Nature Journaling and Field Sketching

1.I am retired and I love walking in nature.  I want to develop my powers of observation.  I have never drawn as a hobby so I want to see how I do with it. 2.  I like the idea of using geometric shapes to start the sketch.  I would like to record details in writing as well. A page per month sounds reasonable.    

I have been a bird watcher since I was a little girl. That practice has followed me into adulthood. I do want to get out in nature more, and nature journaling seems like a wonderful practice to incorporate into that time. I really appreciate the journals that include accurate renderings as well as facts and observations. I am very excited about this course. 10/22

This is something I have been thinking about for a long time.  I have been doing Citizen Science for a number years birds, butterflies and dragonflies mostly.  I have wanted to see what my artistic ability is and do more with keeping records of what I see in nature.

I was inspired by Liz in a previous course I took about sketching birds. Also, I have kept a journal on trips I've taken out west and they are so special to me. They typically are not set up in anyway, and are on lined paper. I want to step it up a little bit! I want to start organizing my journal a bit more- and try to make entries weekly of normal, every day "wonders" so I form a habit that feeds my soul. I also want to be able to share this practice with my students.

I was inspired to begin nature journaling by a recent trip to Alaska. I spent many days hiking in the wilderness with small groups of people (less than 6). One day I was hiking by myself and found time to get down on my hands and knees and look at the plant life. I took pictures and they were great but I found I wanted to spend more time with the plants. At the time I wished I had a journal to make some sketches. When I got home I had an email with information about this course. It was perfect timing. I know that sketching really allows you to see details that you might otherwise overlook. I am happy to be participating in this class. 

I want to develop my experience of observation

I'm enrolled in the Master Gardener Basic Program. Journaling will help reinforce what I am learning by teaching me to observe details and recording those details. I like the idea of using water color and recording time, place, weather, as well as, describing what I see.          

I want to learn to preserve some of the colors and shapes of ordinary things that I see in different light outdoors, and to record some of my thoughts, feelings and observations. Some images that I see are so fleeting as light and seasons change and deserve preservation. I have no experience with drawing or painting.

1. What inspired me was the ability to capture detail in a full scene, or just one element, like a leaf or a twig. I'm also excited to learn how to gesture draw animals. I often get caught in the details and would love practice capturing just the important things to highlight a movement or a pose. Lastly, in my recent creativity journey, I've been captivated by urban sketching using pen and watercolor, so I hope to practice that in this course!

Nature journaling forces you to really observe the details about an animal or plant or place.  It also makes you aware of the overall appearance and behaviors, too.  By being actively involved in looking and recording makes you more aware of subtle things that you might overlook by just snapping a picture.  I want to improve my observation skills as well as my descriptive skills.

I became inspired when I saw this course, and saw the chance to improve my ability to draw birds. I really like the idea of making each page tell a story and a journey, both of the creature and environment, and of the person making it.

I started yesterday and my first journal entry was looking out the window while I was volunteering at the library bookstore. There were trees outside an old building. I was viewing the back of the structure. I’m fascinated by trees and find drawing them difficult. I’m hoping to get some tips and ideas from the class and nature journaling seems a good tool for me to use to continue looking at and trying to capture the trees I see outside my home and in the woods and while visiting different places. Thanks. Wanda 9/16

1 what inspired me to try nature journaling? the shifting of the seasons and the beauty of seed pods. a body memory of sketching decades ago. paying attention to something in nature can shift the inner dialogue, create a more open and accepting conversation with self, the world, helpful in the fall as the cold closes in... 2 I like the drawing a day, a page of daily drawings, the close up details, the memory aid the drawings provide, ID support. I hope to capture my various garden beds so I recall what is there and add care notes.

I am interested in journaling to try to capture those moments that are significant that I miss with my camera (I am a wildlife photographer).  Sometimes there are moments that can not be recorded as a photo or film due to poor conditions of one kind or another.  Also sometimes I may hear a story of something that has happened near where I live and I missed seeing it but some how it stayed in my awareness so I would like to be able to draw and paint it along with telling the story.

I love the page where the journal writer documented several different kinds of ferns. I currently am interested in plants - drawing them and identifying them - botany.

