I am a naturalist, and help with monitoring Eastern Bluebird nests, and banding the young birds.  Although I trained as a wildlife biologist, I work as a teacher/tutor.  I like photographing landscapes, waterscapes, plants, and close-up details of plants, and see how things change over the various seasons.   I also love birding, and would enjoy learning how to draw or sketch birds.  I am interested in learning to sketch bird postures, silhouettes, and details, so that a particular species will be recognizable.  I also want to have fun with it! I enjoyed seeing all of these various artists/journalists' nature journals.  Each has a different technique, and great ideas.  I would like to combine sketches with detailed observations.  I liked the idea of using a page for a particular date, or for a month.   I also liked the idea of using "zooms" or insets, to show a particular detail. Since I am not an artist, I wish to learn the basic techniques for pencil/pen sketching, as well as water colouring.  Water colouring is challenging, as the paints can bleed or run.  So I would wish to learn how to work with water colours correctly.   (I am from Canada, so you will see Canadian spelling!  I see it's trying to correct me on "colours"!) Sylvia

I'm really interested in tracking the changes of native plants throughout the year. I know I'm looking for a balance of written notations and images, but haven't worked out how to include the progression through time. I'm considering having a page dedicated to a specific plant that I revisit throughout the year. Then I can come back to that space different times throughout the year and add drawings next to other dates for easy comparison.

I am a WV master naturalist & enjoy spending time outside in the woods around my property. I want to try nature journaling to help me become more observant and also improve my drawing skills. I liked Shayna's style.

To be more aware and learn to focus more on my surroundings. To look and examine and to have fun with it.

I liked the idea of making a commit to journaling by Month because Nature changes each month.  Journaling has been a part of my life in the past and so has drawing but I want to upgrade my practice.  I have tried watercolor pencils and brushes.  I will try both again.  I did find a mechanical pencil and will try that.  I like the idea. Documenting the item and then coming back with added research appeals to me.  Adding the place is a good idea.

Hey Marc here, I have been big into journaling and love going out into the field with my daughter and identifying everything we can with iNaturalist. I have also been pressing flowers from my garden and presenting them in my journal too. Citizen science is pretty awesome. I really like nature and I use to draw when I was a kid (not very well and probably not so much now), and engineering sketches for work,  so why not get into field journaling that I can share with my friends and family and show them a hobby I truly enjoy! I actually was really into the first journal with the flora exploding from the boxes and notes all around it. Maybe I’ll try that style but I’m sure I’ll make my own style who knows.

I became interested a few months ago after putting up a couple of birdfeeders in the backyard and then trying to identify the birds as they came to feed. I have been an instructor for marine education on a barrier island for school groups, so I am very familiar with our coastal birds here in North Carolina. But backyard birds (inland birds too) not so much. so after observing birds more carefully for colors and shapes and habits for ID ( using eBird and Merlin)I started to really pay attention to what was round.  While out on hikes and runs through local parks and trails, I would come along some flower or bird and stop to take a picture and try to ID it, if I didn’t know it. Or just take a picture of it because I wanted a record of it.  I saw a short video of you talking about nature journaling and just thought it would a good next step.  I guess you can say, I am inspired by nature and Liz. Oh, and Robert Johnson.  He has an exhibit of his work in gauache & colored pencils of North Carolina natural habitats at our local art museum. His notebook with field sketches and notes that are used, are displayed for each particular work.So, I am a beginner with no drawing skills, ready and eager to get started. My style is not set.  I like your and one of the first girl’s( Shanya)preference for page set up.  We’ll see.    

Greetings,  For my nature journal the approach I intend to blend into my recordings will be modeled after Shanya Muller's journaling style - how her journal is organized into boxes and the order in which she records her observations - recording data, such as date, weather, time, place, then observing and sketching either a specific species or landscape.  I am an educator and students that go through our program at Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center keep nature journals and each year I explore how to expand on their recordings.  Currently they record meta data, such as date, time, location, weather, clouds, then they sketch, write scientific and common names, and write three reflections:  What I noticed, what I wonder, and what it reminds me of.  I am almost embarrassed to say that I don't keep a nature journal, yet I expect it of my students.  Time for that to change.  I am looking forward to this class and incorporating what I learn into my own life and sharing new guidance for students who move through our program.  You may appreciate what we do at our center and I invite you to visit our website winddancefarm.org.  Thank you for offering this course and onward I go!

I began creating a nature journal with my granddaughter, inserting leaves, feathers, flowers, pine needles, etc. noting date, place, then drawing maps of our walks.  I took the bird watercolor course and loved it.  I have always kept travel journals with semi-cartoonish maps and drawings.  This course is exactly what I need to improve my skills, eye, and enjoyment of journaling, now to share with my granddaughter!

