• Heather
      Participant
      Chirps: 5
      Learning to draw different types of birds and getting colours and behaviours to help in identification and also build memories. Become more mindful of my surroundings
    • Heather
      Participant
      Chirps: 5
      • 90646D66-7BD9-4E02-9A0E-76DEAB7E2A5EI’d like to improve on my field comments with color. Also more structure to my pages
    • suzie
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      Hi all My inspirations? My very part time business is collage card making. Improving observation and drawing, painting skills will be a plus.
      • My small city yard is a native garden habitat in which I see and am learning all I can to support pollinators and the environment I am a casual but enthusiastic birder. I don’t like to write in journals but I would be coaxed to draw, paint and jot if I paid money for a course !EE0182B1-5ABD-44A6-B24C-61BBC98463B4
      • Cecilia
        Participant
        Chirps: 4
        I am blown away by your dragonfly, the patterns, the textures, the polkadots of your collage! I just started the course, and have only seen the videos of other people and their journaling. Haven’t started any journaling of my own. That will have to wait until tomorrow. But your dragonfly has really flown out of the box and inspired me. I hope you post more.  ~Cecilia
      • Daniele
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        Thanks for the way you’ve done this!!  Searching for my own way and this is helpful.
      • Daniele
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        Thanks for your work. Am searching for what my journal will be like and this is helpful.
    • Anne
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      I am a natural resource land manager yet never have time to observe, record and investigate nature in the detail that I would like to. I also have mental images of nature that I would like to capture in an artistic manner. And I would like to be able to draw better and capture the essence of the subject relatively quickly.
    • Janet
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I have spent my entire life in the outdoors, hiking, camping, climbing, sailing, kayaking, bird watching, and many other outdoor activities. I began keeping a journal in college as part of a course I was taking on Environmental Outdoor Education. I’d read naturalist writer’s books and looked at examples of field journals. I just began sketching, never having taken a course on drawing or nature journaling. The ideas that appealed to me from the other journalers included keeping track of the date, time, location, and weather of where they were journaling. I liked the idea of zooming in on a part of a sketch to really get the close-up details. I also liked seeing the simple sketches, getting the general shapes of the birds, and sketching the same subject a number of times. I can see how this would help to build the skills and confidence to create more detailed sketches. DouglasSquirrel
    • laurie
      Participant
      Chirps: 34
      Hello! How inspiring it was to see various styles of nature journals. 1. What inspired me to start journalling (double "ll" is the British/Canadian spelling): I just started journalling while taking another Bird Academy course for teachers that focuses on citizen science. Taking courses during the pandemic is a perfect opportunity to a) get outdoors, b) enjoy solitude, c) explore new interests and d) develop new skills. I don't have an artistic background, but I have a long history of careful nature observation. Journalling  will help me chronicle and reflect on my observations and "encounters" and help to deepen my understanding of what it is that I am observing. 2. Which journalling approaches I would like to try: I like filling a page with words and sketches. I want to let go of the need to "finish" a painting/sketch. I appreciated the quick sketching of the hummingbirds, for example. I also want to embrace the idea that things need to be completed before moving on. The journal-creators' comments on the memories associated with the journals resonated with me. Likewise, the purpose of a given entry can be different than the entries before and after it. Sometimes I may focus on posture, other times plumage. Sometimes shape and other times movement. Considering the journal as a work in progress and an evolving style is helpful to reduce anxieties associated with perfectionism/incompetence. I really liked the idea of multiple entries on one page. This allows a feeling of a completed segment of either greater detail and/or reduced time. 3. What different journalling ideas do I have not mentioned in the video: 1) I've always been interested in taxonomy but never studied it. When species of flora/fauna or classifications of rocks/minerals are identified, I like to write down the common name(s) along with the latin name. The latin name is fascinating and often gives history, description and other information in its translation. This practice is something I will most likely continue to do. 2) I like jotting down a comment of something that is happening parallel in my life (son's new job, global affairs, special event) to give the moment context within my own life and how, even with other things going on, I found time to sit, reflect, observe and ground myself in nature.
      • amy
        Participant
        Chirps: 20
        I like that, Laurie - relating something personal that is happening in your life when you drew the picture. Amy
    • Nicole
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I've always wanted to draw and spend tons of time observing the plants and birds on my patio and figured this would be an ideal class to learn more! I still don't know exactly which style will work best because they're all beautiful! I think I'll try a less structured approach rather than use boxes at first. Thanks all for sharing your stories.
