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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