Journaling With Nature

Rafa is a biologist, ornithologist and illustrator. He has concentrated his career on birds and worked extensively studying bird migration and conservation in the Strait of Gibraltar. Rafa is the founder of Diarios de Naturaleza, where he helps others tap into their curiosity and creativity through nature journaling.

Listen to hear more about:

• Rafa’s connection to nature and art since his early life.
• Rafa’s work on bird migration in the Strait of Gibraltar.
• How bird migration can connect people and places.
• Educaves - a program focused on educating teachers on how birds can be used as an educational tool in the classroom.
• Diaros de Naturaleza and Rafa’s work teaching others about nature journaling.
• Rafa’s simple field sketching materials.
• Rafa’s experience of connecting with other nature journalers around the world.
• The importance to adding feelings to our nature journal pages.
• Natural discoveries Rafa has been exploring lately. 
   

Find more about Rafa and Diarios de Naturaleza http://diariosdenaturaleza.com/. 

You can also find Rafa on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

In this video that Rafa created for International Nature Journaling Week you can hear him answer the question “What does nature journaling mean to you?”
 

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Lara is a scientist and natural history illustrator based in Milan, Italy. Lara uses her nature journal as a place to learn new things and grow as an artist and naturalist. As someone who enjoys change, Lara is connected with the seasons and the transformation that each new season brings.

Listen to hear more about:

• How art therapy helped Lara reconnect with herself, art and nature.
• Lara’s project to learn more about common plant species found around her in the city.
• The story behind the name Alchemilla’s Corner.
• Lara’s thoughts on the difference between nature art and nature journaling.
• How nature journaling and mindfulness overlap.
• Lara’s project illustrating a cookbook.
• How growing, harvesting and cooking our food can connect us with plants in a meaningful way.
• The importance of seasons in Lara’s life and work.

To explore Lara’s work, follow her on Instagram @alchemillascorner.

If you are interested in wild plants and foraging you can follow the Instagram account of Erica @gli_orsini, who is the author of the cookbook that Lara illustrated. 

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 

You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Verena is a wilderness educator and nature journal teacher helping others connect with nature in the city. She helps people come back to our essential wild nature, finding empathy and connection with all life around us. Verena shares her stories and insights on her podcast Wieder Wilder Werden.

Listen to hear more about:

• What wildness means for Verena living in a big city.
• What nature looks like in Berlin.
• Learning to notice and value common animals that live alongside us in cities.
• Learning empathy for nature from children.
• How Verena shares her feelings and thoughts about nature through Instagram.
• How nature of our childhood creates the feeling of home. 
• Connecting with ourselves and others through our nature journals.
• Verena’s online and in person nature journaling workshops.
• Benefits and drawbacks of social media.
• Verena’s podcast Wieder Wilder Werden.
• Living in rhythm with the seasons. 

Find out more about Verena and her work at https://wiederwilderwerden.de.

Follow Verena on Instagram @wiederwilderwerden.

Listen to Wieder Wilder Werden podcast here.

Bethan mentioned a book about finding nature in the city. The book is called Nature Obscura: A City’s Hidden Natural World by Kelly Brenner. 

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 

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Ginn is an artist who is inspired by nature. Much of her art is done en plein air, focusing on landscapes and skies. With a deep love for colour, Ginn knows the value of getting to know your paints by swatching, mixing and creating colour charts.

Listen to hear more about:

• Ginn’s early foundations in art and nature.
• How Ginn chooses different subjects for her art.
• Her thoughts on the difference between nature art and nature journaling.
• Ginn’s outdoor painting kit and how she adjusts it depending on the situation.
• Her process for quickly capturing landscapes and skies en plein air.
• The importance of swatching your watercolour paints.
• Art challenges and how they can motivate our creativity.
• Using art as a way to process the grief of troubling times.
• Tracking resident orcas as a way of connecting with nature.

You can see Ginn’s art on Instagram @alittlemealittlehue.

Listen to the Field Notes recording that Ginn created for Montana Public Radio - Staking out Territory: Loons on Kintla Lake.

Learn more about Orcas from the Orca Behavior Institute and the Georgia Strait Alliance.

For details on the Launch Party for the Nature Journal Club for Teens, follow this link. If you are a teenage nature journaler and would like to join the Facebook group, click here.

