What inspired me to begin nature journaling? An inner inclination to capture those things that capture me in written and illustrated form. The desire to improve my observation skills in every area of my life, but especially as a means to celebrate and enjoy the intricacies and marvels of creation. Observation requires a person to slow down, and slowing down is a spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally healthy activity. And, finally, it makes my husband happy. He introduced me to this course.

There is such a calming, healing, rejuvenating force experienced in being in nature and I know it is a place I want to incorporate into my daily life more.  My goals with nature journaling include spending extended amounts of time in a natural setting recording my experience in illustration and words to include not only description of what I observe, but also questions I have about what I've noticed, and how I feel/what I'm thinking. In addition, I want to improve my drawing skills as well as my use of watercolor. I like the technique of looking at the bigger picture, yet including a zoomed in version of something that is attractive/interesting to the eye. I am far more comfortable with words than drawing and see myself really putting time into the art component of my entries.

I've been wanting to start nature journaling for quite a while, but so far have spent more time looking at other's journals rather than making my own.  This class popped up in an email and decided to join in and build a practice of my own.  I love art and love the outdoors, so it's a perfect mix for me. I'm looking forward to trying a variety of styles and techniques to develop my own style!

I was inspired to take this nature journaling class because I wanted to get back outside and notice the little things in nature. I used to do outdoor education, and I wanted to get back outside and learn more about the organisms in my community.

I am interested in doing a daily drawing and observation throughout the winter months.  I love to draw birds and hope to improve with practice.  I make ceramic tiles with birds, so I will include the rough sketches that I make for the tiles.

I've always been interested in Art and Nature, even as a child I collected stones, bits of moss, interesting rocks, and dried seed pods, pressed wildflowers, even snakeskins that were shed.  I kept a scrapbook then.  Now, I'm retired, and enjoy keeping a watercolor/pen and ink sketchbook.  I've recently learned about keeping a "perpetual" botanical journal, where you can keep and record different nature items on a weekly basis with a page per week.  So for an entire year you could  keep your items posted in one book, with a weekly spread on each page, sketching and recording something and marking the date next to it or simply the week at the top of the page. I think by doing it that way - for me - it wouldn't be overwhelming.  Whenever I have committed myself to sketch daily, life gets in the way and it is hard to maintain.

I am inspired by all the participants in the class.  I have been a long time observer with written journal entries. I have had a long experience working with participants in nature classes so I have a wealth of knowledge about living things.  It is hard for me to take a walk without naming plants, trees, birds and insects.  I think stopping to look closely at a few things in nature will refresh my perspective.  My goals include understanding how to sketch landscapes, learn to add color and I am hoping this will improve my photos, what to look for. I plan to learn something from my granddaughter ( 2 years old) on observing and experimenting. I decided to sketch a few acorns and collected some for Vida to notice.  She tried pulling the caps off . I wonder why but we did find many separated on the ground. Pat

After retiring I wanted to get back to my first love which is art. I found many beautiful nature journals on Instagram and joined a group - #lgperpetualjournal led by Lara Gastinger that I started at the beginning of 2019. It was nice to see how  others lay out their journals and gave me some ideas.

Several things have inspired me to begin nature journaling.  I've always loved nature and admired illustrations in the books I've read.  I teach biology and would love to be able to illustrate some of the subjects that I teach.  I've never practiced drawing and have always wanted to learn. I enjoyed viewing all the journals.  Similar to many other people, I was inspired by Sayna's journal.  I like the idea of mixing drawing with text and the partial boxes that show which elements are connected.  I was amazed by Holly's daily and monthly illustrations.  I would love to be able to do watercolors like that but I have a long way to go to reach that level of skill. I hope to go to Costa Rica next summer with a friend and put what I learn here into practice.

I have journaled since I could write. But not drawing just words. The watercolors is what caught my attention as well as Liz introducing yourself with "Hey ya'll" then having 3 name's I knew you had to be from my home town Nashville area. I like the first ladies journaling and the way she magnified some items to remember. Thank you for this course!!!!

1. I wanted to try something new. When my grandpa came to me with the idea that we do this course together, I thought that it was a great idea and I definitely want to try it. I do enjoy watching and listening to Nature whether that be while I'm out in a walk or just sitting on my back patio. Also, I wanted to build my art skills and skills to listen and observe small details. 2. I enjoy being able to have a peek into people's journals that have more experience with this than I do. I loved all the ideas especially the ones that had lots of drawings. The last Lady on the first video was one that really stuck out to me, I thought it was cool how she set a goal to draw something every day and later realized that was too big of a goal so she changed it. Her work was also very high quality and I liked the way that she wrote her titles and dates. I want to try making my work look very high quality while also being understandable. I also want to try and stretch my skills with fonts titles and writing. 3. I have done some bullet journaling before and this reminds me of a lot of it. I took color swatches of all of my watercolors at the beginning which is something that people who are into bullet journals do. I think it's cool how we can mix different skills to create something so beautiful.

