Nature Journaling through the seasons
Whenever I mention Nature Journaling on Instagram I always get lots of replies asking what it is and how to I do it so I thought I’d share some tips for creating your own nature journal to embrace the seasons and celebrate them. First of all I’d suggest gathering what you have to work with, there’s no need to rush out and buy lots of materials, any paints, coloured pencils, chalks, pens ect you have will do the job plus there is no right or wrong way to journal. I like to use a mix of materials but find what works for you as you experiment.
Finding inspiration
Head outside for a walk and take time to notice what you see, hear, smell & feel. This could be anything from a lovely sunset, a bird taking a twig to its nest, flowers blooming or just a colour combination that you see. Take photos and notes of how you feel when you see these things, focus on how tiny things make you feel for instance a lovely colour palette will make me joyful, seeing the sunrise makes me feel grateful and finding interesting patterns and shapes in nature makes me feel inspired.
Starting your journal
Using the images you have collected, the notes you have about how you felt, what you saw you can begin to use these to create visual representations.
Extracting a colour palette is a great place to start and if you feel as though you’re not a painter/drawer this will help gain confidence, using the materials you have create colour charts from the images you’ve collected.
Continuous line drawings, you can use an image or a flower,twig, leaf, stone (anything you may have collected) and using a pen create a line drawing. This is not meant to be a perfect drawing but a way to practice mindfulness, take your time and examine the shapes you can create without taking your pen off of the page.
Noting colour palettes to smaller details of your walk, as you can see I’ve jotted down the hydrangea palette by the drawing as a reference for me to come back too.
Add texture, by layering up your colour swatches, patterns, and drawings you’ll create a textured page that has depth. You can write words you feel or things you saw over colours and don’t be afraid to experiment, the journal should be a representation of you and how you feel so find out how you like to collate your findings.
Nature Journaling is a great way to document the seasons and have a constant source of inspiration on your desk, the great thing about them is they will be unique to you as well. I hope this tips have helped, they should get you started. I’m hoping to run my nature journaling workshop later in the year which delves a lot deeper into inspiration, techniques, colour mixing, drawing tips and creating a flowing nature journal.