Autumn Nature Journal

I traveled recently to a wedding, and had a few hours of time before the ceremony. I took my nature journal for a stroll around the hotel grounds.  

The hotel was bordered by an undeveloped meadow with old orchard trees, creating space for an impressive array of native wildflowers -- from familiar goldenrods and white clover to Virginia Mountain Mint, an icy, peppermint-scented plant that makes me feel as though I've been swept away to the Arctic wilderness when I smell it.

Here's the list of plants I found:

wild strawberries

coneflowers( Rudbeckia)

Dogwood red osier?

Goldenrod

St. John's wort

Wild dogbane

Shaggy mane mushroom

Queen Anne's Lace

Mountain mint

Horse Gentian (honeysuckle family)

White clover

Cottonwood

Pear trees

crabapple trees

apple trees

Liatris?

Thistle

Wild grape

Privet

Red oak

New england aster

Willow

I sketched as I went, and found a windblown cottonwood twig with golden leaves to take back to our hotel room and draw.

There's nothing so grounding to me as drawing plants. I notice as many details as I can and sketch them in.  The dance between using two or three different shades of yellow colored pencils to create the hues to match the cottonwood leaves feels a little like a workout.  When it's done, there's a quiet satisfaction that rises up.

Now when I look back, I see little reminders of our time away from home.  I feel grateful to the wildflowers, trees, and geese for making me feel connected to nature. 

A Morning Hike with my Nature Journal

On a recent hike in Raccoon Creek State Park, I stopped to sketch a favorite sycamore tree.  The autumn light filtering through the forest caught on the white bark of the sycamore, setting it apart from the dark, shadowy hillside beyond.

Just 15 minutes of sketching deepened my experience of walking in the woods.

The day before, I had been helping David to photograph our friend Joe's artwork.  Looking at my drawing, I can see the inspiration Joe's work imparted.  I admire the way he captures the life in a tree, and the way he sets off a subject by sketching in the shadows behind it.  

Without being conscious of my decisions, I was drawn to sketch the shapes the sycamore tree  highlighted by the dark shadows behind it.

I now realize that I had what Julia Cameron calls an Artist's Date on the day I helped with David's photography project.  And, Joe's artwork directly inspired and improved my artwork.

Anytime we take ourselves out to see something that fascinates us, to see another person's artwork, or to experience beauty in some way, the encounter affects our creativity.  We may feel inspired.  We might create in a new way, or even take on new subjects.  I find that it's always worth the effort of fitting an artist's date into my life.

What artwork or beauty would you like to see?  I hope you put it on your schedule and have an artist's date of your own!

Drawing My Favorite Things

I have two Black Cherry trees on my hill that I love to look at and draw in any season.  Sometimes, when I go out with my nature journal, I try to find "something new and interesting" to draw, as if drawing old favorites is bad or wrong.  My Hobgoblin (inner critic) shouts that these favorite subjects are unimportant, and overdrawn.

Yet, often artists develop their craft by working in a series, taking one subject and drawing it in different seasons, in different light, with different materials, etc.

I recently read some wisdom from artist Louise Fletcher, who reminded me that the things we love are important to our art, even though other people might not appreciate them and so we feel they are unimportant too.  

We often downplay the beloved subjects our muse is just begging us to draw or paint. For me, it's scraggly weeds, little treasures like acorns and leaves, and these two Black Cherry trees.

Emboldened by Louise Fletcher, I sat in the grass Saturday and let myself revel in the beauty of these tree friends.

I used only a black colored pencil, studying the wriggly branches and the light and shadow in the scene.  A flock of starlings swooped through, so I included them in the drawing to express this season of flying leaves and migrating birds.

Simply sketching a favorite scene like this one brings me joy. As I draw, I observe closely the way the tree limbs twist and branch, the way the leaves flutter on the wind, and the shapes and shadows of the brush around the trunks.

 What do you love that you may have overlooked as being unimportant?  I hope your favorite subjects get to be the center of your creativity!

Art for Breakfast!

I found this holey tree trunk on a recent hike and I loved the rich, earthy colors and the many holes and craggly bits.  I snapped a photo to create from later.

Back in the studio, I made an ink sketch on watercolor paper, then washed in loose watercolors.  

After the watercolor dried, I decided to add the final touches with colored pencils, but the piece sat on my art table for a week or more.