I love the outdoors and I'm intrigued to learn how to draw nature. We have local woods where I walk at least weekly and I enjoy seeing all the many changes the seasons bring to the landscape, the flora and fauna and I would love to document these changes and the wonder I see in some small way.

1 I discovered nature journaling just recently, having taken an interest in birds during pandemic lockdown (bird watching from my balcony and getting familiar with garden birds). 2 I’m impressed with the beauty if the journals and i really like it when the journal shows landscapes and plant as well as animals. It’s a good idea to show the whole scene and also small details (like a flower bud or bird’s beak) i.e. show things at different scales. I’ve only just started journaling with plants and birds, but I want to try to include landscapes and rocks (geology). So far I’ve been using ink pen and watercolor pencils, and I look forward to gaining confidence through this course.

I have always been fascinated with nature journals.  I didn't know where to begin as it all seemed time consuming, sitting and drawing, noticing the fine details of nature.  I'm a teacher and would like to have my students keep a nature journal.  I enjoyed looking and hearing about all the journals in the video especially Shayne's and Holly's.  Shayne's is organized just the way I like to keep things organized on paper.  I thought the zoom was a great idea.  Holly's journal looks like a book, very artistic.

1. I'm a birder, a long-time gardener, a hiker and back-packer (back in the day) and have drawn all my life.  I've taken a number of courses at the local art museum, and have kept a "regular" (not a "nature") journal for years.  The idea of combining all these loves made perfect sense.  Also I've just turned 80, and as my eyesight fades, alas, I want to do as much as I can to see and record the precious details of the world around me.  2. I appreciated ALL the journals, for each represented a deep personal encounter.

I was inspired to begin nature journaling because I wanted to try it. I like Liz´s journal and  Faulkner´s .  I also would like a idea of kind of Mcmullan´s field guide.

I am inspired to begin nature journaling because the act of describing and drawing something homes my observation skills. I have been amazed at how much I don’t see! I need words to go with my drawing because my artistic skills are underdeveloped. Due to this and how long it takes me to sketch I have considered taking photos then drawing from the photos. Or printing and pasting the photos in my journal. The next step would be to emphasize the small details through a sketch. The only negative about this is that the actual process of drawing facilitates observing the small details and creates an intimacy with the subject that ‘taking’ a photo does not do in the same way. I have recently learned about “receiving” a photo. I think this attitude of receiving could help create more intimacy. And I could use photography as a bridge while I am working on drawing skills.

1. The thing that inspired me to begin nature journaling was my love of both nature and art. 2. I think the nature journaling approach of  a drawing a day was neat. 3. I had an idea one day to put a comment beside each bird I recorded in my nature journal, instead of just pictures. This is one of my journaling ideas.

I am a photographer that also likes to sketch and color. I made the sketches below while on a camping trip to the Pilbara area of Western Australia. Since I was traveling with others, there were times that were not available for photos, so I sketched while in the moving Toyota off the road vehicle. I love sketching as much as I love photography and in recent years, the drawing has prevailed with advent of digital photography. I am landscape artist that loves the detail of the surrounding area complete with the local flora and fauna. I am now learning digital photography, so my sketching needs to go along because I am not content with photography alone, as it may not catch the whole experience. I will incorporate a combination of photos, sketchwork, and internet research. The internet research was not available during the times I spent in Australia in the 1980's.

I'm combining two amateur interests: birdwatching and watercolors. I'm not aiming for perfection, just enjoyment, and a more interesting way to document travels.

1. Ive always wanted to draw but not had the confidence to try nor the patience tp persevere. Im hoping that I might learn from others to encourage me to have a go and continue with the initial process. Also I think as i move towards retirement this could take me into an area of interest or a hobby to pursue. 2. I would like to try and be confident and accepting of sketches, completed or not and also to try a range of different topics both flora and fauna and also to use watercolour paint. 3. Not at this time but as I am in the southern hemisphere my material will be different.  

I want to learn to observe more closely and keep a visual record of at least some of the things I see, including in my own gardens.  I was encouraged to hear the naturalists talk about how their style evolved and to see varying degrees of "artistic skill."  It made me feel less timid about jumping in.

I have always been fascinated by the idea of keeping nature journals and by those who have done so. So, I wanted to try it for myself. I think what draws me to it is the idea of having to slow down and observe everything around you.

I work in wildlife research and conservation and have always been interested in art. I'd love to combine these two passions and use this course as a way to start to stick to sketching/painting.

In January of 2020 I took up watercolor painting.  After over a year of learning this art I have discovered a need a purpose to paint.  Coupled with the long time practice of scribbling notes while on vacation that ultimately get lost, the notion of nature journaling seemed like the ideal solution. While we are a bit past most spring activities, I want to start my journal from the point of view of looking out the windows to our gardens to a walk about these gardens as the growing season progresses.

I simply wanted to learn how to start a nature journal.