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!

You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Yvea is a botanist who has spent many years working in the field of restoration. Through her online workshop series,Plant Families in our Foods, she helped participants understand more about the plants we eat every day. Yvea is also the co-ordinator of the online nature journal gatherings "Pencil Miles and Chill".

Listen to hear more about:

• How restoration became part of Yvea’s life and work.
• The history of the restoration site at Crissy Field.
• How restoration work has created an unbreakable love and connection with the land for Yvea.
• The important observations and connections that Yvea has made through her nature journal records.
• How Yvea gathered her plant knowledge.
• The workshop series Plant Families in our Foods.
• The Pencil Miles and Chill sessions.
• The generous tradition that has grown up around Yvea’s birthday.
• Yvea's thoughts on the nature journal prompts 'I notice...I wonder...It reminds me of...'

Watch Yvea’s workshop series Plant Families in our Foods with these links - 

Week 1: https://youtu.be/nB0CwbRZzhs

Week 2: https://youtu.be/USZjnOqmw4w

Week 3: https://youtu.be/zurjQiWcyAM

Week 4: https://youtu.be/8TH0BnJM9uQ

Week 5: https://youtu.be/PvllAh-TP1k

Week 6: https://youtu.be/AMnR2vXaL6Y

Week 7: https://youtu.be/MLRaJZFUF2w

Week 8: https://youtu.be/u6EZ2mdA0mk

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 

You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Miriam is a fire management specialist who promotes place-based fire education. Miriam uses nature journaling as a tool for tuning into the environment before, during and after fire. When we are aware of our environment in this deep way, we are better able to make decisions about fire awareness and management.

Listen to hear more about:

• How nature was a refuge for Miriam during childhood.
• The story of how Miriam came to make fire management and education her career.
• The history of fire exclusion and how this practice has changed the landscape.
• How Miriam helped bring nature journalers together to journal a prescribed fire and cultural burn.
• Why Miriam considers nature journaling fire a ‘full-brained and full-bodied experience’.
• Trauma informed approaches to fire education.
• How Miriam uses metadata to understand the fire environment.
• What information we can add to our nature journals before, during and after fire.
• Integrating fire into our sense of place.
   

Learn more about Miriam and her work at www.pyrosketchology.com. You can also find Miriam on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

To learn more about Indigenous fire management and cultural burning, check out the podcast Good Fire.

One of my previous podcast guests, Robin Carlson, also uses nature journaling to document fire. You can listen to that episode here.

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!

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Thanks for listening!

Heather is a nature journal teacher with a unique focus. She uses literature and history as a way of connecting her students with the natural world. In her online classes, Heather explores the life and landscape of authors such as Beatrix Potter, James Herriot, Jane Austen and The Brontë Sisters.

Listen to hear more about:

• Heather’s early nature experiences. 
• The benefits and challenges of coming from an artistic family.
• Charlotte Mason and her focus on nature observation and nature journaling.
• How Heather came to be combining literature, history and nature journaling in her work.
• How studying the lives and landscapes of people in history can help us connect with our own present-day landscapes. 
• The importance of ‘Teatime’ for Heather and her family.
• Heather’s favourite nature journaling materials and the colours she chooses for her palette.
• Sensory awareness in nature.
• How gratitude is an integral part of Heather’s nature connection.
   

Find out more about Heather and her online classes on her website: www.thenaturejournaler.com.

You can learn more about Heather’s membership program The Nature Creative here: www.thenaturejournaler.com/thenaturecreative.

Follow Heather on Instagram and Facebook.

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 

You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Mike is an artist and podcaster with a passion for nature. He especially enjoys creating intricately detailed drawings using a simple 2B graphite pencil. In his podcast, Drawing Inspiration, Mike explores the world of art through his own experience and through interviews with a wide range of guests.

Listen to hear more about:

• The special story of how Mike knew he wanted to be an artist at age 5. 
• Why nature is an important theme in Mike’s artwork.
• Mike’s favourite art materials and why he always returns to graphite pencil. 
• Digital art and how it can be used for nature journaling.
• The process of drawing a very detailed art piece using a 2B mechanical pencil. 
• Why Mike started his podcast, Drawing Inspiration, and what you can expect when you listen.
• Some of the guests Mike has had on his podcast and the things they shared.
• How Mike gets through creative challenges and keeps inspired when things are tough. 
• Building creative community and connecting with other artists.

