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.  :)

1. What inspired me to begin nature journaling? I had never heard of such a thing until I saw the course pop up in an email. I live in an urban environment and know that being in nature is calming, even if it is just my yard, watching the birds at my feeder or while I jog around the neighborhood. I love the idea of focusing and drawing, even in little bits. I have always wanted to try using water color. I am excited to add a bit of art and intentional time with the natural world, even it ends up being a drawing of a pear. 2. Seeing the other's journals was enlightening. I especially liked the woman who seemed more of a beginner with drawing and see how she progressed.  And the gentleman who talked about the basic shapes of a bird's body made me stop my jog this morning and truly contemplate the basic shapes of the crows sitting on the wire. 3. Since we are entering the rainy season and shorter days here in Portland, Oregon, my actual outdoor sit time may be limited, so I think I might make a journal that includes produce that I either get from the garden or the farmer's market and then include comments about how I prepared that bit of food in a meal for my loved ones.

Nature journaling interests me both as a way to learn more about nature and to slow down and tune in better. I love to hike, but sometimes I'm sort of striding along and not noticing all that I might.  I have a few books on nature journaling and I keep coming across articles and I'd just intrigued. I do love to sketch and really want to become more skilled. I am a bit fearful of watercolor (I'd love to try it someday, though. It is beautiful.), but have been working with pencil and colored pencils.  I like the idea of a pretty regular phenology journal--tracking my observations over time and beginning to notice patterns--both in what I see and how I responded.

My style and goals: I’m looking forward to developing my own style by experimenting and allowing each page to unfold in its own way. I have decades of experience in observing, researching, and writing about nature (especially for children). I often take photos, but I’ve never tried to sketch or paint what I see. I love visual art and especially color. I’m looking forward to journaling in a new way. Toni

I decided to take this course because I journal and sketch but infrequently. I took a field journaling course in graduate school three years ago but haven't picked up my journal since. I want to develop my skills but I'm hoping that the course will help me to jump back in and finally make journaling a habit. I'm an environmental educator and camp director and try to get my students/campers out journaling to enhance their observation skills. I want to walk the walk, so to speak. I hope to do a class with middle school students soon and also thought this course would give me some good ideas for how to structure a journaling class and some activities to help get them going. I really think I will end up using the approach of the first woman in the first video. Her style is already similar to mine and I like how her image seem to pop out of the page through the use of boxes. I'm weakest on the sketching so trying to do that first and write later will be a challenge for me.

1) My interest in nature journaling was inspired by my study on climate change. In order to get a better understanding of the environment, I needed to get out of the city and engage wildlife through art. Art requires intense attention and observation. This skill is what I need right now. 2) In terms of approaches, I want to be simple. Begin observation and rough sketches, followed by description. Then I will let it evolve, as seen in the other journals. Journaling is not just an observation "out there," but also one that is "inside here," in one's own heart and mind. At one moment, I might feel free to sketch with a pencil and the next with watercolor. I think it is important to feel free with the medium, and at the same time, in tune with oneself.

I was so excited when I saw this course. I've been drawing all my life and love natural history (I work at the Field Museum in Chicago.) This part year I've also become interested in birding and have had a lot of fun making lists of all the species I can identify. I often work from photos or the taxidermy exhibits here at the museum, but I've started sketching outside more, especially on trips to the southwest and really love it. Still, when sketching outside I choose to draw landscapes or plants - because they're more static. What I really want to learn from this course is drawing animals, especially birds in the field. I want to hone my skills of observing and translating those observations to paper to bring more movement and life to my drawing. Even before watching the first video, I've been thinking about creating a journal for a year, to emphasize the passage of time and the changes of the seasons. I liked the idea of doing a page a month to represent that time passage. So far my sketchbooks have a few pages devoted to earlier trips I took this year to Arizona and Wyoming, but they don't capture the extent of the trips, mostly because I couldn't spend as much time as I'd like on the sketches. I'm hoping to learn to jot things down more quickly and focus less on a refined, complete drawing. I look forward to interacting with you all in this awesome class!

I remember nature journaling from my college days ( long time ago)- I still have my journal from a Biology Spring break class to the Galapagos - and recognized some of the sites and plants before the naturalist identified the locale. Fun.  When I retired, I began to do some informal sketches and notes of creatures and plants. I also applied for a program to become a Master Naturalist- that led to more classes, more outings, volunteer opportunities and the desire to keep a formal journal. I like the idea of each page having a date, time, location and weather- and using a sketch book- I've never done that- my journals were mostly writing with small sketches in the margins-  I like the idea of reversing that.  I preferred the painted entries over the sketches but the sketches were very helpful to show the process. my drawing and painting skills could certainly use some work. I think I will add the surrounding habitat-either by sketch or description and incorporate several of the ideas in the journals shown.

I have always loved nature and usually rely on my camera to record what I see. However, I want to become a better artist and and a better birder. I also need to learn to notice details more rather than relying on looking at my photos later. This seems like the perfect way to accomplish several goals: get outdoors more often, while improving my artistic abilities, birding skills, and observation skills. I am inspired by the journals in the video, from the versions with detailed notes to those who have much more drawing talent than I possess! I especially loved the beauty of the last journal in the video with the lush watercolors, and the quick bird sketches in the next-to-last video. (Can you tell birds will be a focus?) I like the idea of having a plan for how often I will journal since I won't be taking a special trip anytime soon. It will mostly be what I see at home - using my busy bird feeders as inspiration, but I hope this project will also encourage me to sneak out to a local nature area for a few hours of journaling (and photography!). I look forward to this class!