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Notice subtle changes in nature as the seasons progress

Consider breaking free from the news cycle and tuning in to the subtleties of nature. Walk outside your door, and notice small changes in the environment around you. Is the grass a little greener? Duller? Did a familiar plant just start to flower? Are there new seeds or pods along the ground?

When you are immersed in the world, it can be difficult to notice the changes happening day by day, moment by moment. It’s only when we take a step back, zoom out, that we see the giant leaps of progress that have been made. Which do you like to show in your drawings – that slow progress or the larger changes? Can you find a way to capture them all?

Directing your attention to the slow progression of nature can put things into perspective, and documenting changes over time can create compelling compositions. Try expanding your layout; experiment with building a series on smaller papers to capture subtle changes and using larger paper to illustrate longer transitional leaps. 

Though nature takes its time through transition, to us it can feel almost instantaneous. One night it’s pleasantly cool, and the next the ground is suddenly covered in a cold blanket of frost. Have you ever felt like you “lost your chance” to draw a specimen? You see that perfect green leaf, and you say to yourself, “that would be a great drawing!” But life gets in the way, and before you know it, your chance to draw that green leaf is gone, as it turns red, brown, and falls to the ground. It now presents a new opportunity to draw another phase of its life, a snapshot of the season.

And the best part is that a new green leaf will be back in a few months, so you’ll get another chance. Practice contentment with the phases you and nature are at. You can’t rush a river.

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