June 1 – 7, 2023
Well it didn’t take me long to get hooked on this year’s International Nature Journal (INJW) theme, a “Sensory Safari.” Both Day 1: Color, and Day 2: Texture, offered a wealth of inspiration, ideas and helpful tips and techniques about how to discover nature “like a pro,” and how to better capture observations in my nature journal. This is exciting stuff, y’all!
It’s not too late to get involved and there’s no cost for participants, so check it out! All workshops and resources, the schedule and links to videos are available at https://www.naturejournalingweek.com/
Day 2: Sense of Touch – Texture in Nature
Introductory Session on Texture
The natural world is full of texture ….. from tree bark, fresh Spring and crunchy Fall leaves, the bumpy outsides and fuzzy insides of a sycamore seed ball, to a cactus pad covered in spines. The texture of the fur on my dog is coarse, but closer to her skin it’s soft and silky. How many times have you plucked a downy soft dandelion “clock,” and then in a puff, propelled the seeds aloft, exposing its dimpled platform? You may readily run barefoot across a lawn of bluegrass, but think twice before doing so on a field of granite pebbles!
Your conscious and intuitive interactions with the natural world are influenced by texture. For example, your willingness to touch the smooth textured skin of a dolphin probably outweigh your desire to “pet” the knobby skin of an alligator.
One of the many suggestions I learned during the introductory session related to encounters with a natural object. It’s so important to take your time in nature and observe first with your eyes, textures of the familiar and the new. Then, if it’s safe to touch, do so, and ask yourself if your visual and tactile experience are the same or different? And then think about how to describe what you learned?
The live video workshop with artist Mike Hendley, involved techniques in graphite to depict various textures found in nature. He emohasized how careful observation revealed an object’s texture, and demonstrated a number of different pencil strokes to achieve a realistic effect.
Thanks for taking a look! As always, I hope my pages spark in you a sense of curiosity and wonder, and that you would like to learn more. A good place to start is by visiting the INJW home page at https://www.naturejournalingweek.com/.
#naturejournalingweek
a curious nature 
I just love your descriptions of experiencing different textures — the pleasant and the ones to avoid! I love to walk in the yard barefoot most days doing a circuit of the plants and trees in the yard to see what’s happening daily. Your graphite page is phenomenal! Are you using a Pentel Graph Gear 1000 – Mike’s favorite pencil? It’s in my Amazon cart! You really achieved depth, especially in the morel. And, leaf rubbings — so much fun! Thanks for sharing your fun and enthusiastic pages!
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Million thanks for the comments Karen! Yes! I took Mike’s recommendation and ran with it ….. I love my Pentel graphgear 1000. It was a learning curve to not press too hard on such skinny lead, but it’s a phenomenal mechanical pencil! You’ll love yours too! So you’re a barefoot girl?! How cool (literally and figuratively). I had fun with my Textures pages.
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Wonderful!
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Thx!
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