Maree

1. What inspired you to begin nature journaling? Nature inspires me- and my own forgetfulness- when I see such amazing things, I guess I want to keep a record to look back on and spark the memory and wonder.  Curiosity also inspires me- I like to find out more about what I find and keeping a track of that is cool- it makes me feel like I understand my environment more. We have just moved to a little town near the ocean on the southern coast of Australia and have a mix of beach, rockpools, coastal brush and local rainforest to explore- so much to capture! 2. Now that you’ve heard from several other journalers about their processes, and had a peek at their journals, which ideas or approaches do you want to try? I loved Shayna's journal- she has a focus on the visual, but plenty of observations and questions and I think I will do the same of filling in information afterwards.  I also liked her page with multiple ferns - the idea of creating your own field guide- I can see that working for me for so many different organisms in my environment- ferns, shells, starfish, pine cones- endless. I also loved Holly's journal- her pictures are so gorgeous, that one really inspired me to create beautiful pictures, but also the idea of capturing the changing seasons came across really strongly in her journal and I liked that alot too. In Liz's journal I loved the landscape captures- how such vast landscapes could be captured so beautifully in miniature is really inspiring to me- I had always thought more about drawing small things, but will definitely try and capture some big landscapes in miniature now. In DJ's journal I loved the repetition of drawing the same species over and over again but capturing all different details and postures- I mostly draw birds once- usually the first time I see them- and dont really draw common birds like seagulls, but see through DJ's work how trying to capture different aspects could be great to make me a better drawer and to discover things about their behaviour.