Mt. Lassic

I remember drawing my first landscapito. It was a revelation. In 2010 I participated in several days of an Urban Sketchers Conference in Portland, Oregon. I had taken my first (ever) drawing class the year after I retired and the conference welcomed beginners. That was me. I found myself overwhelmed with too much visual information […]

Box Elder Bug

Meta-data provides the setting and conditions for any journal entry. I included temperatures (yes – I was not in Humboldt County), wind, humidity, forecast. I used symbols that came from the Weather app on my phone (weather.com). I really like the visuals for the data. In future I will move the date from the bottom […]

Decorative Words

Of course, nature journals require some handwriting. This is a place for calligraphers to jump in and dress up the page. However, there is much that can be done to make your page more interesting without a lot of fuss. I find that I print in my journals rather than using longhand; I like titles […]

Fins under mushroom

A class taught in the by Rosalie Haizlett titled “Tiny Worlds” was my favorite at the WWNJC2020. I am certain it’s because I didn’t need to draw the shape of the object but could concentrate on smaller details that are often overlooked. The circle becomes the shape of the object. I held a canning jar […]

Journal entries

COVID isolation has been a challenge for all of us and I’m sure many of you have been outside more than usual. I’ve been outside so much I’ve been inspired to keep my observations in a journal. On a whim I signed up for a 5 day, 10 hr/day workshop this Fall with the Wild […]

Tree tops

Kristin Meuser taught a wonderful class titled The Gesture of Trees during the Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference. She called our trees “Scribble Trees”.  As in previous classes there was an invitation to wonder what it would be like to be an element of nature. How could we move like a tree? What parts of […]

Arcata Marsh

I was a fan of Maria Coryell-Martin before I took an online class with her during the Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference in October, 2020. I follow her website Expeditionary Art and have purchased some of my favorite supplies from her store: Art Toolkit. She lives in Port Townsend, Washington so knows the Northwest – […]

Here’s the thing about nature journaling; it makes me want to spend more time with birds! I am blessed to live near one of the premier birding spots in the U.S.A. – the Arcata Marsh. I’ve been heading down there more frequently and admittedly, my new binoculars have made a huge difference in my ability […]

This class with Christine Elder was taught on the first day of the *Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference and was perfect for beginners. She had several suggestions that changed the way I approach my journaling: use my journal to explore, use drawings as a tool to understand, and value process over product, These tips were […]

Toolkit

I tend to get carried away with supplies so it’s been a real challenge to come up with the tools that do what I want and remain portable. It also depends on how I’m traveling, how long I will spend in one place, and how remote the site is. I will show you a number […]