A peer in my Master Naturalist chapter suggested this class.  I want to become much better at sketching.  Also, I'm hopeful that the close observation sketching requires will translate into helping me identify plants more easily.  Also, I've never used water colors (although I paint with oils), so I'm excited to try a new medium. I really like the idea of recording the date, location, time of day, and subject of each sketch.

I am eager to learn to identify more critters, and I am sure nature journaling will be a big help. And I have always wanted to spend more time drawing. I want to use my nature journal in the field to help capture memorable sights.

• My daughter was kind enough to give the course to me as a gift; however, I completed my first watercolor class at a local community college this past fall, and we share a love of birds and the great outdoors making the gift not only thoughtful and appropriate but timely as well during COVID-19.
• I appreciated all of the journalers' styles but was particularly struck by Shayna Miller's and Holly Faulkner's journals. I gravitate toward outlining my art in black as in Shayna's journal, but I also love the crisp, artistic quality of Holly's pages. With that said, I also think something could be gained and used from each of the journalers' styles.

Like many others I decided to pick up this course while I'm sheltering in place because of COVID-19.  I drew so much as a kid and it's a habit I have been trying to re-establish for years. I'm an avid birder and nature lover so I figured this was a good way to merge several things I enjoy.  I really liked the example of the journaler who had the daily and then monthly spread.  Daily is definitely too ambitious for me but filling a page per month seems doable.

1. The fact that I wanted to connect with the nature in a creative way.  I am a lecturer on Innovation and Creativity and the recent radical change has given me time to reflect upon my life and to plan to write a book. 2. I have noticed that everyone has a structured way of journaling. All of them have changed their styles during the learning process. Clarity needs time. 3. I like taking photographs, I would like to add them too.

This course was a gift from a friend during this COVID life that we are living. I was inspired to begin nature journaling because I have always enjoyed watching animals. I am an elementary teacher. Trying to get my students to try something, even though it seemed so foreign to them, has always been a challenge. Understanding that, made me realize that even though this course is a challenge, it should be something that I try because I have this interest in drawing and nature even though I also have a belief that I can't do it! I liked the journal that used more shapes to talk about how to draw. My college art professor taught the same way. It was the first time in my life that I could actually get something on paper that was remotely identifiable! She talked about using lines and shapes for everything that we are attempting to draw. I also like the journals that included writing about what they saw. I think this will help with the journaling by adding a hook into the memories of that day. I am so excited to try nature journaling!

I love being outdoors and am an avid birder and although I have made a couple of brief attempts of self expression related to the natural world, I never pursued it.  After documenting my goals for this course and thinking about the approaches I appreciated in the journals we saw, I realized I have a lot of ideas but they go in many directions.  I'm looking forward to see where in the world this course takes me.

I am a longtime nature observer and lover, and a retired cartographer. And I keep a personal daily diary, so I am practiced at writing. Before my hand began to shake, I could draw straight lines with ease but although I have dabbled in drawing and painting ... I have animal painting in my family heritage ... I do not feel confident of my ability to capture natural forms. This course will help me to turn my observations of nature into a record and I hope to learn to create simple drawings and paintings. I liked Shayna’s style for its combo of text/thoughts with image and I thought it was very rich in ideas in both elements and they were successfully integrated on the pages. I would like to emulate that. I purchased the course some weeks ago but have been waiting for spring. It is still a little chilly outdoors but as everything else is on hold while we isolate, this seems a good moment to start. I have been collecting “earth treasures” for many years and I am wondering if it will be possible to include some bits in the journal ... they would need to be flat, pressed leaves or flowers or perhaps spores or feathers, little bits of reality alongside artifice.

<p style="text-align: left;">Started getting serious about birding this year, but have always love the outdoors, whether it's hiking, fishing, or bird watching.  I've also flirted with art on and off over the years and even went to college for it, LOL. I think it would be cool to combine the two and create some lasting memories, but I'd also like to work on cleaning up my style a bit and doing more realistic illustrations. I liked D.J.'s simple pencil drawings and Holly's clean, isolated subjects the best. My wife surprised me with this course for my birthday. Pretty excited to get started. I should be working. (shhhh!)</p>

Just as I was bemoaning how poor I am at drawing and beating myself up because its so hard for me to identify birds, a beautiful huge bird flew by and came close enough that I could clearly see he was a bald eagle. I think maybe he winked at me.  Greetings to other COVID shelterers.

I enjoy sketching stuffed birds at the Slater Museum of Natural History. I also enjoy sketching flowers from my yard. This seems like a good way to pursue these interests. I have had a life long interest in sketching and I have plenty of art materials. The idea of adding the writing is new to me but seems useful.

My sketches tend to be from photos and I always feel the need for them to be perfect. Although I have always loved art this need for perfection leads to it being stressful.  So,  I have decided to put these goals on the inside cover if my sketchbook. Perfection isn't necessary,  just relax and enjoy. Draw what I actually see, not what I think I know. Learn more by taking time to really see and then research later. Record so I can be reminded of God's beautiful creations and happy moments.