1. I am a naturalist, and have a deep interest in the nature world.  I have kept seasonal records about the woods and wetlands where I live for decades.  A few years ago I started reading more about nature journaling, and it seemed like a nice way to make what I was doing more creative, and to include more images in my journals.  I am a biology teacher as well, and have had my students use nature journals in the classroom. 2. I like the journals that include a great deal of information and observations in addition to the drawings - like the first journal shown.  I am not comfortable with my drawing skills, so I also like to include text.

Hi! I was one of the first to graduate with an environmental education degree from Cornell.  My career took me in a different direction, but I have never lost my love of nature and have fond memories of spending hours on field trips observing plants, animals, insects, weather patterns, etc.  Now that I have retired, I want to return to my first love.  I love to write, but don't feel confident in my ability to draw or paint.  I took a class with Claire Walker Leslie about 22 years ago.  I was the only real beginner in the class, but I learned so much from Claire and from all of my classmates.  I just moved back to Portland, Oregon.  I am beginning to discern what I will do with the rest of my life.  This class will help me get back outdoors (when we have a dry spot in this rainy season) and back to exploring and learning from the world of nature.  I liked Shayna's method of incorporating writing, drawing, questions and learning.  I look forward to my own observation and learning--and hope to increase my skill in faithfully drawing what I have observed! Judith M  

1. Lo que me inspiro a sacar el curso fue lo facíl que Liz hizo ver esta posibilidad de tener un nature journal y tambien Kenn Kaufman menciona que una de las mejores maneras de aprendar sobre aves es haciendo sketching. 2. Well, me gusto mucho la idea de poner las fechas en cuadros que se noten como la ultima en el video.

I like water color painting and drawing and wanted to get back to them, but also wanted a purpose to what I produced (just my personality), plus ideas of what to paint.  I can compose a story in writing without a second thought, but a blank paper for drawing or painting leaves me asking what I should draw.  I'm a retired Naturalist, so nature journaling was a logical choice to give me the subjects to draw.  And I really want to learn to more about and become better at the "how" of rendering the details on paper of what I see, especially capture the movement and personality of the subject. I like the idea of the economy and effect of using both side of the pages and filling them with text and pictures for a balanced effect.  Decided that free form was more my style than organizing with actual outlined boxes or template structure for each page, other than a heading.   I particularly liked the zoom effect for showing particular details. As a naturalist and in the face of climate change, the lost of nearly 3 billion birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970s, the ongoing crash of insect populations globally, the unchecked, continued loss of trees and forests, the overpopulation of our planet, the armed conflicts that destroy huge natural areas, and the scientific suspicion that we are living at the beginning of the 6th major extinction era, I want to leave some history behind of how it "used to be."  In addition to my written species inventories, I want to leave an illustrated record about the corner of nature present on my small farm at this point in time, especially its serendipitous moments, and leave my journaling for subsequent owners of the farm, with the hope it continues to be passed on with each change of hands, and perhaps inspires someone along the way to do more to live as a part of nature, not apart from nature.

I had never really heard about nature journaling until researching homeschooling methods for my children. (Charlotte Mason). In doing so, I've seen many parent's journals. They study alongside their children. I am also inspired by naturalists of the past such as Beatrix Potter, Maria Sibylla Merian and Edith Holden. My husband, children and I go birding often. He is an amateur photographer and while I love photography, I am not keen on carrying so much equipment or learning how to use all the functions. The idea of a nature journal is more appealing to me. There were several journals that stood out to me and all gave something valuable to think about. I liked the partial boxes and zoom0in elements in Shaya's journal. Margaret showed simple shapes of the hummingbird but a lot of the information can be learned by looking at those sketches. I really liked Holly's journal and her monthly calendar. I think that may be something I'd like to try in the future. I also noted she used smaller brushes for her watercolors to get fine details. I am very interested in learning  more about how to use watercolors so I am keeping that in mind since right now I only have the aqua waterbrush. I really love animals and think of funny things they might be thinking or saying in the moment so lately some of my entries have captions and my journal sometimes has a more comic feel to it. I do want to work more on writing down in words my observations than just a picture.

