I started keeping a list of things I saw in nature after my mom died.  She had been very isolated during COVID and we looked forward to doing many things once it was safe for her- an immunocompromised 75 yr old. Unfortunately she passed away before we could do all we wanted. I started writing everything I experienced so I could “share it with her”.

1. I hope nature journaling will help deepen both my creative and mindfulness practices. When I was little, I used to do watercolor with my mom so I hope bringing watercolor into my journaling will also be a connection to her. Sometimes in my haste to snap a photo as a way of “capturing” or remembering a lovely moment, I miss out on an opportunity to be fully present to the wonder in front of me. 2) I love the recommendation to include notes, especially date/location/weather.

1. I want to rely less on my camera and sharpen my memory, and I feel that journaling will help do this. I want to get better at drawing birds and other animals too. 2. I will set up each day in my journal with intention: Date, Time, What Feeders I was Observing, and What Birds I saw. I will try to include some sort of illustration in every day. 3. I'm not sure how much I will use color in my journals, and where I will just use descriptors. usually when I try to add color I don't get the right blend so I will try to work on that as well.

1) What inspired me to begin nature journalling - I was looking for a way to capture the memories and feelings of my birding excursions. Also, I thought this course would provide advice and training on how to better observe nature. 2) Which ideas or approaches do you want to try - Watercolors. It may be rough at first, but that's my plan. I've seen many beautiful watercolor paintings that speak to me more than other mediums. 3) Different ideas - I may also take pictures of the journal pages to preserve the images and make it easier to share.

1. What inspired me to begin nature journalling:  I am a doctor, an occupation that involves pretty much only the left brain. I have a need to produce something beautiful that I can look at once I finish. I love nature and I spend a lot of time hiking and mountain biking, but find that I always come back feeling refreshed but somehow "incomplete," as if I really want to bring part of the experience home with me. I also like to gain a deeper understanding of things I look at in nature and I want to be able to  appreciate more detail in what I see. I have travelled a lot and seen lots of things, but when I come back I always find the I actually remember very little, and photos just never seem to do the experience justice. 2. Which ideas or approaches do I want to try: I like the idea of a black pen drawing and just 1 or 2 watercolours to fill the picture in. I also like the idea of pictures "peeping out" of a little box. Date, time, location and weather on every entry. I liked the spread sheets of things observed in a month of the year, which puts one in touch with the change of seasons. Seeing round/oval/square shapes in animals and objects 3. Different journalling idea: I highly recommend the webpage josenaranja.blogspot.com. Lots of ideas for travel journalling, which I will also incorporate.

1. I want to live a more mindful life.  I want to connect with the world around me in a deep and meaningful way; to notice and notice and take note of all the detail, the tiniest detail that I can see with my eye, and reflect on the complexity of nature’s design process.  The closer one looks, the more one finds and I haven’t even scratched the surface most of my life.  I am about to retire in a year or so and I can’t wait to start doing all kinds of things that speak to me, and one of them is nature journaling. 2. I don’t think I will try to limit myself to a particular approach or style, at the beginning, at least.  I will just start to draw what I see and see where it takes me.  I am so impressed by the beautiful illustrations by the journalers in the video; I imagine it will take some time before I develop my skills to the point where I am proud of my work and it really looks realistic.  I, too will want to discover and write down the actual creature or plant’s name and botanical name, for the record. 3. I want to create a journal that reflects my experiences with nature in these years of my life; while my husband is spending hours and hours watching and photographing birds, I will be sitting on a little stool sketching and colouring, and in this way we can be together but still pursue our individual interests.

1. My passion for animals and nature and need for escape from hassles of my life. 2. I want to try primarily the one with colourful pencils and watercolours, because it seems more interesting to me; at the same time, I also want to make the habit of taking notes just like almost all of them, because I want to improve my attentive skills. 3. Not yet.

1. This class was given as a gift and I am very grateful for it. 2. I would like to try journaling from my mind with no rules and see how it comes out on the paper. 3. I do not have any ideas as of yet.