    • Dale
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
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    • Nicole
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      I am inspired to begin nature journaling because I like to record things about my life and I like to spend a lot of time in outdoor spaces. I am a photographer and writer. As a child, I drew a lot. Drawing and writing were my earliest passions. Weeks after my mother died when I was in high school, I had a negative interaction with an art teacher, and I quit drawing after I was finished with her class. The desire to draw never left me, though. Although it has been more than 20 years since I gave up on it, I want to re-learn how to draw and enjoy the experience again. I look forward to this course helping me get back on track with that. I think my approach will be more about combining notes about what I observed and felt alongside my drawings. I do plan to give my drawings priority and fill in with words around them. I want to capture my experience of nature more than the technical details.
    • Linda
      Participant
      Chirps: 6
      I started nature journalling because I bought a book called Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles Roth; I bought some colored pencils and started sketching; I was on an island and had a lot of time and I found it so calming and meditative and it gave me pleasure so I started doing it every day I was there. In particular, I liked Liz's journal because it had a lot of landscape in it and I spend a lot of time looking at landscape and the light on it; she also was concerned with texture and she used the word "beautiful" to describe a sunrise and sometimes I want to record the beauty I see. I don't have any journalling ideas from the ones shown; I find that it is now, as Autumn. approaches, a little too cold somedays to capture the sunrises over Lake Michigan as they happen. So I suspect I will use some photos and work from them later in the day.
    • Karen
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      My world narrowed somewhat during the pandemic. My walks in the park and my backyard observations of wildlife and plants helped me navigate these months. Each observation and sometimes a drawing or painting of my interest were like little vacations from the news swirling around me. I took the Identifying Bird Songs course and practiced on my walks. It was so rewarding to actually be able to identify a call or a song. I decided that as the fall approached I wanted to have some focus on learning. I found this course and The Biology of Birds course to help me through the winter months. I have a love for botanical painting which is a slow process. I want to be able to draw and paint birds from nature and sketches. I have done some paintings from photographs, but I really am looking forward to drawing and painting from nature. Now I just have to figure out how to keep the raccoons out of my bird feeder. The visitors to the feeder in the winter are a constant entertainment during the winter. I think it will provide me with many subjects to draw when the weather keeps me in.
      • laurie
        Participant
        Chirps: 34
        Hello Karen. Yes, this pandemic has certainly impacted our daily lives and our social interactions. I noted this in my comment above. Instead of focusing on the obvious negative aspects of a global pandemic, we can choose to use the opportunity to reconnect with nature (and ourselves?) in a new way through nature journalling. I've also always loved botanical illustrations. I may never be able to emulate the artists who work at that calibre, but I don't need to. That's their fabulous role in this life. I am happy to fuddle-duddle my way through my new journal just to gift myself with some "down time" that is solely for me.
    • Johanna
      Participant
      Chirps: 6
      I began keeping a garden journal 18 years ago, when I moved to a house with a beautiful, established garden.  There was so much to see, to keep track of and to do!  There were animals and birds too and I loved chronicling it all.  Now I live in a city and I want to try a new kind of nature journal.  I hope this program will help me develop some new observational skills and learn how to illustrate some of what I see.  The journals gave me some great ideas...jump right in and start with the drawing, look for the geometric shapes, think about the palette of colors, capture an interesting moment or behavior, think about how this scene or animal or plant makes me feel, ask questions, go back and find out more about what I have seen.
    • Janelle
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      1.  I find inspiration in nature, but I don't always remember those inspirations specifically.  I want to be able to record my experiences in nature in a more effective way.   Also, I'm a 7th grade life science teacher, and I want my students to be intrigued and inspired by the world around them.  We made our own nature journals last year in our life science and life science/STEM classes, but I feel the need to broaden my ideas.  My students sometimes feel intimidated by the art part.  I want to get better at explaining that to them so they can feel proud of their own accomplishments.  Science and art are both about observation.  It's an advantage to have an understanding of both.
