Nature journaling combines my predilection to keep journals at various times of my life with my growing appreciation of the natural world. During my teenage years I had enjoyed sketching trees in Central Park, so when this course appeared on my radar screen, so to speak, I thought it would be fun to revisit an old pastime while also improving my observation skills. What prompted me to sign up for this course was spending a whole month this summer observing the constantly changing hues and textures of a small bay at the foot of Maine's Blue Hill peninsula. I took over a hundred photos of this bay -- all quite distinct from one another -- as high tide changed to low tide, allowing birds and humans to forage for bloodworms, and clear skies turned to fog (see photos below). I knew then that I wanted to do more than just take photographs. I wanted to learn to record through drawing and painting what I was seeing.
I found Shayna's approach very appealing but the other journalers also had interesting nuggets to offer. I liked hearing them talk about what they observed and what they did to capture aspects that intrigued them. I think my own journaling ideas will emerge over time as I learn from this course and through doing actual nature journaling.