Koen

>   I tried several variations on the techniques and I watched various Youtube videos.  The  video of Makoccino on how to paint a simple feather in watercolor inspired me to repeat this exercise with the other techniques as well. It gave a first impression about their possibilities and limitations of the various techniques. Wet on wet creates the most wonderful color effects.  Challenges were controlling the amount of water, applying the paint at the right speed and matching the contours exactly. Dry on dry  is much easier to control . It looks more like a pencil drawing. Wet on dry turned out to be darker than anticipated, but it is a nice technique to use as an overlay on wet on wet, as shown on the left feather.

I went for the roadrunner. A good exercise for proportions. There were only a few negative spaces to support  me.  Mimicking the stripes and spots was also quite a challenge.  

I challenged (and tortured!) myself with making a drawing of a picture of a Broad bellied darter  I made last year. The complexity of its body with  its very specific wing shapes and delicate maze pattern was overwhelming.  In addition to getting the right proportions, finding the right mutual angles between  the wings, the body and the reed  was a particular challenge. Concentrating on negative spaces between those parts fortunately guided me through this minefield…

@Aaron Thanks Aaron!

I have a small grove in my garden is covered with Lesser Prewinkle.  Only two yards from it,  Balkan Anemones have been conquering the gravel path. The flowers of both plants  have a very similar purple violet color and the plants are also similar in height. ( a few inches) .  But all the rest is quite different: I noticed different shapes of the leaves (shiny and single /opposite  and smooth edged  versus  mat and composite/ dented). Flower stem were bold versus hairy.  The five  petals of the Prewinkle merge into a tube shape at the base of the flower with five sepals. The Anemone has about fourteen petals, but I couldn’t find any sepals! This triggered my curiosity and after  consulting some botanical websites, the mystery was solved:  The ‘petals’  seem to be false and are actually colored sepals! This was a true eye opener. Without this drawing excercise, it would never come to my mind that I was looking at a flower chalice..

I ventured to draw  this fossil sea urchin, I found in a quarry near home. (Original on the right side of the picture). The rounded, but asymmetric shape and the delicate scale pattern were quite a challenge to draw. Because the  light on the table was diffuse, I mainly used blending for the surface shade  and I added a layer with  with the scale pattern in contour shading style.  This is the style I would prefer for this type of objects with subtle  gradations in shade. I can imagine that other shading stiles may be  more suited for more dynamic objects with sharper contours and color contrasts.

1. What inspired you to begin nature journaling? When I bumped into this course  a couple of weeks ago , I realized that my relation with nature has been fading away for a way too long time.  Upon browsing through the introductions and videos, vivid flashbacks from my childhood popped up.   At that time, way back in the sixties, I spent my summer holidays at my uncle’s cottage  in the middle of a large marshland reserve. There was also bird ring station where I helped him with catching, ringing, and registering the migrating birds. My uncle taught me the names and calls of the local birds and I remember how he encouraged me to make small sketches to memorize their identification features.  And so, a new life long bird watcher was created… Not only  the  adventurous birding activities, but also the natural abundance and magic atmosphere of the marsh wildlife connected  my soul with all living beings.  Later on, as life became very busy, I  dedicated my limited free time in nature on short walks while  taking pictures of plants and birds. Eventually I found my way into  Miksang  photography.  This is  a meditative practice through taking pictures  based on a direct and unbiased observation of pure forms and connections.  (https://www.miksang.com/) . Now I am heading for my retirement, it is time to resurrect that dormant inner child. I look forward to  embrace nature more intimately through a direct dialogue, free from technology and I believe that the pure act of drawing  is a perfect way to accomplish this.    A drawing hand triggers an authentic interaction of my body, and my heart with the land and all living beings around me. However, there is a small practical problem: The last drawing I made was more than forty years ago… So, there is a steep way to go  to develop my drawing skills and that’s the place where  this course comes in… Let’s go for it!   2. Which ideas or approaches do you want to try? 3. Do you have a different journaling idea, I  recognize that  boxes are very helpful to provide or a more clear layout. On the other hand, I  also attach importance  of  harmonious  empty spaces on the pages. Unlike drawing, I  have been journaling for several years by writing (haiku) poems or contemplative pieces of prose.  So, it is quite evident  to combine them with my sketches.  They will be  a great source of inspiration for other artwork such as so called  ‘haiga’.  Haiga is from origin a Japanese art form where  a haiku, calligraphy  and a  picture are combined.  Both picture and poem complement each other in expressing an experience triggered by an observation in nature. This condemns me also to a course in  calligraphy .. Whatsoever, my journaling style will be fluid and evolving just as nature does.  Only the present moment will tell me which technique I will apply.  So I guess I will experiment with a couple of styles and I will just let my style evolve as I become more skillful and mindful.

1. What inspired me to begin nature journaling? When I bumped into this course  a couple of weeks ago , I realized that my relation with nature has been fading away for a too long time.  Upon browsing through the introductions and videos, vivid flashbacks from my childhood popped up.   At that time, way back in the sixties, I spent my summer holidays at my uncle’s cottage  in the middle of a large marshland reserve. There was also bird ring station where I helped him with catching, ringing, and registering the migrating birds. My uncle taught me the names and calls of the local birds and I remember how he encouraged me to make small sketches to memorize their identification features.  And so, a new life long bird watcher was created… Not only  the  adventurous birding activities, but also the natural abundance and magic atmosphere of the marsh wildlife connected  my soul with all living beings.  Later on, as life became very busy, I  dedicated my limited free time in nature on short walks while  taking pictures of plants and birds. Eventually I found my way into  Miksang  photography.  This is  a meditative practice through taking pictures  based on a direct and unbiased observation of pure forms and connections. Now I am heading for my retirement, it is time to resurrect that wondering  child. I look forward to  embrace nature more intimately through a direct dialogue, free from technology and I believe that the pure act of drawing  is a perfect way to accomplish this.    A drawing hand triggers an authentic interaction of my body, and my heart with the land and all living beings around me. However, there is a small practical problem: The last drawing I made was more than forty years ago… So, there is a steep way to go  to develop my drawing skills and that’s the place where  this course comes in… Let’s go for it! 2. Some ideas or approaches I have now I  learnt from the examples that   boxes are helpful to provide or a more clear layout. On the other hand, I  feel that  a harmonious  distribution of  empty spaces is also important. Unlike drawing, I  have been journaling for several years by writing (haiku) poems or contemplative pieces of prose.  So, it is quite evident  to combine them with my sketches.  They will be  a great source of inspiration for other artwork such as so called  ‘haiga’.  Haiga is from origin a Japanese art form where  a haiku, calligraphy  and a  picture are combined.  Both picture and poem complement each other in expressing an experience triggered by an observation in nature. Whatsoever, my journaling style will be fluid and evolving just as nature does.  Only the present moment will tell me which technique I will apply.  So I guess I will experiment with a couple of styles and I will just let my style evolve as I become more skillful and mindful. Koen D.