Nature Journal - Day 127 (7th May) — Nature Journaling Week

Did you know we are just over one third of the way through 2023? I know that as I decided to do a nature journal page every day throughout 2023.

My day job is a teacher of complex needs - I’m an Outdoor Learning specialist and then I also run a social enterprise - specialising in using nature to reconnect people to themselves and others. Up until last week - I have been working six days a week, plus schoolwork in the evenings and weekends. I am fortunate, I know, that a good chunk of that time I am outdoors.

I work with a lot of people - children and adults alike - helping them with their self-esteem, confidence and mental health - through nature. I don’t mean to be selfish, but the nature journaling is for me - it’s my time. My time to reconnect and recharge, it’s for my mindfulness and creativity.

A bit about me.

When I was a kid, we lived a couple of hours away from The Lake District. From a very young age I have had a connection with nature. Later on, as a teen I became interested in photography and got into landscape photography - this led me on to my first career in photography - moving to London at 18. To cut a long story short I’ve ended up living in Scotland and using the Forest Schools model though my day job and social enterprise. I’ve dabbled in landscape photography, reduction linocut, eco-print and now watercolour. I have done a bit of nature journaling during lockdown and followed the work of John Muir Laws. I don’t consider myself to be an artist, I just love being out in nature, it’s been my friend and teacher – it’s where I find peace and joy.

My nature journaling.

I have set myself a few rules. I generally need to find something that day. I don’t like using a picture from a previous day as somehow the emotional connection starts to get lost, and I cannot paint it as well. I don’t have an agenda when I go out for a walk/trip. I’m totally open to whatever nature wants to show me – I then try to capture it on my phone - then at home on paper. After a day or two, the magic of that moment has passed, I’ll not remember the sensory experience of that moment. I may take a video as I find the noise of the wind, bird song, buzzing of a bee helps me refocus on that moment. I take a lot of photos of the ‘thing’ so I’m satisfied that I have enough to adequately capture the form, shadow, colour and light balance when back home.

Equipment wise, I tend to use four brushes, two thicker ones for blocking in backgrounds and then a smallish one for more detailed work/creating shadows, and a fine one for lines, edges etc. Paints wise, I started off from a set my partner bought me from Lidl’s. I am slowly replacing these with Winsor & Newton as I go on. I’ll need to replace some yellows soon as I use this with the sap green to get the greens for landscapes. I need to get a non-photo blue pencil, currently I am just using a normal HB pencil, which would show up if I copied my work. I use a Chengzi folding plastic watercolour palette and Moleskine Watercolour notebooks, both A5 and A4. Books wise I collected quite a few over the years, my favourites, and those I dip into daily, are ‘The Almanac’ and ‘The Foragers Calendar’.

I don’t always draw exactly what was in the photo- I may leave details out either to make it easier to draw the ‘thing’ or to simplify the shot. Like plants - I tend to zoom in - I find the detail and beauty is shown when one looks really closely.

Sometimes the picture/drawing/art - works, I get the colours and shading bang on. Sometimes it doesn’t work, whether I was tired, not as focused, stressed about work, - but that just doesn’t matter. The point is - I’ve captured a memory of that moment, that place, that thing. Nobody else saw what I saw, what I felt, smelt, touched or tasted.

In that moment - that was my experience, my connection to nature. For me nature journaling is very personal – yes, the whole world sees it on Facebook, and I hope people get inspiration from the daily drawings/paintings – but ultimately, it’s about me and me becoming close to nature. Since doing this daily, I have become massively more in tune with the changing seasons. The gradual change from winter to spring, noticing the detail; changes in daylight, the joy of seeing colour, hearing increasing bird song, trees showing their buds. Before I would have walked past, not noticed, but by doing a daily nature journal, I have noticed, I am much more in tune. I feel the sense of community in the wildlife and nature – not just a human passing by, but a much deeper connection to individual trees, landscapes, plants, birds, insects, skies etc. etc.

I live in the Scottish Borders. It’s a beautiful part of the world. This afternoon I went for a run/trot/walk on one of my favourite routes.

I love the Beech trees, especially how they shimmer in the sunshine. Silvery hands holding across a sea blue sky – connecting, reaching, stretching.

Future Blogs

I am aiming to write about the ‘thing’ that I have seen that day (as I journey through May/June) – the story/emotional connection as to why I chose it – or more to the point, why it chose me. Where I was and what I was doing at the time. How I’ve gone about drawing/painting. Difficulties I experienced when drawing/painting, what I feel about it. etc. Words and phrases that come to mind describing the sensory experience, what nature was saying to me at the time.