Should You Nature Journal from Photos?

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Should you nature journal from photos? 

Interesting question, right? Actually, I thought I'd left that whole "working from photos" controversy behind when I gave up plein air painting (that's the practice of painting outdoors, directly in front of your subject, as opposed to painting in the studio from either a photo or your own field studies or both).

Why is this even a question? 

It's a question because people have mixed feelings about this and it keeps coming up. This very question was asked recently in a group I participate in, and it gave me that same sinking feeling that I used to get in the plein air groups I participated in when this discussion would inevitably come up.

So, What's Going On?

This is what I observe. First, there's a group of people who work from photos and really, really want to justify that. They work from photos because it's easier to work from photos, and because it's easier to draw from photos, they're happier with their results. Fair enough, we want making art to make us happy.

I think we all realize that much of the hard work of translating a 3D object into a 2D image is done for you by the camera. So, better results are almost guaranteed, no surprise there.

Photos also hold still, and with a click of the mouse we can zoom in to observe detail to a painstaking degree. Photos can be marked with a grid to help get proportions correct, traced, and any number of other techniques that help you draw.

If your observation and drawing skills are weak then working from a photo will fill in a lot of those gaps.

Yet, I often get the sense that these folks feel guilty, because they realize that if they had better observation and drawing skills they wouldn't need to work from a photo. So they're a little defensive (OK sometimes a lot).

There's another group who are the purists. They will never, ever, ever use a photo and will be pretty vocal about that and condemning of people who do use photos. Do you see why I get a stomach ache whenever this issue comes up?

So how does this fit in with nature journaling? 

These are just my opinions so take them with a grain of salt.

Nature journaling is about interacting with and observing the natural world. I think much of the benefit of keeping a nature journal is lost when you work from photos. From a broader art making perspective I think it is always a hundred times better to work from life (no matter what your subject is) than to work from a photo.

Copying from a photo is one of the surest ways to suck the liveliness and truth out of your work leaving you with a dead, dull rendition of your subject. It takes many years of working from life to be able to use a photo reference wisely.

Is it Ever OK to Use Photos?

Of course. The page above is a perfect example. I was absolutely taken by surprise by a fox at a local park. She was literally right there, she didn't seem to mind my presence, and walked right in front of me as she crossed the parking lot to enter the meadow to hunt. I followed her and was able to observe from a fairly close distance. She ignored me and went on with her hunting, (and if you've ever watch a fox hunt you know how absolutely adorable they are when they pounce!).

Needless to say I was pretty excited, and began literally scribbling down her movements. I mean look at the sketches on the left hand page. They are nothing more than ridiculously bad gesture sketches done in seconds flat. But... they are very authentic. They recall for me my excitement, her quickness, and did I mention my excitement?

I also snapped a few photos with my phone. While the fox was still there in the meadow, and after I had filled the first page with gesture sketches, I did the two more developed sketches on the right, by both directly observing the fox and referring to my phone photos. That, basically, is how I use photos, as supplements to direct observation.

Here's the Rub

Even after thirty years of being an artist, I still struggle with other people judging my work and comparing it to other people's work. I thought when I began to focus solely on nature journaling and sketchbook work that I'd be in an arena where everyone was working pretty much directly from life. I thought that the value of rapid, gestural, lively sketches done on the spot would be appreciated and understood.

That's not the case though, and I find it difficult sometimes to remember that not everyone is going to understand that some of the really amazing "sketches" that they see online were actually done from photos, and that working from life is a very different genre with different qualities that make it amazing.

Stay True to your Call

I don't particularly like to work from photos, unless I'm really focusing on a bird, or animal  and I need time to deconstruct its anatomy, markings etc by making drawings from photos, so that when I see it in the field I have a knowledge base to dip into as I'm sketching. I'm not interested in doing scientific, bird or botanical illustrations. I'm all about the gesture!

What I do love is being outside, and the challenge of sketching directly from life, even if the result is only a very quick, scribbly gesture study like the foxes above. I don't particularly like knowing that viewers are comparing sketches I have done in a matter of minutes directly from a moving subject outdoors to someone else's sketch done from a photo that took hours to complete.

