This is a nature journal in the Chapbook style that was inspired by my upcoming workshop at Derwentbank, in Keswick for HF Holidays - see the details here.
I remember a walk around the far side of Derwentwater many years ago where I saw Pied Flycatchers for the first time. So it was this memory that came to the fore when I started drawing a nature journal based on the temperate rainforests of the UK.
Polypody - lover of wet places.
But what is a temperate rainforest? These woodlands are also known as Atlantic rainforest, Upland Oakwoods, Atlantic Oakwoods or Western Oakwoods. Today, the Celtic rainforests exist as small fragments of the temperate rainforest that once covered much of Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. The majority of these fragments occur on steep-sided slopes above rivers and lakes which have avoided clearance and intensive grazing pressure. They can also be seen as really wet places where plants grow on other plants!
Maidenhair Spleenwort.
The types of plants would include lichens of all kinds and with some beautiful and often hard to pronounce names! But I am fond of Elegant Sunburst and Yellow Map. Coupled with these delicate and fragile plants are the small things of the forest floor. Fungi, beetles, slugs and snails all keeping the forest floor healthy.
Fragile and precious forest floor wildlife.
But how was this captured and how created. It is not always easy to draw stuff you can’t see - or is too small - or too far away! Well I am the ultimate cheat and I like to make things easy for myself. For this journal I had an idea as to what I wanted to achieve and that was to demonstrate to people coming on the workshop weekend what was possible and what you might hope to see. So in a way this was a demonstration piece. But I followed the same principles that I always follow and that is to make things easy for myself.
NOEL - Notice - Observe - Empathise - Learn. And remember what Noel means - “to be born”. So I look at things as if for the first time and enjoy the wonder of things as I draw them.
The inside of the journal.
Of course not everything is small and there are some spectacular things to see in this area too. Big and small. And understanding the lives of the things we draw is important and enriching.
Finished nature journal
I have used my mini nature journals which fold to a small pocket size sketch book but concertina out into a lovely spread when completed. These are the same templates I use for my workshops.
Inside spread of the concertina nature journal
for bookings and more information see HF Holidays website here.