I'm pretty new to the art of keeping. In fact, a couple of my goals this year were to begin a commonplace and a nature journal.
I'll post from my commonplace in the future, but for now I have a nature journal entry to share - my very first one!
For me, keeping a nature journal is more than just a hobby or a pasttime. It's a way to draw closer to God; to see His goodness and beauty and love all around me.
Nature "gives us certain dispositions of mind which we can get from no other source, and it is through these right dispositions that we get life into focus, as it were; learn to distinguish between small matters and great, to see that we ourselves are not of very great importance, that the world is wide, that things are sweet, that people are sweet, too; that, indeed, we are compassed about by an atmosphere of sweetness, airs of heaven coming from our God. Of all this we become aware in 'the silence and the calm of mute, insensate things.' Our hearts are inclined to love and worship; and we become prepared by the quiet schooling of Nature to walk softly and do our duty towards man and towards God." (CM, Volume 4, p.98)My first entry is from our own backyard. We've been doing a lot of bird watching this winter, as I'm sure many others are. There are several woodpeckers in our area and I caught this red headed woodpecker feeding from our newly installed bird feeder. I've only seen it twice, though, in the past two weeks.
This is not a watercolor journal. It's a sketch journal with medium-weight paper (Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon!). I know watercolor is advocated by CM, but right now I'm more concerned about developing the habit of keeping a nature journal than having lovely watercolor paintings. I do plan to do some entries in watercolors, but in that case I'll do them on separate watercolor paper and tape them in. This particular drawing is done in watercolor pencils, without the water of course. The watercolor pencils seem to have more depth of color than regular colored pencils.
Did you notice the little blue bird? Haha, that's my dd5's drawing. I wrote, "When we began seeing birds, Izzy took out her markers and drew a little bird. I think it's the first one she's ever drawn. Isn't it precious?"
How is your keeping going this year?
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I have a friend who along with her two daughters kept nature journals for years without using watercolor. Their sketches were all in pencil or sometimes marker. They eventually started doing watercolor on separate sheets, and only recently graduated to watercolor journals. They have many, many books full of beautiful entries no matter the medium, and they have good keeping habits. The watercolor will eventually come. But I agree, developing the habit first is most important.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear! In my humble opinion, the purpose is not about the medium; it's about finding beauty and letting nature speak to us individually. Watercolor is beautiful and I've been experimenting with it (I do actually have another entry done with watercolor that I taped in) and once I establish the habit - and hopefully improve my drawing skills! - I'd like to graduate to a watercolor journal, but right now I'm good :) Thanks for reading!
DeleteOh, that little bird. <3
ReplyDeleteWhat a great journal entry! I love your woodpecker. And how neat that your feeder is already attracting feathered friends. :)
We actually don't use watercolor journals either--I buy some pre-cut watercolor sheets and then we tape those in. That's mostly because my kids enjoy working with colored pencils more than they do watercolors (it's much easier to be precise with pencils--I actually like colored pencils too!) and the tooth of most watercolor paper isn't pencil-friendly. And I actually like the look of the hodge-podge of media. :)
Thank you! It took about a day for the birds to discover the feeder, but my goodness we're going to need to refill it soon!
DeleteThe watercolor sheets - that's what I did. I bought a pad of small sized watercolor paper and have done one entry, taping it in my journal. But you're right, pencils are much more precise. It took me a lot longer to do the watercolor...I kept having to fix details...and that gets tedious for a perfectionist like me, ha. I'm sure once I get the hang of it it will get easier. Thank you for your comment!
The little bird is absolutely precious! I don't always use watercolour for nature journal either. We are currently more interested to develop the habit and our drawing skills, so watercolour can wait. :-) I like your page, by the way.
ReplyDeleteYes, I just had to tape it in my journal!
DeleteI had thought of that, too - not only developing the habit but of improving my drawing skills! I've never been much of a drawer or sketcher. The last art class I took was in 9th grade, about 16 years ago, and that's probably the last time I've really drawn anything. I love the idea of a watercolor journal, but like I said above, underneath it all it's about finding beauty and something that speaks to you.
Thank you for visiting!
What a sweet little bird! I am impressed by yours, too. We just got new journals and pencils. Someday we'll try watercolors. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you and thank you for visiting!
DeleteWe tend not to use watercolours as we've had a few disasters. We've done the ame as you at times & taped a separate piece of paper into the notebook after it was painted. Watercolour pencils have been a good substitute - they sometimes add a tiny bit of water if they're covering a larger area. Most of my children have enjoyed just drawing.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I can imagine some disasters over here, too :) Enjoying the experience is much more important than trying to do everything perfect. Thanks for your comment!
DeleteYou did an awesome job with that bird! We have several types of woodpeckers, cardinals, chickadees, mourning doves and more eating our feeders clean every few days. I bought the 50lb bag of seed this time, LOL
ReplyDeleteThank you! I actually haven't seen any cardinals, but just saw a chickadee yesterday. They do go through that bird seed fast!
DeleteGreat job on the woodpecker, Angela! We are using coloring pencils for our nature journals, too. However, our new watercolor set arrived this week, and we will begin using those once we have mastered them.
ReplyDeleteI am stopping by from the Keeping link-up.
Thank you and thanks for visiting! Have fun with your watercolors!
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