Hello my GUT peeps.
How are your finders? Did you spot something surprising right under your nose? When we slow down and look at the world one piece at a time, there’s always so much to see — and then fall in love with though drawing.
Next up…
Nature. (Journaling, that is.)
Today we look for delight in the NATURAL WORLD.
Look closely at a plant, a fruit or vegetable, a flower or a tree, or even a single leaf, and you will find something unique about each one. But in order to find those individual details, we must slow down, pay attention and LOOK CLOSELY.
Now THAT is delight.
One wonderful way to pay attention and delight in nature is through nature journaling. Nature journaling is kind of like the casual cousin of “scientific illustration” or “natural history illustration” — the practice of observing, learning about, and sharing a natural specimen through drawing — but without the uptight perfectionism those other fields can inspire. At least they do in me. ;)
Jack Muir Laws is a leader in the field of nature journaling. If you’ve been in the Grown-Ups Table a while, you may have read our collaborations before. Or maybe you recognize his name from Amy Tan’s recent book The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Jack is Amy’s nature journaling teacher, and his practices are a big inspiration for the book. The Backyard Bird Chronicles is a quiet, observant, highly illustrated work that is less about birds and more about learning to see the natural world by paying attention through drawing and note-keeping. AKA, nature journaling.
During the pandemic, Amy began noticing the birds in her backyard. Inspired by Jack’s work, she began watching, sketching, and writing about birds behaviors, personalities, and relationships.
Here are a few pages:
And here are some drawings from Jack Muir Law’s sketchbook:
Connecting more deeply with nature by keeping a nature journal brings us a sense of peace and it inspires us to protect this wonderful world around us.
- Jack Muir Laws
A couple years ago, the GUT had the delight of having Jack as a GUT visiting artist. Here are a few key takeaways to instruct our delight drawing today:
What’s the 101 of nature journaling?
I might sit down in the shade next to a flower. I would draw [the flower] in my journal, add written notes about my observations, ask questions and wonder about things I have never noticed before, and see if this flower reminds me of anything in my past experience. I like to use three simple prompts—“I notice…,” “I wonder…,” and “it reminds me of…”—as guides to help me dig deeper into the experience.
He goes on to give us permission to be loose and make mistakes:
I am not worried about making a pretty picture or how my words are spelled. I am looking for opportunities to get curious, notice more, and connect more deeply with this flower in this place on this day.
As always, I show you these not to intimidate or instruct, but to inspire. There are so many ways to draw a plant or a tree or an animal or an apple. What matters is that you do it, practice, make mistakes, and keep going. And wonder and laugh along the way.
So without further ado, let’s dive into today’s Delight:
