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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Nature Journal Creation from simple everyday subjects
Another shortcut to nature journalling at Forest Hall Library. Despite being a cold January start we all managed to find something beautiful to draw.
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In the woods with Jess
The new season of Nature Journalling is upon us with the first of the love.nature series of nature journalling sessions.
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Gabriel translates as God Give me Strength.
When the Stars through down their Spears by William Blake was the starting point for my Chapbook. This seemed to be an appropriate cover page for my creation story.
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Ovington Trees Project invited us to host two workshops in Ovington Village in Northumberland. This was attended by adults and children from the local community. the whole day was so lovely and thanks to the homemade cakes and pastries was a pleasure to be a part of.
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We have a new season of nature journalling being organised. Once again we are happy to be part of Quirky Workshops Spring programme.
We hope to see you there and we will be working on a mini concertina sketchbook that I will be providing. We will be drawing from observation in the gardens at Quirky Workshops as well was from reference photographs and illustrations that I will provide.
If you are able to do a nature walk yourself why don’t you take some photographs of your observations and bring them with you. I will be helping you to develop your own style of drawing and painting so that you can take this away with you and begin your own journey of Nature Journalling.
Dates for this course are Thursday 17th April 2025.
You can book here.
An example of one of the lovely artworks created by one of the attendees in this season’s workshops at Quirky Workshops.
Birds of the Wayside and Woodland
The Birds of Wayside and Woodland is a fantastic bird book from a great series of books. You can often pick these up in charity shops such as Oxfam but also from World of Books (WOB).
There is a great introduction by Enid Blyton who also edited the book too.
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My go to resources for nature journalling.
Read this for a good starting point for starting your own journal. This is just my little list and once you get started you will have your own way of doing things. The important thing is to make a start - even if it is just making a list of the things you see.
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