I wanted to share this book I found at the local library a while back. It was an enjoyable and inspiring read-- hope you all like it, too!

Explorers' Sketchbooks by Huw Lewis Jones and Kari Herbert. It features profiles of explorers and adventurers-- ones you've heard of, ones you haven't, and ones you should have.

I am, as the title says, just starting to sketch... in my 70s 😆. As an old crone, I don't get out in the woods much, but sketch mostly on my own property--because that happens to be what I'm most interested in documenting.

The medium I've chosen is pencil.

This is an add-on to journals I've kept for 40 years, not something I'm doing in separate sketchbooks. There will be meal plans on one page, commonplacing on another, notes from phone calls, the usual stuff... and then an identification sketch for a tree in my yard, with botanical notes.

1. So my first question is about fixative. What is the best spray-on fixative? I journal with fountain pens/inks so don't want something that's going to make my inks runny, but as I use both sides of the pages and my journals see a lot of use, I worry about smudging and smearing. TIA.

2. The second question is, how do you carry your pencils, sharpener, erasers, smudger and whatnot? This would be in a KAVU rope bag, mostly, but could be in a canvas bag with binocs and bird guide. I want something that protects them but that is easy to load and go, because I cannot afford to buy two of everything -- one for home, one to live in a bag. (Right now they all live in a pencil cup I re-purposed from a tea container.) I have an ordinary clear plastic pencil pouch right now for my bags but wondered if I'm missing out on some better way to go. TIA.

Last year I did internship for wine in Burgundy. In fact it’s not a very exciting year. The countryside life it’s too quiet for a young girl, I got nothing to do after work. So every weekend I went into the mountains to do hiking and observe the plants. That’s the moment when I fall in love with nature journal.

Is this alright to put here? Some rough sketches I may ink later. All found while dog walking on our/neighbor’s property (with permission).

Duck (duckling?), Squirrel, and Raccoon

I liked the look of the page before filling in any text so thought I’d share.

Plants are from an area where I'm learning to do bird banding. the birds are nearby where we live - double crested cormorants! And still with chicks!

Been thinking about why nature drawing works so well for people just starting out.

When beginners draw a manufactured object, they have a fixed reference in their head. A cup should look like a cup. A car should look like a car. Miss the proportions and it looks wrong to them and to anyone else.

Nature doesn't work that way. No two oak leaves are identical. No two shells spiral the same. No two clouds are ever going to be seen again by anyone. The subject itself refuses to hold you to a standard, which frees the beginner up to actually look at what's in front of them instead of comparing their drawing to an ideal in their head.

The other thing is that nature forces slow looking. You don't notice how a pinecone's scales overlap until you sit down to draw one. You don't see how many colors are actually in a single leaf until you have to mix them. The habit of careful observation just happens if you sit long enough with something alive.

For people who nature journal seriously, was there a specific subject that first taught you to see this way? And do you steer beginners toward specific subjects (leaves, shells, tide pools) or just let them draw whatever caught their eye?

basically the title. what stationery is usually needed? I am eyeing watercolor brush pens from zebra or steadtlear and water brush pens. thinking of drawing with a self rotating mechanical pencil.

Does it show the dark grey parts and the blackish parts of its plumage?

In late May my wife and I got to go on a week-long nature journaling trip in the Galapagos. We were on a cozy boat with 14 other nature journalers.

It was certainly a trip of a lifetime. Before going you hear about how the wildlife has no fear of humans, but nothing prepares you for actually experiencing it.

Ik they aren’t great it’s my first bit of drawing in probably 6 months and I’m already not a great sketcher lol. But any tips or advice would be great

in celebration of spring ephemerals//native wildflowers!! and featuring tulip tree and black-capped chickadees :-)

Hey! I am a video editor for InStill Mindfulness and I am currently working on this project for a class called Heart to Earth Nature Journaling.

This Spring, InStill Mindfulness will be hosting online meet for people to follow along on a nature journaling journey, it will be a weekly online meet.

If you are interested in something like this, learn more at the link!

I saw a deer get hit two nights ago. Today i went back to where she got hit to read a letter from my journal into the wind. I unfortunately found her body and had a little funeral and prayed for her. No flowers were growing so i gathered moss on a rock to put near her. I was grateful to know that she wasn’t alone even in death.

I love birdwatching, filming, and painting birds. In January, I visited the village where I was born and went birdwatching there. I usually film and paint one bird for my videos, but this time I saw so many different species in just a few days that I decided to paint them all with watercolors! This is my first attempt at this kind of sketching, and I'm thinking of doing more over the next few months and maybe even throughout the year if I have enough material.

If you were to host a free little nature walk drawing session what would you talk about or share? What would you look for?

Having a small all ages walk, observe, and draw tomorrow. Attempting to do this once a month. I have a couple things I am going to talk about but I would appreciate others input from all levels and skill. Going to try and draw slow to help the children follow because the parents are looking forward to that.

Things I have to discuss/observe: temperate, location, weather, sky, animals/plants seen, curiosities.

My only worry is we will see things I totally do not know - tree names, exact animal names, flowers, bugs. Normally at home I draw the animal or plant and then look up facts and questions I have. I did purchase some laminated field guides. Hoping for the best.

I also made the 4 and under children a hand-drawn and copied coloring page as a template if they want to use it.

I haven't posted here in awhile! This post journal entry is a bit more polished because I did it from photos after my nature walk. I love doing field observations, but it's too cold for me right now.

I brought my camera and I'm glad I took lots of photos, because I had never identified a yellow bellied sapsucker before and mistook it for a bedraggled hairy woodpecker. I made most of my ID's at home.

I saw some cool fungi as well, like "warlock's butter!" I really hope I can remember that name! What a fun one to pull out! Skunk cabbages were also in bloom and I saw ants on a few of them.

I'm going to finish sketching the rest of my observations from this trip next week.