I always try to do a sketch book , but didn't know how to proceed . I am also stating a garden and I want to records my progress , mistakes etc.. and my husband love birds and is a good observer of nature , I feel like to doing nature journaling will help me to progress in art , drawing , observing etc.. I like the approach of Shayna.. the date,  time, this is my first attempt 

I've started nature journalling as a way to focus on what I'm seeing and in all honesty as a meditation practice. I'm not what you'd call a gifted artist. I struggle with drawing but I still enjoy it and do it just for me as a way to quiet my mind. Now, seeing the journals of others I feel reassured that whatever I want to do is just fine. It's nice to see the variety of approaches and I like including simple drawings with written notes (I'm much better with words.)

1. What inspired you to begin nature journaling? My interest is birds.  Journaling is less expensive than bird photography and recording bird song.  The equipment for those endeavors can mount into the thousands of dollars.  It's essentially an arms race of equipment.  Plus all that equipment is heavy to lug around.  I wanted to be agile, lightweight, and be able to move quickly to find birds and plants of interest. While a photograph can capture more detail in an instant, I think there is merit in taking the time to observe and capture your impressions on paper.  This imprints the details in your mind, just as taking notes in class forces you to be mindful, thoughtful, and attentive. I'm definitely not an artist.  I hope I can develop my skills to somewhat capture what I see.  Drawing and journaling also seem like a more organic, human way of documenting experience than using engineered products like cameras, lenses, sound recorders, and microphones.  There is charm in seeing the sketchbooks of Leonardo da Vinci.  Learning about nature journals lets me think that I can follow in the steps of Lewis and Clark and capture the nature that I see. 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 like the way the capture the essence of what they’re drawing: the graceful curve of a fern leaf, the texture of a pine cone, the subtle gradations of color, the accurate silhouette of a landscape, deconstructing the form of a bird into overlapping ovals and circles. I like the idea of drawing a picture – first, as a mnemonic to affix the essential and defining characteristics of a bird or plant, and second, as a charming record of my memories. I definitely want to annotate my drawings with details I notice, questions that come to mind, topics for further study, and perhaps hypotheses about why things are the way they are. 3. Do you have a different journaling idea, not mentioned here, that you’d like to share? Journaling is a personal creative endeavor.  Each person will develop a style and structure of their own.

I have admired the nature journals I have seen but never felt like I had the time to do one myself. I love the idea of documenting and adding text to pictures. I have thousands of digital photographs organized in folders and realized they showed a progression of nature through the seasons but do not record what I was thinking or observing.  I can look at the photograph and kind of remember the situations but there is no text to tell anyone else the story behind what I was thinking when I took the picture. What a wonderful way to look back and see what was surrounding me at that moment of time. I love flowers and birds and want to create a journal of what I see and feel. Definitely like recording the date, time, weather, location and will work on capturing lots of sketches of birds like D. J. McNeil shared with us. I can start by trying to sketch the birds coming to my new bird feeder! 

I have been bullet Journaling to organize thoughts & obligations for 5 years. Prior to that,  I have travelled with my family & jotted down daily interesting points/highlights.  Something we revisit long after our "trips" are done.  Both styles of journals fed a specific purpose.  Today, I begin learning how to pool the practical,  educational & artistic modalities into a deeply personal account.   I can't wait.  Flexing my brain us cathartic!

I want to try nature journaling with my students as a way of helping them slow down and see the world around them.  I've noticed over the years that whether it is a trip to the zoo, a museum, or even out to our on-site prairie restoration garden, the students race through and miss much of what is around them.  I've tried nature journaling in the past with them (and with my son when he was young) and I think if I were more knowledgable and experienced I could incorporate this with greater sucess.

1. I started nature journaling in part because I got this course as a gift, but also because I love art and nature. 2. I think using watercolors would be really pretty, and I also want to include some text in my nature journal.

