The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Nature Journaling and Field Sketching › Style Your Journal Your Way
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Nature journaling combines many of the activities I enjoy most -- birding, being in nature, walking, and drawing. But it was the intense sense of engagement that caused me to fall in love. I am comfortable drawing from a photo, but prefer the experience of nature journaling in person because of the profound connection I feel to a place and object when I am directly observing. I was happy with the drawing, but didn't know how to differentiate the colors when it came to watercolors.
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I like how you filled the page and the detailing with the branch. I found your notes about the process interesting as well. I see what you're saying about the orange on the Yellow Warbler. Maybe by now you've progressed far enough to know the answers. I'd be curious to see an after picture if one is in the works or already done.
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1. I was drawn to nature sketching and journaling because I think it is so beautiful to be able to capture the world around you in bright colors and cool facts. I hope to be able to draw and paint in my field journal and capture what I am seeing. 2. I really love the way Shayna had their journal laid out. I loved the vibrant paintings along with the factual words that hugged the picture. I hope that I will be able to do this even though I do not have much artistic ability.
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1. I am an avid birder, but am teaching a course on Flora and Fauna on the Bible and the World Around Us, encouraging participants to get out and observe. Partly for my mental health, and partly to learn more about the fascinating world around me, I thought nature journaling would be a good idea. 2. I love the month of sketches on one spread!
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William, how amazing that you are teaching a course on Flora and Fauna on the Bible and the World Around Us. I would be interested to learn more about this. Is it an online course? What book are you using or recommend for the course? Thank you for your reply.
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I am hoping that by journaling what I see in nature will help me to slow down and really observe behavior and characteristics of fauna and flora adding to my knowledge as a master naturalist. I never thought I could draw so this should be an interesting journey for me, and I hope I don't get too discouraged. I love to take photographs while I'm out hiking and also capture what I'm seeing with words, so I see nature journaling as a natural extension/progression of those activities.
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I have made many attempts to keep a journal, but never followed through for more than a few weeks. Memory is so limited without additional cues, so I think a nature journal would remind of all the everyday little things I see and then quickly forget. It would provide a space to record all the little details that are lost, or barely noticed. I would also like for it to become a 'jumping off' point for doing more art work, even simple drawings and watercolors.
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I like to draw, and I like nature so nature journaling an easy choice. I liked the compliment of drawing and explaining what you're drawing so if the drawing isn't that great you still have your observations.
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1. My nature journal is an out growth of my wood carving. I wanted to improve my artistic and observational skills so that I can carve what I see and not be tied to ideas and impressions of others. 2. and 3. At least initially I intend to use a loose approach focusing mainly on the art but incorporating more observations than I initially intended as well as the freedom to include general commentary and poetic license. . I like the ability to study the subject as well as having stunning art (I’m not there yet) but having commentary on the subject for future reference.
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Loved the variety. And the use of water color which I have always experienced as being very difficult to control. Love the comments below especially the one in español porque necesito practicar leerlo.
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I was inspired to begin nature journalling because of my interest in ornithology and the natural sciences. Because of this, I wanted to be able to draw little "snapshots" of whatever I saw, sketch out field guides for myself to learn identification of various plants and animals, and improve in the artistic craft. I need to work on drawing small. I think I should like to use a style similar to Liz and D.J for my nature journaling, but have plenty of writing too. I would like to include watercolour, but perhaps leave space for pencil only and wild sketches. I think that having a little side-sketch for anatomy and notes for a more finished piece of art could be fun!
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1. I am inspired to nature journal simply to reconnect with nature. 2. the approach I want to try is to journal regularly. I am having a hard time at this. Work and life get in the way. Must plan to incorporate journaling more, even short sketches. (speaking of which, I started this course 3 years ago (!!) and never got passed the first part. I am determined to pick up the course. I have journaled since, but would like to complete this course. 3. Yes, adding maps. Maps are fun to draw and give an important habitat perspective to what we are observing.
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I started Nature journaling as a way to improve my observational skills and decrease my reliance on my cell phone's camera while in the field as part of my nature guide studies. I realized that even if I take 20 photos of something interesting in nature, I rarely look back at the pictures with the same interest. However,if I spend even 20 minutes observing and drawing the same thing, I retain much more information about what I saw. Nature journaling is not yet as trendy in Belgium as it is elsewhere,so I find myself in a strange position of being a beginner and yet having more experience than others around me.
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What inspired me to start nature journaling is wanting to capture every moment I observe from life in my art. I think that nature journaling is a great way for me to learn and help with artist block because it will get me in the flow to create and meditate by just observing birds, plants and insects. It’s also a way for me to feel connected and grounded with nature. A journal approach I would like to try are to mix watercolor paintings with ink drawing. I would like to paint a landscape in watercolor to remember the area I observe along with painting a detailed flower or close up of a bird. I would also like to mix quick ink drawings along with adding notes of what I observed, date, location, and time. I currently don’t have a different journaling idea. I think I’m going to be pretty open and try some of the journaling examples that was shared until I find the one that fits best for me.
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What inspired me to begin nature journaling was my three years of birding experience. I have been a very young birder since a little before the pandemic, and have always dreamed of using art to fully depict an emotional connection to natural life. I also think that my favorite approach to journaling would be relatively freestyle, but at least a constant theme throughout the book.
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I like the bright colors, the different types of items that are sketched and journaled. I like the idea of writing vertically or horizontally or at an angle. Boxing in some information may be useful. I loved the dates to be elongated and how monthly journaling could be extremely appealing as the seasons change and different plants grow and birds and animals migrate or appear. I am happy that date and time, location and weather should be included. When I look back at the journal I will be able to remember where i saw or found an item.. lastly the different water colors and detail appealed to me to the overall look of the journal. I have always had an interest in sketching and drawing. And in various times of my life have written a journal but never sketched. As a veterinarian i have always had a great interest in animals, and nature, birds, plants and flowers. The variety in nature journaling is extremely appealing to me because it helps me observe nature more on an intimate level. Not so rapidly as in a photograph. Something i am curious about…has any one glued into their journal for texture, a flower petal? Or loose feather? Or plant part?
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1. During Covid I took some online watercolor painting classes and enjoyed working with the paints and creating colorful art from photographs. I am now retired and have moved to a new area where I very much enjoy being outdoors, working in my garden, watching the antics of birds at our feeders and hiking at various parks. I'd like to take those painting skills I learned to the next level and apply to real life observations out in my backyard and while hiking. 2. I like the journal with drawings peeking out of boxes as a way to organize the work, and the notes about the observations and follow up research. I plan to commit to a daily observation with drawing for the next several months and see where it takes me.
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me inspira ver la naturaleza y la vida salvaje inmersa en ella, para tener una historia por la cual hacer memorias de mis aventuras y viajes explorando nuevos lugares hermosos que nuestra tierra pueda ofrecernos. me gustaría replicar inicialmente los diarios que he visto, me gusta su estilo luego iría adaptando a mi conveniencia.
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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