One way to get better at something is to start teaching it.
So I’ve learned since I started teaching nature journaling, holding two public workshops this month. Both were great experiences and I’m so grateful to the people who came and tried something new. The feedback I heard from participants was that they learned to be more patient, to slow down and to look more closely. One participant said that it felt like therapy to her. Another person suggested that we should have taken our blood pressure before and after to see whether there was a difference.
Participants in my workshops have taken the nature journaling concepts I’ve introduced and run with them in their own directions, and that has been exciting to see. One participant looking at an ancient oak tree read its structure as a map of motherhood. Another participant looked at her surroundings and conducted a forensic investigation of sorts, considering what she saw in relation to everything else to draw some educated guesses about the recent history of the site. Another participant noticed that there were minuscule gold beads on a caterpillar chrysalis — a tiny, deeply satisfying reward for looking closely with an open mind.
Some of my nature journal entries for July were done during my workshops. With what I’m teaching fresh on my mind, I think my nature journaling was more dynamic and, if anything, more prolific during the month.
I’m not sure how much longer I’ll publish my monthly archive online. I think I’m going to start writing regularly on themes related to nature journaling or what I’ve been studying in my nature journal.
I’m also going to be trying a new approach to my nature journaling and field art. I have long admired Lara Call Gastinger’s perpetual journal practice and after I heard her interviewed on the Journaling with Nature podcast, I finally committed to starting a perpetual journal of my own once I’m finished with my current sketchbook. I’m going to continue a keep a traditionally chronological nature journal but that’s going to look different too.
In addition to exploring our environments, nature journaling is a great way to explore techniques and media. More on that soon!