I think it's a convergence of many things, from my love of photography and nature, my Dad's watercolor paintings - mostly of flowers, to a friend's family of creative people that when they travel together they create a journal notebook of images, words and art from their trip from their breakfasts to sunsets. It's a really unique way to capture memories.  I have a pollinators garden and have been adding items along to bring in the birds and a photograph is taken to quickly, whereas the  journals take time and are a great way to slow down the pace of life. Also, sharing my love of nature with my grand-nieces and -nephews as I hope to pique their interest in nature. I really like the first two journals from the video. Shanya's seemed like what I expect to see when I hear the words nature journaling and Jewel's was more like an artist telling their story with color palettes, words, and images. However, all of them had their own individual beauty. As far my own journaling, I think I will wade in and see what happens. And one day hopefully, I will visit the Galapagos islands and share my journal page of the blue-footed boobies and the basking sea lions.

In different ways I've done nature journals for most of my 63 years. However, after too many tragic losses over the past year, I have decided that if I am going to continue doing so, I'd better do it now. My main reason for taking the course was to retrain myself to get in the habit of drawing and writing daily. Currently we are buried under over two feet of snow with another 18" on the way, so my nature walks are currently sharply curtailed. I will start with the birds currently here, but use photo references for ease and comfort. All the journal styles have some merit, but Shayna's most closely resembles my own. I probably won't box everything in though, just the drawings. I did like her 'magnification' of certain aspects and would definitely incorporate that. I am a great fan of botanicals, and hope that my end product mimics the Country Diary style. Watercolours are my medium. I have a few projects in mind for botanicals this year, going from seeds to flowers. We have a few little 'microhabitats' here where plants uncommon to the area flourish and we guard them with great jealousy and zeal. We are great bird watchers, and have a few families of long-billed curlews on the property. We base our haying around what they are doing at any time so they can continue to raise their young. I've been recording them in a special diary (writing only) for the past two or three years. We are in central BC but I grew up on the coast and spent a great deal of time outdoors.

1. I’ve been an observer of nature since my early childhood. I grew up in rural New England, and spent every summer at a beach cottage along the Massachusetts south coast. I’ve always been surrounded by plants, birds, rocks, and seashore critters. My main interests now are birding, gardening, and bird and landscape photography. Recently, I read Slow Birding, which inspired me to slow down and look more carefully at the natural world. Drawing/painting and making written observations fit in well with the slower approach. I’ve also watched my sister learn how to paint with watercolors over the last year, and we are taking this course together. 2. I like the un-selfconsciousness of the journalists in the video. Some of the journals are messy, some are neat, and the levels of drawing/painting skills are all over the place. But all of the journalists showed a deep connection with their work. The two approaches that resonated most with me are the box organization (I tend to be a bit messy, and structure helps) and the idea of doing a two page monthly spread. That seems manageable to me. 3. I don’t have any other bright ideas yet for journal organization, but might do some brainstorming of layout ideas.

I love my garden and I want to watch it with greater intention by nature journaling and preserve my memories of the plants and animals that live in it.

I'm nature journaling for two reasons: to prepare for a research trip I'm taking to South Carolina in March to learn more about whimbrel and their migration, and because I ask my own students to sketch and journal in science class. I want to experience the process more fully myself so I can relate and give tips to those who get stuck. I'm also excited to hopefully have a meaningful record of my trip like many of the journalers in the video.

I wanted to start nature journaling to learn more about what I saw in nature. I’m an avid bird watcher and I love learning about them. I think that drawing them and their environments will help me not only learn more but also help me identify them better. I would also like to learn more about the plants I see as well. Overall, my goal for this journal is to learn more about what I observe.

Inspiration for nature journaling came to me through birdwatching and a couple of videos.   Many years ago I enjoyed the book ‘The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.’  I also watched the video and the series in the 1980’s.  In 2022 I saw the movie ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ and that did it…time to take up nature journaling. I believe Shayna’s approach with what she describes as a loop - drawing, writing, and research will be a good approach for me.  I also like the boxes she cleverly uses to surround the drawings.  All of the journalers contributed amazing ideas that I will return to.  Thank You

As a life-long birder from a family of birders and avid Colorado hiker, I've often thought that someday I'd spend more time journaling and sketching what I see. My photographs are lovely documentation but I'm aware that the "pencil is the best eye" as said by nineteenth century naturalist, Louis Agassiz. It's time to take the plunge! I appreciate the introduction highlighting a wide variety of approaches, and no doubt will try a few before settling in to the one most comfortable for me.