I finally brought it to the breakfast table and finished it with Prismacolor colored pencils while I sipped tea.  

Art can be very portable -- you can create as you eat a meal, talk with a friend, or listen to a podcast.  You only need for your hand to follow your eye.

Where would you like to take your art?

Nature Journal Update: Colored Pencil Drawings

Here's a flip-through of some recent nature journal pages, from hikes in the woods (above) to sitting at the breakfast table (below).

What we draw we connect with. How could I be anxious when I am connecting with my sweet, snoozing cat?

Nature journals are great for recording discoveries -- like the page above remarking on my discovery of a place on Hawk's Hill that reminds me of a favorite place I used to sketch years ago.

I hope you take the time to make some sketches and written observations in your nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Dreaming of Castles

I've always wanted to sit and sketch a castle in the UK.  It seems such a romantic subject.

I was sorting through my collection of colored pencils --really just puttering and organizing supplies -- when a spark of inspiration struck.

I grabbed this antique postcard that I keep propped on my art table for inspiration, and I copied the image with colored pencils.

Sketching with my colored pencils helped me to figure out which ones to put in my pack for outdoor sketching.  And I got to pretend I was on the grounds of Kenilworth Castle in England.  

If you'd like to virtually visit this lovely historic site, you can check out the link:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenilworth-castle/

Happy Creating!

Spring Hike & Sketch

David and I hiked through a wetland, in search of Spring Peepers singing.  

While he was taking photos of the area (like the B&W film photo above), I sat on a boardwalk and sketched the landscape with colored pencils.  

The past few days had been rainy, and the water was muddy and turbulent.  Not the best conditions for hearing frogs sing, but we did hear a few.  We'll have to come back when conditions are better.

Still, it's been fun getting out in nature to see what's happening.  And it feels uplifting to be using more colors to draw in my nature journal than the grays and browns of winter!

Early flowers like Coltsfoot are blooming. What a delight to see bright signs of life again in the woods!

I hope you take time to make some observations in a sketchbook or journal this week.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Updates

It's been a wonderful time to take my nature journal for a hike.  The ephemeral wildflowers have begun blooming in the woods -- like this Spring Beauty -- and curiosity is rewarded around every bend of the trail.

Even last year's dead weeds have taken on a new beauty next to the greening grass and the forest canopy beginning to leaf out.

Skunk cabbages have been blooming for some time in the low wetlands, and now unfurl bright green, cabbagey leaves.

Salamanders wriggle in creeks again, and the acorns that survived being eaten over the winter now sprout to begin new oaks.

Back at home, perennials are returning in the flower beds.

And just sitting on the front porch for a half hour yields a long list of signs of spring.

I hope you are enjoying the turn of the season where you are.

Happy Spring!

Bird Gestures

Because birds move so quickly, it can be hard to make drawings of them. 

You have to draw fast.

A scribbly gesture drawing is just the thing to capture the essence of the bird's pose.

My gesture of the mockingbird at the top of the page shows how loosely the drawing begins.

The Black-Capped Chickadee and the Eastern Bluebird lower on the page started as gestures.  After the birds flew away, I added details from memory.

You can also find photos online or in books to help you get the bird's markings just right.

When you return to a place again and again, even if it's your backyard, you will get to know the plants and animals who live there.  You can record the news of their lives in your nature journal.

This Mulberry tree is the reason we had so many birds flitting around the morning I made my sketches.  The birds were attracted to the ripening mulberry fruits.

Do you have a bird feeder, a berry bush or other food source for birds nearby?  Try some quick bird gestures to tell the story of your encounters in your nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All rights reserved.

Nature Journaling: A Prescribed Burn at Doak Field

Sometimes when you're out hiking, you come across something dramatic, like State Park workers restoring an overgrown field with a prescribed burn.  

We arrived at the field just in time to see this planned burn begin to remove overgrown vegetation, filling the sky with smoke, and consuming the dried grasses with roaring flames.

In just minutes, the area was cleared.

Now the land is reset and ready for grasses to replace the brambles and woody plants that had grown there.

During the excitement, we found an out-of-the-way spot, and I wrote a quick description to record the day's story.

And of course, a sketch is worth a thousand words.

I hope you get a chance to tell a story in your nature journal, complete with drawings!

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All right reserved.