Have you ever encountered nature journal ideas or language that you were unfamiliar with? If so, this article can help. I explain 10 nature journaling ideas and special words that every nature journaler should know. Because every hobby has special concepts and lingo and nature journaling is no exception.
And why should you know these words? You should know these words because we need them to explain the specific ideas that are unique to our practice. In addition, they can be a shortcut to communicate a whole concept. For example, I can just say "pencil miles" to someone and convey a large amount of info succinctly. Otherwise, I would have to use several sentences to communicate the same idea.
Let's get on with the words! Have you seen any of the words below?
Ten Nature Journal Ideas You Need to Know:
1. Pencil Miles: This is a cool phrase that summarizes the importance of repetition and practice for the improvement of drawing. One time, when I was struggling with my art I took a big fat paint pen and wrote pencil miles on the cover of my sketchbook! This visual reminder helped take the pressure off making pretty pictures and instead helped me focus on getting lots of practice.
2. Meta-Data: This heading at the beginning of our page gives info about the location, the time, and the date. In addition, you can add whatever data is relevant to you such as: the tide, who you are with, the humidity as well as symbols for the type of clouds or other weather features. I also like to draw little cartoons of the people that I am with or at least put their names in the metadata. Metadata on your page achieves several things. First, it gives you a reference point if you look back on your journal in the future. What time of year was it when I found chantrelle mushrooms last year? Second, this information provides context for the other observations and drawings you make on that outing. What were the weather conditions when I saw those cool salamanders? Third, if you do your metadata first thing it can provide a sort of warmup and help you deal with the dreaded blank page!
3. Landscapitos: These are small landscape drawings. Many of us have had the experience of wanting to paint a landscape and just starting with a whole page spread. We did not put any thought into framing or cropping and we just start in the middle of the page. This can be a frustrating experience for many people and often leads to poor painting and not much learning. Instead, we can do many smaller paintings, learn much more, capture more, and usually end up with better results.
4. Non-Photo Blue Pencil: Many nature journalers use these pencils for a faint under-drawing. They do not show up in photocopies or scans. They are not a normal blue colored pencil. According to John Muir Laws they are one of the most important nature journaling tools.
5. The Pretty Picture Trap: So far, we have talked about good nature journaling ideas. But this nature journal idea is one you want to avoid! Even though we all like beautiful drawings the fact of focusing on making pretty pictures can be a problem. When I start with the conscious or unconscious goal of making a pretty picture it creates pressure. It also makes me focused on the outcome. Both of these things can inhibit my learning, make me take fewer risks, and undermine my observation and creativity. Next time you think you are falling into this trap use the mantra “pencil miles, pencil miles, pencil miles!”
6. Precious: Sometimes, when I have a drawing that is looking good, I start to freeze up or get anxious because I start getting precious about it. Sometimes, I will quit too soon. Here is an example. I’m painting a landscapito that is starting to look “good” and I am starting to get attached to the appearance of the page. Suddenly, a hummingbird lands next to me but I don’t make any quick sketches of it because I don’t want to mess up the look of my landscapito page. That is a problem. Similarly, this problem can emerge if you have really fancy materials or watercolor paper and you are hesitant to mess it up.
7. Stealing Ideas: We use the word "stealing" in a positive way because we want people to be able to share ideas and learn from each other. Therefore, next time you are in a journal share "steal" some good ideas from someone instead of just admiring their pretty page. This is a constructive way of sharing nature journal ideas. We consider our community an open source learning environment instead of a proprietary one. In this way our processes and ideas can be used and built upon by other people and our community can learn and develop much more rapidly.
8. Post Hoc: Any nature journaling work that you do after the field trip is called post hoc which means "after" in Latin. Some people like to do their sketches in the field and add watercolor at home. Other people do follow up research at home or add their titles and calligraphy.
9. Sacrificial Pancakes: One of my favorite nature journal ideas is the sacrificial pancake! These are the first drawings we make in a session while we are warming up because you have to make these before you can make good ones! Just like when you cook pancakes and the first few don’t turn out quite right.
10. Growth Mindset: Finally, the most powerful nature journal idea is the idea of the growth mindset. This mindset assumes that all people can develop their skills. In contrast, the fixed mindset assumes that people have fixed levels of talent in a given area. Luckily, we have a lot of growth mindset ideas built into our nature journaling community, however, aspects of the fixed mindset affect all of us. One area where fixed mindset is powerful is when we think about artistic “talent”, mathematical prowess, or verbal abilities. Many nature journalers focus on one more than another because at some point in their life they developed the idea (or were told by others) that they had talent in one and not another. I believe that “talent” should be considered a bad word and that we should focus on growth and practice and learning instead.
Nature Journal Ideas and You
To conclude, I think it is important to remember that words and ideas are tools. These nature journaling ideas are tools that we use to understand, communicate, and learn. Which of these tools work for you? Do you need to make up some new ones for your specific needs or your community? As our movement continues to grow I’m sure there will be lots of new words and nature journaling concepts that will be created.
For more nature journaling ideas and inspiration check out the weekly episodes of The Nature Journal Show.
Marley is well known for his fun and relaxed approach to nature journaling and shares this with viewers of his YouTube channel. You can also find his work on his website marleypeifer.com and on Instagram.