    • Andrew
      Participant
      Chirps: 4
      1. What inspired you to begin nature journaling? I kept a field journal the summer of 2009 when I was in school for landscape architecture. The memories of that summer (journeying along the Trail of Tears and then to Costa Rica) are more textured than more recent travels. My colleague Teri Nye, an avid nature journalist, has also inspired me with her work. I've fallen out of the habit, and would like to get back into it. Thanks to my mother for enrolling me in this course :-) 2. Now that you’ve heard from several other journalers about their processes, and had a peek at their journals, which ideas or approaches do you want to try? I liked the way the first journaler framed her drawings, but then allowed them to break out of the box. I think that animates the page in a way that I would like to try. 3. Do you have a different journaling idea, not mentioned here, that you’d like to share? I'm going to try and keep a phenology journal of observations here in Atlanta. I do lots of work outdoors, and it will be good to record my observations of natural events in a notebook that is organized chronologically by week - so, one spread per week. This is something I can return to year after year. The images are from my 2009 field journal.IMG_20200926_185540IMG_20200926_185941IMG_20200926_185928
    • Diann
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      Hello fellow nature lovers! 1. What inspired you to begin nature journaling?  A friend shared the link for this course with me a week ago.  She is an amazing artist and I have always admired her journals.  I love to journal when I am traveling and filled pages with my words and recollection of each day of each trip I have been on.  I am taking this course to gain the confidence in drawing what I see/experience and to add beautiful images to my journal pages.  I am a naturalist and have a business guiding  folks at Mount Rainier National Park and have had the desire to write a book of my experiences.  Adding drawings to my journal will help add more emotion and clarity I believe.  I take lots of pictures and am excited to feel and see the difference in my connection to each trip through the act of drawing. 2. Now that you’ve heard from several other journalers about their processes, and had a peek at their journals, which ideas or approaches do you want to try?  I appreciate each of the techniques shared and had never thought of using a certain style.  I really enjoyed Shayna's style with the boxes and like the idea of going out of them as an expression of space and life expanding.  I like how the journals used different colors and had the swaths of each color used.  Perhaps this is part of the technique we will be learning. ?? I am completely new to anything like this and am soooo excited to gain the skills to add more dimension to my journeys and go beyond stick figures at age 59:)! Thank you for making this available!
    • Camellia
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      Wow! I am so excited to learn to draw the amazing scenes, or details and bits I see in Nature.  I am captivated by even the smallest fungi and in awe.  I want to be a part of it and find myself taking photos, but it's not enough to 'feel' what's happening. This is what inspires me to journal. I want to share what I see, and somehow until that manifests itself into some thing to share besides my exuberance - I will learn to draw. Every person and their journal was great.  I enjoyed all of the styles and could certainly place myself in the scenes, that each observer talked about. It seems like the action of drawing it (the scene), puts the emotion into the moments captured. No-one criticized their own work, but used all the lines as reference points to discuss what they saw. That was my favorite aspect of all the journaling.  If I were to pick a style I like, or would even like to emulate (I dare say), but not copy, is the first 'journaler' that used boxes.  Maybe the boxes made a reference for the language or verbal observations for her to connect - but if that was a book, I would be attracted to the feeling it gave me, and want to buy it to reinvent that feeling each time I opened the book.  I want to learn to do that for myself and how I feel when I'm in Nature!
      • Barbara
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        “It seems like the action of drawing it (the scene), puts the emotion into the moments captured.” I love how you phrased this. It truly captures one of the reasons I’ve signed up for this course.
    • Chari
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I love to be outdoors and am an avid photographer (just for fun).  We recently moved to Arizona and I'm loving all the different cacti and birds.  We've discovered the Hassayampa River Preserve and have been there several times.  I usually just take photos but thought it would be neat to learn to nature journal, especially in that area.  Initially, I plan to keep my journal simple and try to get over the intimidation of a blank page and my tendency to perfectionism.  I enjoyed seeing all the journals and different approaches.  I'm not sure which style I will try so may just experiment initially.  I hoping to improve my observation skills which I think will also help my photography.
