Beginner Winter Nature Journaling Workshop a Sell Out!

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Back in June, I held a sold out, beginner nature journaling workshop, where we were inspired by the lagoon and bush setting of The Lotus Cottage in Logan Village.

The morning started out a bit chilly, but thankfully the sun popped out, which allowed us to enjoy the beautiful surrounds out on the large deck of the cottage. As everyone arrived, we enjoyed some hot herbal tea with honey, all organic and grown and harvested on the property.

The workshop started with participants exploring the surrounds around the lagoon and small creek, to collect objects of interest, take photos and connect with nature. Then everyone settled in by the lagoon in the morning sun for some warm-up exercises to remove their self-doubt about drawing, and get their creative juices flowing.

After the warm-up we all moved back up to the cottage to begin our workshop in earnest, with the first activity starting with a simple object…a leaf. This activity focused on how to draw the foundation lines through the recognition of shapes in nature, drawing loosely and only putting to paper the obvious features. And what I noticed during this exercise was the relative ease of drawing after having done the warm-up exercises.

After refining the shape of the leaf, adding in a little detail with words and descriptions, and adding some colour, participants were then able to choose their own object/s, whether collected or photographed, to repeat the process and cement their learnings, or continue on their leaf.

Overall, the workshop was a success and I was blown away by how focused everyone was and so eager to learn and apply what they had learned. It was also interesting to observe how each person approached nature journaling and added their finished entries that reflected their style and approach. Some preferred a loose, quick style, drawing a number of objects and incorporating lots of short inserts of information, while a few preferred a slow, methodical, and detailed approach, drilling down into the subtle nuances of their found objects.

Feedback about the workshop was so positive and encouraging for me as a teacher, knowing that each participant came away with new skills and learning. It also gave me the opportunity to find out what participants enjoyed and what they wanted more of in future workshops. And I’m using this information to deliver future workshops, based on the feedback.

So thank you to all those who came to the workshop and thank you for your enthusiasm and welcomed feedback!

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