Reflections on ‘Landscapes Made Simple’ Nature Journaling Workshop

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

– Marcel Proust

It was down to the wire, the morning of the ‘Landscapes Made Simple’ workshop, after a week of rain and unpredictable weather. But the universe delivered on my prayers with the clouds opening up to a picture perfect morning of blue skies, cooler weather and a well attended workshop of happy and enthusiastic participants.

Riverdale Park in Meadowbrook is the home of workshop host Slacks Creek Catchment Group (SCCG), and was also an ideal location to hold our landscapes workshop, providing lots of subject matter variety and inspiration. The workshop was generously provided by SCCG for their volunteers as well as the general public, in an effort to help the public gain a deeper appreciation and awareness of our local natural environment. One way is to help them connect with nature through journaling and another way is to advocate for our environment through worthwhile environmental projects such the Mangrove Restoration Project at Riverdale Park, facilitated by SCCG.

Participants of the workshop were from varied backgrounds and of different ages. It was great to see children and teens with a keen interest in developing their drawing skills and enjoying the outdoors and picturesque surrounds of the park. As one adult quietly admitted, “better than being at home stuck on the computer”.

The workshop program started with a short introduction by myself and by Anna from Slacks Creek Catchment Group who gave us a great history lesson on the the Slacks Creek catchment area and how the geography came about. She also explained what the volunteers of SCCG do to help the local environment and their current mangrove restoration project.

We then cracked on to workshop activities, starting with warm-up drawing exercises to help participants relax and give them some great building blocks to be able to begin drawing. Next up were exercises and activities on how to begin a nature journaling page. Then it was onto how to draw landscapes by looking at the big picture, isolating the main features, and methods to break it down into sections and focus on one section at a time.

Participants then had the opportunity to relax, wander, enjoy the beautiful surrounds and take photos to use as reference to create their own landscape journal pages.

As you can see above, the journaling creations were so unique and varied and the level of artwork created was outstanding! Participants showed how well they were able to grasp the fundamentals of drawing landscapes in a way that really told the story of what they observed, looking through their own unique lens.

Thanks to all the participants who showed up and took part. I know from reading the feedback forms that they all got so much from the workshop and have some great foundational skills on which to build.

For anyone who missed out on this workshop, my next workshop coming up in April is called ‘Floral Fusion: Art & Nature Journaling Workshop for Beginners’. This will be a comprehensive one day workshop being held in Beenleigh, and you can save money by booking an Early Bird Ticket by 20th March, 2024.

For those who have just completed the Landscapes Made Simple Workshop, thank you coming along and joining in, and I look forward to seeing how you progress with your landscape journaling and beyond.

Until next time…enjoy good things!

**P.S. Want to know when the next Nature Journaling workshop is happening? JOIN MY MAILING LIST