A detail from my journal - I dodn’t get a chance to do as much as everybody else!
Nature Journalling at Derwent Bank for HF Holidays began with a walk around the lovely grounds of this beautiful location in Keswick, Lake District. We will be spending two days creating nature journals, looking at and enjoying nature. Our motto: N-O-E-L: Notice - Observe - Empathise - Learn. And Noel means “to be born” so we are looking at everything through “new born eyes”.
Read MoreA full spread of the Alnmouth Chapbook outer.
Celtic Rainforest Cover
Small, precious, almost invisible, vital and fragile and more threatened than tropical rainforests. This is the description of the Celtic Rainforests of Britain. But at least there is still some left and this nature journal chapbook explains something of this fully formed world.
Read MoreA completed Chapbook journal showing a mix of nature and historic subjects.
Rose Castle Nature Journal weekend. An exploration of built and natural heritage of this historic location surrounded by beautiful countryside.
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Okay it is always workshop season to be honest. And whilst you may think you need access to a garden or nature reserve to experience nature …. well who knew - you don’t! Nature is all around. Just look into the gutters, cracks in the pavements, walls, drain pipes, the clouds. There is always something to find and draw. The above sketch was done by one of the attendees in a workshop recently - and we found loads of stuff in a small urban community garden - packed full of interesting nature - from coltsfoot - one of the earliest of the dandelions to flower to bitter dock growing like salad leaves all over the place.
A fantastic chapbook with a tea stain background.
The course of workshops at the Great North Museum at the Hancock brought forth Monsters, budgies, parrots, turtles, tortoises, harvest mice, puffins and a host of other creatures, plants and stories inspired by the archives.
Read MoreI had never heard of this hoverfly until one of my students drew this one.
The latest course at the Natural History of Northumbria’s nature reserve in Gosforth saw us create our own nature journals through a guided and accessible drawing session. The resulting journals will now be accessioned into the archives held at the The Great North Museum at the Hancock.
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A lovely journal created by one of the artists today.
This was a lovely nature journal session at North Shields Library and this little message from one of the artists was so touching. The session involved my little chat about chapbooks, Enid Blyton and how eggs get their patterns. Basically me blethering on for a bit! then a nature walk and straight back into the library to draw.
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The last of the workshops for the Highlights Tour took place on the Threshing Barn in Greencroft this week and was a wonderful way to finish off this season. the artworks created were so lovely and offered such variety too.
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Highlights Tour continues with some fantastic nature journals created by the attendees. Why does everyone say to me they can’t draw and then proceed to create brilliant illustrations?
Read MoreChapbook displaying my response to the workshop on kittiwakes.
Under the Rivets is the title I gave to my Chapbook and is a homage to Nathaniel Collins who was the only person to have died in the making of the Tyne Bridge. My thoughts were around the notion of Nathaniel rescuing a fallen kittiwake - don’t ask me why it just sort of came out!
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Nature Journaling taking place in Newbrough Town Hall
Exploring the nature of Newbrough and creating beautiful nature journals. The town hall was the perfect venue for us to base ourselves and with the nearby woodland providing inspiration and resources we were all able to create wonderful little journals.
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Nature Journal in the ancient Town Hall of Newtown
This May I spent two days Nature Journalling on the Isle of Wight centred around Newtown Nature reserve with the National Trust and some lovely artists who created wonderful pieces of art and are now on their way creating their own nature journals.
Read MoreAllendale Village Hall hosted the latest Highlights tour this weekend and I was joined by some fantastic artists who created some lovely nature journals.
Who are these workshops for?
Well it varies so much and includes confident artists as well as people who “say they aren’t artists”! But they walk away with beautiful little journals and the confidence to continue with their nature journal journey. One lady was a really confident artist this weekend but had a little block about adding colour. I was able to help here through this so that she could continue creating her lovely sketches but with the addition of colour on them.
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The two sessions of nature journalling at Quirky Workshops took place on Wednesday and as usual I was surrounded by very talented artists who put their own spin on the day. The sessions are really about me passing on my tips and secrets as well as my stories about the wildlife around us. I love to share my own special observations of everything I see from a tangle of worms to sexton beetles falling in love.
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A spread of just a few of the amazing things I saw in my last trip to the Isle of Wight.
Creating a nature journal is not a difficult thing to do and is so rewarding. For many people the fear of “spoiling” the sketch book is a barrier to them starting their journey. My workshops are designed to take the fear away and remove all barriers to creating your own nature journal. you do not need to be an artist to observe and record nature and may people come to me saying they “aren’t artists” but go away with beautiful little nature journals and a new found confidence and belief in themselves.
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Heads down for an exploration of the acrchives
The first session of the exploration of the archives took place this week and we used the Chapbook format that I have developed for nature journalling - this allows us to create a lovely little concertina piece of art.
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Everything in place for a day of nature journalling
The first of our Highlights Tour workshops saw us in the lovely village of Barningham for a Shortcut to Nature Journalling. We had a wonderful group of artists who created some lovely nature journals full of colour and joy.
Read MoreIt was Family Day at Forest Hall Library today and we all had a lovely time drawing the simplest of things. I provided my unique little concertina nature journals which I have made just for this purpose. These little journals are a great way to get started in nature journalling.
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A lovey spread of flowers from one of the artists attending the workshop.
Another lovely nature day with some fantastic artists and lovely people. We enjoyed a half day of doing something really simple and nourishing - drawing nature and loving nature.
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