1. I really enjoyed the field journals and field collection notes I did for my archaeology and botany classes. I joined this class because I'd like to start incorporating watercolour but have never worked with that medium. 2. The journals that had notes to go with the sketches felt the most familiar and fit best with how I process information. 3. I really liked how many different types of physical journals were shown - small, large, blank, lined, landscape or portrait, cards or books - it emphasized how personal and versatile this all is. There really isn't a "one way is the correct way".

Nature is incredibly beautiful and I want to capture it all.  I have been a nature photographer for many years and now I want to try other ways to record my experiences with nature.  I have long admired those that keep nature journals and the beauty that can be found in these journals.  I very much enjoyed the presentation on the different styles of nature journals and I liked them all but I think I am going to start out with a box approach.  I think this will help me get started then see what develops from there.  This summer I have been identifying the plants on my property and would like to really get to know them and I can't think of any better way than drawing them.  I have also been a birdwatcher for awhile and have fun photographing them but like with the plants I want to get to know them even better and again I see this through a nature journal.

While studying birds I would like to have a beautiful way to document what I've seen and the memories that I've made. I like the journals with landscapes in them because they hold special memories of what was experienced that day. Watercolor is one approach I would like to attempt because there are so many ways to show color.

I will annotate my sketches with the date time and weather and location. I will sketch part of a scene that interest me and not try and make a artistic rendering in the field.   I think what inspired me to try nature journalling is the desire to capture detail and learn more about the object that I am interested in or seen and become a little bit more observant of what’s around me. Taking pictures doesn’t really do justice to what I want to do. I might try and take pictures of what I am sketching and perhaps seeling some details that I may not have time to draw due to weather or other things that might be a priority at that moment. I’m sure I will develop other techniques that I haven’t thought of yet once I start journaling. I’m looking forward to seeing exactly what I end up doing.

Lately, I haven't been doing art or getting out into nature as much as I used to. I see this as a way that inspires me to do both in a new way. I'm not feeling a need to choose a particular journalistic style at all. I'm approaching this as an experiment of discovery. I often let art emerge and surprise me. Of course, trying to capture what some natural object looks like is  quite different than the more free-form art I've done in the past. But perhaps I will find a way to converge them. My aim isn't necessarily to create a field guide but rather to capture my own feelings and observations of nature. It will be interesting to see what evolves.

I am so excited to begin this journey. I am just learning how to watercolor, but enjoy doing artistic endeavors. I do journal (but not regularly) and often written about my travels, using my husband’s photographs as inspiration. I love to walk and ponder nature; I enjoy watching the birds that visit my feeders over the seasons and also love to putter about in my flower and vegetable gardens. I am hoping that this course helps me to be more attentive to the little things — much like carrying a camera can focus attention. I so enjoyed the ways each of the journalists shared their approaches. I liked the observations about how their writing and sketching changed over time: isn’t that the reason why we write….to learn, to grow, to become? I also liked the way that the writings merged with the drawings and paintings, each inspiring the other.  I hadn’t thought about the more active approach to observation — generating questions while writing and sketching — but I would like to adopt that approach, too.

1. I was inspired specifically by John Muir Laws' form of nature journaling, which is about inquiry and observation, rather than just drawing or writing. I work with kids and teach a lot about science, so this method really appeals to me, and has been very rewarding on a personal level as well. 2. I really liked the first journal, particularly when her drawings began to burst out of the boxes - I also thought it made them look more vibrant and alive, and I think I might try to incorporate that. 3. One small thing I've learned from Laws' work is making a little bubble question mark right next to a question or a list of questions - it makes the page look more fun and also helps to organize it.

1. I love drawing, but I also love writing, so something that combined both seemed like the perfect thing to do. I also want to get better at sketching birds and filling in with watercolour. 2. I was really inspired by the one that had the "fill in a whole page per month" idea, because that way, over time, you can get a really good idea of what it looks like where you live at a certain time of year. 3. Right now, I don't really have a different idea, I just want to try various methods until I find the one that works for me.

One of the main reasons I started nature journaling was to learn more about plants, identifying them, seeing their features more clearly,  noticing where they are growing and what insects and other animals might be interested in them. I also just wanted to spend more time outdoors, really noticing things--sitting long enough to really observe and not just being busy tending a garden (nose pointing at the ground) or mowing the grass.