Laura Rainbow Dragon

1.a. I am not good at drawing.  Never have been.  So I've not done a lot of it.  (Like most people, I have concentrated my limited time resources on pursuits that I am good at.)  Watercolour painting I have not done at all (unless one counts making messy splotches on cheap paper as a small child with absolutely zero skill whatsoever).  I would like to change this.  I would like to develop some skills in the visual arts.  As I love spending time in nature, this course is the perfect opportunity for me to work on this goal. 1.b. I am good at writing.  So I've done a lot of that.  I have kept a written journal for over 30 years now and at this point have a large tote full of old journals that I will never have the time to go back and read.  Also: now that my eyes have gotten older, I need reading glasses to go back and read anything in any of my old journals.  Ugh!  I would like to start incorporating drawing and painting in my journals to expand the repertoire of my creative skill set--to learn to capture ideas, observations, and memories in a form other than the written word.  Through this practice I hope to create a book of memories which I will be able to enjoy without the need for reading glasses, one which will capture moments-in-time of beauty and interest which I will be able to re-live at a glance--taking in the whole picture at once instead of parsing through an experience word-by-word as one does in reading a written account.  (I am not giving up writing by any means.  I just want to add pictures as a new dimension to my work.) 1.c. I have been doing a lot of nature photography in recent years.  I will take hundreds of photographs on a typical day's hike and end up uploading 50-100 (and sometimes even more) observations to iNaturalist after a longer hike.  I have learned a lot through this process.  But it has its drawbacks.  A large part of the enjoyment of getting out in nature for me is the opportunity to get away from the technology which rules so much of our modern lives.  When I have a camera up to my face, I am bringing technology into the very realm I use to escape from technology!  I experience the camera as a barrier to immersion.  And I often end up spending even more time sorting through, editing, and uploading my photographs after a hike than I spent enjoying my time in the field!  Also: a camera has limitations in what it will reproduce.  In some respects it is better than my naked eyes.  But in others, the interplay between my retinas and brain produces superior results.  I'm not going to give up photography or iNaturalist--but I do want it to take a back seat, at least some of the time, to full immersion in nature without any kind of barrier between my eyes and the natural world. 1.d. There is no way I can create hundreds of drawings in a single day.  The process of sketching and painting my observations will be for me a means of  slowing down and making my observation experience more meditative.  It will be an opportunity to eschew volume in favour of a greater focus on detail, and through this to develop a more intimate connection with the subjects of my observation.  I hope through this practice to develop my observational skills and thereby enhance my learning in the field. 2.  As a means to building a habit and developing my skills, I am going to commit to journalling every day.   I know it is not realistic for me to attempt to complete a painting or even a sketch every day for a year.  So my commitment is to complete a sketch every day for 60 days, for the period from October 22-December 20, and to add colour in some form to at least 50% of these sketches.  Once I have achieved this goal I will re-assess and determine a new commitment for how frequently I will continue my nature journalling practice going forward. 3.a. I live in Canada.  Painting en plein air here year-round is not possible.  I definitely want to get out into the field to sketch and paint whenever possible.  But I'm taking this course heading into the winter.  There are going to be days when being outside entails being bundled up like the Michelin Man.  So I'm going to make a study of my backyard feeder birds over the winter. 3.b. Even as I try to loosen my iron grasp on reliance on the written word, the writer in me cannot resist a good old-fashioned linear narrative.  So I plan to try at least some of my journal pages in a storyboard format (e.g. depicting the same bird in multiple poses to demonstrate sequentially the movements of a specific behaviour).  Maybe this is a crutch for someone with my background?  Maybe it is a workable style I will stick with long term?  I don't know.  But I think it will help me to get started.