carve out time to illustrate although making the most of the views. Quite a few times, I would go for a wander and examine the small villages with our tour team, or even on your own, having quite a few pics together the way. I would even go for a bicycle trip with a person of the on-board bikes to soak in as considerably of the countryside as attainable alongside our quite a few stops. Whilst I was not anticipating to get as a lot illustration finished while touring as I did, I was joyful to squeeze in a few renderings whilst on board. Of study course, I took several photos to use as reference for long term illustrations whilst I’m at dwelling.

Q. We recognized you had been employing a particular form of pen for your river cruise function, is that your standard medium, and if you have much more, what’s your most loved?

A. I procured a wide range of paint markers from Blick Artwork Materials before our trip. I generally perform with liquid acrylic paints again dwelling, but knew that liquid paints would be tricky to travel with. I desired to find an artwork medium that would be less complicated to tote all around, still have the identical opaque design that I am applied to doing the job in. I acquired a range of marker colours and sizes from Posca and Molotow brands and was quite delighted with the similarity in appearance to precise paints.

Q. Do you frequently acquire your work on the highway with you and develop although you travel?

A. I do attempt and take a sketchbook with me every time I vacation. Nonetheless, it is not usually effortless to locate the time to illustrate although traveling. The best moments for me to illustrate while traveling are commonly when I’m commuting, this kind of as on a airplane, coach, or boat, in this case. If we have downtime at a hotel, or other lodging, I will try out to illustrate a site from our travels.

Q. Where will you vacation subsequent?

A. We have a relatives journey this summer season to Iceland, Copenhagen, and Sweden. We are touring with a different household and are hoping to stop by other pals who are living in the place.

Q. Have you normally been an artist? Or is this a thing that arrived to you later in existence?

A. I have normally beloved illustrating ever given that I was a little one. I bought my degree in Graphic Design from the College of Illinois and labored in many advertising and marketing businesses out of school. Just after about five several years functioning as an art director, I shifted my job to painting murals in peoples’ houses and companies. I also produced commissioned artwork and would market authentic paintings in area merchants. Quickly later on, I learned the entire world of art licensing, in which I would create designs and license my artwork to home decor suppliers. These suppliers develop goods these kinds of as dinnerware, stationery, wall artwork, and textiles, and promote to vendors all around the planet. I continue on to do the job with these producers currently to license my artwork on these types of property decor merchandise. Likewise, I create and offer some of my own products as a result of my website and Etsy Store.

Q. You have just created and illustrated a reserve “How to Pet a Cat” is that your initially? Notify us about that approach.

A. “How to Pet a Cat” is my second guide. My initial e-book is identified as, “Happy Houseplants”. I have a enjoy for cats, vegetation, and of course, vacation. So producing and illustrating a ebook about these topics is a desire appear genuine for me! It only seems fitting that I get the job done on some vacation guides before long – that is my desire! The procedure of writing and illustrating a e-book is definitely a work of art in by itself. There is a ton of time and study that goes into the producing, as properly as producing the artwork. I was privileged to collaborate with just one of the top publishers of best-marketing present and art publications, Chronicle Publications. My How to Pet a Cat guide is now accessible as a result of most online and brick and mortar stores, like Barnes & Noble, Goal, and Amazon.

Q. How can people see and locate out additional about your art?

A. You can view my get the job done on my web-site, AngelaStaehling.com and Etsy Store make sure you really don’t hesitate to attain out as a result of my web site right here, or my e-mail at: [email protected]

Angela can also be discovered on Instagram and Facebook