Your nature journal is a love letter to the universe.
Plants turn sunlight into sugar and magically create the air we breathe. We could literally not exist without them! They deserve our gratitude and love.
To show someone that we love them, we give our focused attention. We spend intentional time together, laughing, crying, and sharing. While many prioritize their human relationships, tending connections with other living flora, fauna, and funga in our environment also has many benefits.
Keep scrolling for some practices to try!
Jumpstart your exploration
Get started with our quick guide – Nature Journaling in a Nutshell (printed booklet or PDF!)
TRY THIS: Easy Intro to Nature Journaling
1. Go outside and look around.
2. Like bees to flowers, follow your instincts. Your enthusiasm is the best thread you can follow to lead you on this journey, so be curious about what you want to learn and explore!
3. Start small. Observe and draw in bite size pieces, experiencing part of nature every day. Spend as much time as you are able in the field, documenting all you can. We recommend at least getting down general shapes, shading, and color matching so that if you want to add to your pages later at home, you have the basics down already.
4. While you are observing and drawing, notice where your mind goes. What are you wondering about? What are you finding most interesting? Jot down some notes alongside your sketch.
Like a meditation on nature, this practice is calming. Nature journaling can create feelings of reverence and wonder towards nature as well as gratitude for our experience of the world in all its magnificence, life, and beauty. Your journal can also become a meaningful record full of loving reflections and joyful memories of time spent in various natural places.
I suspect that you will become so addicted to the experience that you will be excited to do it everyday. It may even become your favorite thing to do!
Remember, nature journaling is a practice for everyone, regardless of how great an artist you think you are (or are not). The goal of this practice is not to make amazing art (which we are sure you will!), but to create something that is totally unique, completely you, and captures an experience that only you can be having in this specific place and time.