    • Sandra
      Participant
      Chirps: 8
      I am an artist who loves nature and birds.   I get excited all over again whenever I see someone's nature journal, or travel sketchbook and want to be more intentional about my observations and recordings.  When our kids were little we took the time to stop and watch every ant, spider and bee and I want to feel that wonder again.  I'm trying to slow down while I find my balance between loose watercolor, and detailed line.   I'd like to add more words into my pages, and I love the way the boxes look, so I'm going to try that to unify my ideas.  Here is a page from last year - what I really like about it is that my dog walked on the book and left a pawprint.  It really looks like a smudge, but the note makes me smile and remember sitting there outside, drawing with my daughter, while our dog bounced around.   Pen and watercolor.IMG_2884
      • Margaret
        Participant
        Chirps: 10
        I like to do nature journaling exactly like you have done above. It's simple and very effective. Beautiful. I like what you say about wanting to find a balance between loose water-colour and detailed line. Me too!
    • Marta
      Participant
      Chirps: 11
      Hello to all nature journalists! I'm new to nature journalism; I took a watercolor short course a couple of years ago and then started to draw in nature, but in non organized way. And without writing, taking notes, ... So, (1) I'd like to learn new techniques, and try them also in drawing birds (2) explore new ways of using the page (for now I prefer not to fill it in with lots of details; I like the idea of drawing in one side, and writing in the opposite page... although I admire Liz and those journalers in the video that draw amazingly and use so much of the space!) and (3) I sometimes use a separate sheet of paper to test the color (because I have doubts if it's what I'm looking for).
    • J Daniel
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      When I go out in nature I often take my camera.  While the camera allows me to capture the moment w/out much delay, it doesn't give me the wealth of detail that journaling forces me to notice.  I feel I get much more of what I see by journaling than by simply looking at something or by simply taking its picture.  I was most attracted by Shayna Muller's method; I believe I'll try to follow her example.
    • Erin
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I was inspired to start nature journaling by thinking about how I could unite my desire to explore drawing more with my habit of being outside.  I love how nature journaling can travel with you to different locations, and it is a hobby that can transition across seasons - it really is a little time capsule!   It piqued my interest that nearly all of the journals shown here had small "bite size" entries.  The entry was bite size in how it filled the page, in the time it may have taken to complete, or even in the skill that was being explored.  That was really eye-opening for me.  I am hesitant to dive entirely into my journal because I want it to "look nice."  But really I am doing a disservice to myself and my exploration - I can keep my entries brief and my self-reflection forgiving!   One additional journaling idea I have is to play with the orientation of the page.  Instead of always working with the same horizontal orientation, for example, you can work vertically or upside down!  Break the page into 3's or 4's.  Don't limit yourself to a standard orientation, because then you'll be taking what you see and trying to force it into that space or habit.
    • mary
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      hello! 1.I am an art major, but I work as a field biologist. A profession I randomly fell into. I love the outdoors and the natural world and I love art. I do not let my artistic side out as much as I think about and should. I am hoping this will motivate me to look that much deeper into my surroundings and capture the moment.  I also want to become better with watercolor-a medium I struggle with.  I paint mostly abstract with oil. 2. I like the idea of putting something on paper everyday. I have tried that, but life gets in the way. So maybe being more realistic with a few times a week. Really focusing on that time. 3. Adding feathers or pressed leaves or flowers. 04884C19-1407-4E6B-ABFD-C19767991B67
    • Beverly
      Participant
      Chirps: 8
      I have several reasons for taking this class on nature journaling.  After my daughter gave me The Naturalist's Notebook for tracking changes, I started my own journal.  Like the last journalist I wanted to enter something every day but it was to difficult so I ended up not doing it at all.  I then started to paint birds with acrylics and have finished several nice paintings but what I really want to be able to do is sketch nature and then put it into my paintings. My second reason is to help me create a bird identification book for children.  I am presently working on Warbling Warblers.  Studying warblers was a Covid-19 goal because I could do it from my own yard.  I am hoping that I can learn to observe and listen more carefully and be able to draw the birds for my book. I am so excited about taking this class because it combines many of my interests in one class.  I love birding, nature, drawing, painting , and journaling.
    • Cindy
      Participant
      Chirps: 14
      1. This was a gift from someone who knows I like nature. 2. I want to incorporate drawing with written comments. 3. I would hope as I get started my style will become unequally my own.
      • Cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 14
        oops mean to say uniquely
    • Jean
      Participant
      Chirps: 11
      Until I improve, I thing trying to draw something everyday might be good.  I liked color on the page, boxing and writing around subjects.  I'll need to remind myself that it doesn't need to be perfect.