Here are the pages from my nature journal for August, save for one collection of sketches that I did during a field trip on August 30, which I’ll include in my September roundup.
I experimented a lot in my nature journaling practice this month. I introduced new materials, like the Copic Multiliner in warm grey, which I really like, since it looks like graphite but won’t smear. I also started using watercolors — I got the mixing palette from Beam Paints and I’m really enjoying playing around with that.
I also began writing longer posts on my website and Instagram connected to my nature journaling practice. I wrote about the species Flowering Spurge, why I started a perpetual journal, and some thoughts inspired by an encounter with American Groundnut during a field trip up to Middlefork Savanna, one of my favorite places.
I played around with style and technique in my nature journal this month too, so there’s a lot going on, not all of it successfully. But that’s what a sketchbook is for — exploration and experimentation. I also worked more from photo reference than I’ve done in the past, though field study remains the foundation of my nature journaling practice.
My favorite thing in my nature journal this month might be the stamp from the Indiana Dunes National Park visitors center at Miller Woods! I hope you feel inspired to keep an illustrated journal recording your experiences in nature if you aren’t keeping one already.
