Before I knew the term "self care," when my children were quite young, Sunday afternoons were mine to take my nature journal to the woods to sketch & create.
Those afternoons freed me up to be an artist, and filled my soul with the peace of nature.
I always returned rejuvenated and ready to get back to the intensity of being a stay-at-home mom.
These days, nothing in my life compares to that full-on work of tending to little babies, but I still lean on my nature journal in stressful times.
Recently, after having some dental work done, I took ten minutes in my car to center myself, and sketch this pair of trees across the road.
I could feel the jittery stress dissolve as I followed the lines of the locust trunk's grooved bark, and explored the arching limbs and craggy turns in the branches. I purposefully slowed my drawing down, looking only at the trees for most of this ballpoint pen sketch.
Nature and the journal worked their magic, and soon I felt calmer, centered, and ready to drive home.
Later, I added color with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons.
When you are in the practice of connecting with nature this way, you set yourself up for the calming power of nature journaling, knowing that it doesn't matter what your drawing looks like, only that you are drawing, and slowly connecting with nature's healing peace.
Copyright 2023 Betsy Bangley
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