I teach 5th grade science and a couple of years ago I started having my students keep a science journal. I also love art and wanted to combine my love of art with science, so I did some formal drawing lessons with my students to help them feel more confident drawing their observations. I have loved doing this with my class, but I would really like to start practicing this for myself. This class seemed like the perfect tool that I needed to help me better teach my students, but to really get me outside and practicing nature journaling on my own time. I like the idea of having regular journaling goals - daily, weekly, monthly. Filling a page a month seems like a great goal for me. I also like the idea of doing some field sketching while traveling. I am moving to Japan next month and think that drawing in my journal will be a really neat way to capture my new surroundings and experiences.

I enjoy being out in nature, this journaling will help me bring it closer and maybe share the memories. I haven't decided on a style to use yet.

My daughter and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands in September 2020.  I paint in several mediums but have never kept a nature journal.  This seemed like an ideal time to start one, to develop a style I feel comfortable with and to try different media.  I was excited to see the journals of other travelers to the Galapagos and review their approach to capturing the wildlife there.  This has certainly inspired me to nature journaling as  an ongoing part of my artistic expression.

I have picked up a couple books on journaling, but never knew what to do with them.  Some are for the garden and some are nature oriented.  I'll be interested to see how commenting about what I am drawing helps me to remember what I saw and why I drew it.  Hopefully, the combination will allow me to look back and identify things I saw and to answer questions I might have. Questions especially, are things that photo's can't capture.  Getting that down on paper with pictures will capture more of the observation.

I am an avid birder and nature lover, and I also am learning to draw. My dilemma with the latter is that I have yet to develop a passion for drawing a particular subject, having experimented with many different mediums and scenarios. When I saw this course on nature journaling, I knew this was an avenue I wanted to explore. I just didn't know how to begin. To draw, you really have to study a subject in detail and use those powers of observation to correctly replicate that subject, and by doing so, you learn so much more about it than if you had just taken a photograph. And even if I don't know what I am drawing, I will learn even more by identifying and reading about it. I imagine I will begin by just getting the subject down on paper, and then building my editorial around it. I really don't know how my journal will develop, but I hope it will be representative of the beautiful places I travel and the fascinating things nature has to offer. I look forward to this class jump-starting me toward a new approach to and appreciation of this natural world.

I was inspired to start nature journaling while taking botanical illustration classes at the New York Botanical Gardens. The practice is like meditating, documenting ones life and nature therapy all at the same time. Life's demands had taken me away from this practice. Seeing this class offered was a sign! I am excited to kick start the practice of journaling again and taking the time to be mindful of all the beauty that surrounds us.

What inspired me to begin nature journaling was to write down my experiences in nature to help me enjoy them even more. I am interested in this course so I can learn more about nature journaling and incorporate more sketches in my nature journal. I would like to try the use of boxes that I saw in one of the journals, using them to box text but also pictures I draw. I like how she had some of the sketches extend out of the box.

I want a journal to more properly remember things I see when I'm out and about or from my deck watching birds at the feeders or my plants in my West Garden. I don't trust my mind to remember. A journal could be the spark necessary to solidifying those memories. I'd like to be able to return to it and with assurance, subdue the hesitation & chaos I often feel when looking at older, written  journals of mine. To be aided with very elementary skills ought to be wonderful! It would be like pulling aside the curtains to let me see more clearly into my own memories. Muller's idea of zooming in & squaring details to her drawings is one I'd forgotten, but maintaining the squaring of the drawing [and zooming] to allow drawings to "pop" is one I like and will try to replicate. Her interest in shadow and light is one I share, but I'd suggest everyone to pasue and remember to LOOK UP. Alstom's exploration of color & shading is one I appreciate and I carry stubs of experiments I did at home is something I'd stick in my journal. I hope this class will aid me in matching what I saw as the speed Nnuro jr. works with pen and paint.

I've spent the last half hour skimming through the multitudes of posts in this discussion.  I recognize similar reasons for taking this course in several of the posts, and enjoy reading so many of them.  As for me, I started photographing birds about 15 years ago and have enjoyed watching their behaviors but would very much like to draw them as well.  I was fortunate enough to move to the Northern coast of California where I enjoy an actual window on the meadows and coastline of the Pacific.  There is so much to journal here from wildflowers to birds, sea life, interesting mammals like foxes, cougars, and those little rascals--raccoons.  I thought all the styles of journals were interesting but I particularly liked the first one with the boxes showing several observations on one day, and also the one that started as a journal a day having one item journaled a day, then went to journaling a month.  Starting it as a journal a day really encourages one to do it!  I also liked our instructor's journal of the Galapagos, a place that I intend to visit hopefully in the next couple of years after I become more proficient at nature journaling.  :)