1. When I bird I always have a camera, sometimes I think I miss out on experiencing the bird and the other birders because I'm focused on taking a picture.  Slowing down and really looking at the birds and the landscape is something I'm looking forward to. 2. All the journals were so different, it was good to see them and have the person tell you what they were thinking and what they captured with their sketch.

I am working on a naturalist training course, and I want to be able to draw my observations to help me remember and learn more about them, and because drawing can be go gratifying! So I will be using my journal on outdoor outings.

I liked the style of the first one, that felt quite me, but I also like the bird drawings which focussed on capturing specific details rather than the whole bird. I started birdwatching around 18 months ago, as something to do on dog walks, and I quickly started to notice a lot more than just birds by slowing down and spending time looking - I'm seeing insects, butterflies and plants that I have walked past a thousand times, but never notices. And a few months ago I started drawing birds that I'd seen, once I got home, or just birds from pictures online. And I'm really enjoying both, so combing the two into nature journalling really appealed to me.

Holly's colour filled pages appeal to me as well as her determination to produce something daily. I need this inspiration to help me reach my goals. Saturday, April 11, 2020 (Covid days in our world)

I was inspired to start nature journaling in order to share my views as well as inspire others on the beauty of the mother nature. I like the journal by Shayna Muller the most. Also, I am motivated by Margaret Corbit that I could be a better nature journalist with time.

I've just recently started drawing again after not really doing any art since high school. I'm working from home with my two daughters, and we are doing this course alongside my boyfriend's mother (who is an amazing artist and person). I am hoping to become better at sketching live things versus drawing from an image, and I am also looking for my daughters to gain a deeper connection to nature and the world outside around them. One of my daughters wants to be a game warden or work in nature somehow so this is right up her alley. We all love to hike and take walks through the woods, so perhaps this will help us slow down and really take in everything around us.

I enjoyed seeing and listening to each person's approach, style and comments on their process.   I also liked the tips on how to draw using shapes to illustrate birds.  I plan to use the drawing/watercolor  first with observations on the same page , making my own type of field guide.  I also like the the idea of the daily monthly approach for a possible future project. I am inspired to get started.

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I first saw this course last fall, and experimented for a few weeks with nature journaling on my own. But with so much free time during this strange “new reality”, I gave myself the gift of registering for the class – and am so glad that I did! What an inspiration! What a treasure you have created with this course... So much information and so many valuable ideas. Thank you for including the discussion board, and for allowing all of these resources to be available at any time.  I’ve been blogging about birds and nature for 6 years, and am hoping the structure of this course will help me transition to more journaling as well. My goal is to gain the motivation to make nature journaling a consistent habit. Tried to attach one of my early nature journal pages from last fall, but it didn’t work :)

I enjoyed keeping field notebooks in university. I'm hoping to combine my interest in science and love of drawing , I'm keen to add color to my journals, and to develop a journaling habit. I like the idea of showing a larger image of place combined with more focused (smaller?) studies. Now that I am so much at home, it seems like a great opportunity to start this, even if its just in the yard.

I began a nature journal several years ago, but never got into the habit and stopped sketching. I miss it and really want to get into it again. During this stressful time of social distancing, I think meditating on the beauty of nature is exactly what I need to feel more positive. I was really blown away by all the journals! I will be incorporating elements of all of them I'm sure, such as "zooming in," focusing on shapes to help with my sketches, dabbling in color, etc. In the past, I liked to focus on sensory descriptions such as hearing and touch, rather than just focus on the visual.

I've found myself for years, stopping on walks to look at bark, fungi and other bits of nature that are easy to miss. I've taken photographs which I've later sketched, but I love the idea of recording extra information in a journal, where, when, how, why etc. I looked at this course for several months but now having been stood down from work due to Covid-19, I have time to do it and really immerse myself in it. I find drawing very stress relieving and it's really helping smooth the edge of anxiety about the current sad situation. I teach art to adults with mild intellectual disabilities. Just before we got shut down, I had introduced them to nature journaling, which they really loved. I'm hoping to send them home a package so that they can continue their journals at home until we can see each other again. I think it will be a lovely activity to compare our journals when we return. I loved looking at all of the journals and will probably take bits and pieces from all of them. I'm also thinking of having some theme pages, such as mushrooms or feathers not all found on the same day, but dated as I find them.

I have, in my adult life, been doing some sort of nature journaling in each of our 35 family trips (my late husband, my two daughters and a variety of friends) to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the Minnesota border with Canada. Since completing the Master Naturalist class offered by the University of Wisconsin Extension over two years ago I as motivated to become a regular chronicler of the world around me which is rural at my home about 25 miles northwest of Madison, the remnants of a farm settled in the mid 19th century by my late husband's family. This year, with more time on my hands and being a perpetually curious person I decided to attempt to make nature journalling a habit. I am drawn to a blend of Liz's style and Shana's, but more toward Shana's. I am more interest in the record of the observations than in the art of the form. I will likely develop my own style as my journal evolves.