Winter Spells Art Retreat

I recently signed up for an artist's retreat called "Winter Spells," designed to to reconnect participants with nature and our creativity. After teaching so many classes, it feels exciting to be the student, open to new inputs and approaches.  

The 2-day, virtual retreat is offered by Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio, who has given us all homework.  In preparation for our February retreat, we are invited to take walks, noticing nature around us, taking it all in, and then creating  -- in written entries, drawings, paintings, or even singing and dancing.  

I've begun taking walks outdoors in nature with the sole purpose of slowing down and noticing.  I often take my nature journal with me and fill it with observations and sketches.  

These sketches below were from a hike I took in Raccoon Creek State Park on a snowy day.

It felt so uplifting to spend time in nature with no other plan than to listen to the songs of the Tufted Titmouse drift, and sketch the scenes that drew my eye in. I had forgotten how healing it could be to just sit still in nature.

I hiked up to the closed campground and sat on a picnic bench to sketch this gnarled, old maple trunk, my mind only following the crazy contours -- a drawing meditation.

I noticed that beautiful details popped into focus as I hiked -- the tiny windblown seeds that dotted the snow like confetti, a snakeskin hanging from a maple sapling, eight feet up.  

I came home refreshed, energized, and delighted to have tapped back into nature journaling in a new way.  What a delight to take someone else's course, and feel cheered on and led by another artist.