You can listen to the sister episode of today’s show, where Mike interviews Bethan on the Drawing Inspiration podcast, here: https://drawinginspiration.fm/63.

Find out more about Mike and his work through his website: https://mikehendley.com. 

You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Listen to all the episodes of Drawing Inspiration podcast at https://drawinginspiration.fm/about/ or by searching for Drawing Inspiration wherever you listen to podcasts.

Find the episodes related to a specific topic using the Starter Packs: https://drawinginspiration.fm/start/.

Support Mike’s work as an artist and podcaster via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drawinginspirationpodcast.

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 
You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Brenna is a permaculture illustrator who uses her art as a form of activism. Her work tackles big topics like politics, over consumption and the climate crisis, but always with a focus on positive solutions. Viewing her work will make you want to jump up and do something to make a positive change!

Listen to hear more about:

• The inspiring story of how Brenna found permaculture.
• How illustrating the book RetroSuburbia launched Brenna’s illustration career.
• Self-sufficiency vs community sufficiency.
• The power of community to make us more resilient during difficult times.
• How Brenna uses art as a form of activism.
• How illustrations can make an issue more relatable and engaging, as well as lighten the weight of a heavy subject.
• Brenna’s process for turning ideas into finished illustrations.
• How nature journaling can be useful for observations in creating a permaculture design.
• How to get children engaged through art, music literature.

To find out more about Brenna and her work, visit her website: https://www.brennaquinlan.com. 

You can engage with Brenna’s art on Facebook and Instagram. 

Follow the progress of Brenna and her partner while they build their eco home in Denmark, WA. Look for GrowDoIt on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Please consider supporting Brenna’s work on Patreon. Your pledge helps her continue creating inspiring art which benefits people and the planet. 

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 
You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Jane is recognised as one of the art world's foremost authorities on colour and colour mixing. She teaches workshops on watercolour technique and has collaborated with Daniel Smith Artists’ Materials to create the Ultimate Mixing Palette. She even has a colour named after her - Jane's Grey!

Listen to hear more about:

• How to understand pigment characteristics and use them to your benefit in a painting.
• Pigment numbers and what they mean.
• Why watercolour is Jane’s favourite medium.
• Jane’s favourite colours for painting skies.
• How to customise your colour choices to reflect the colour palette in your particular part of the world. 
• Working with triads to achieve colour harmony. 
• The power of phthalo green as a mixing colour and what it can do.
• Jane’s thoughts on primary colours.
• Colour families and their characteristics. 
• Insights from Jane’s course Mastering Watercolour.
• The Daniel Smith colour named after Jane.
• Jane’s project to swatch every professional colour in the world.

Jane’s website (www.janeblundellart.com) and her blog (janeblundellart.blogspot.com) are invaluable resources for anyone who is interested in learning more about colour. 

Learn more about Jane’s collaboration with Daniel Smith Artist' Materials to create the Ultimate Mixing Set. To accompany her palette, Jane has created a book called The Ultimate Mixing Palette: A world of colours. You can order the book as print-on-demand from Blurb.com.

To take Jane’s Mastering Watercolours course, click here.

Jane mentioned the book Nature’s Palette: A colour reference system for the natural world by Baty Patrick.

Glossary of watercolour terms:

Staining – Colours that absorb into the paper and are difficult to lift off once they are laid down. 

Non-staining – Colours that can easily be lifted off (with a clean brush or paper towel) after they have been laid down.

Granulating – A textured effect that happens when certain coarse pigments settle into the grain of the watercolour paper.

Non-granulating – Colours that have fine pigments and leave a smooth, untextured finish on the paper. 

Opaque – Watercolours that will cover a black line when used thickly.

Transparent – Watercolours that will allow other colours to show through.

Fugitive – Colours that fade or change over time. 

Pigment number – a number on the back of a watercolour tube which identifies the pigments used to create that colour. You can have single pigment colours or multiple pigment paints where several pigments are used to create the colour. 

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Sign-up for Journaling With Nature's Newsletter to receive news and updates as well as the Nature Journaling Inspiration List each month!
 

You can support Journaling With Nature Podcast on Patreon, Your contribution is deeply appreciated.

Thanks for listening!