To help with that I continually remind myself why I value the approach I've chosen. I really, truly do believe that working from life is the best possible way to approach nature journaling. It certainly brings me the most joy.

At the end of the day I love what I do. I value each and every sketch, the more developed ones, the scribbly ones, the half-finished-because-the-subject-ran-off ones, the really "bad" ones that I try not to think of as "bad". I've made a commitment to myself to value and honor all my sketches for what they are: glorious experiences of the natural world, honestly recorded in the moment.

Own your Process

I think it's important to own your process. If you work from photos, understand your reasons for doing so and say so when you discuss your work publicly. If you work from life, accept that your sketches are going to reflect the rough and tumble excitement, motion and inaccuracies that working in the field produces. Love what you do and how you do it. Don't judge or worry about what others are doing.(easier said than done, I know).

Making art should make you happy. Being in nature should make you happy. I made up my mind long ago to make that a reality in my life. How about you?

What Would Your Life Look Like if you kept a Nature Journal

• Journey with me through eight months of nature journaling in the video below.
• Are you ready to begin your own nature journal journey??  

Nature Journal with Jan Blencowe from Jan Blencowe on Vimeo.
Note: Click on the 4 arrows icon between "HD and Vimeo"  in the lower right of the video box to watch full screen. Or click on the link directly under the video to watch on Vimeo. 

Q. What would it be like if you kept a nature journal from month to    month, year to year?

Q. What would you learn?

Q. How would you benefit?

Q. What would keep you going, consistently making entries?

A. Personally, I gain an awful lot, more than I ever imagined, and those benefits are precisely the things that keep me going. 

• Nature journaling always fills me with a sense of wonder and amazement. On a daily basis I'm made mindful of the beauties of sunrises, wildflowers, snowflakes and clouds. I'm humbled in the face of storms, inspired at the ability of plants and animals that flourish and thrive in harsh conditions, and filled with hope when I witness the resilience, diversity and adaptability of nature. 

• Through nature journaling I've acquired a deep sense of the natural rhythms of the earth and those have become reassuring, guiding elements in my life, providing a sense of belonging to the natural world, and a sense of being truly at home on our planet. 

• The video above takes you with me through eight months of nature jounraling. The film begins in November towards the end of the season for outdoor nature journaling. You'll see sketches of snowstorms through the window, and yes, even some outdoor adventures in the snow. Winter is a perfect time to visit the natural history museum and sketch from the displays. There are zoo trips, and sketching from a local live stream owl cam in early spring as owlets hatch from their eggs. The snow thaws and it's outside once more. Spring brings new life and abundance and the long days of solstice time allow for unlimited nature journaling possibilities. 

• Are you ready to begin your own nature journal journey??  

Favorites From March/April 2016 Sketchbook

Nature Themed Altered Book Flip Through Video

Besides keeping a sketchbook, which often functions as a nature journal, since nature is what I am most interested in, I also have begun keeping art journals and making altered books. The video above takes you through my most recent nature themed, altered book, art journal. 

Click on "altered book projects" at the top of the page to see more altered books I've made. 

Different Kinds of  Journals

So, what's the difference between a sketchbook, an art journal and an artist's journal? Many of these terms have overlapping elements but there are some differences, and people tend to use them in different ways but here's how I define them.

The Sketchbook

A sketchbook is for loose, quick sketches usually done directly from life. The sketches may be in pencil, pen, or also include watercolor, gouache, markers etc. The important part for me is that these sketches are done fairly rapidly and focus on capturing gestural, expressive and emotional content. 

However, you might also have a sketchbook dedicated to longer studies, for the purpose of improving skills and the works in them may actually be considered drawings because of the number of hours spent on them and the level of finish accomplished in them. 

The Art Journal

An art journal is different. The entire thing itself, including the journal as a structure, is a work of art, and each page withing the journal is a work of art in its own right, Art journals typically are created in mixed media with all mediums, dry, wet, collage, print making available for use. I tend to put art journals under the umbrella of book arts. 

The art journal may also have the unique function of being a tool for personal, emotional, and spiritual growth and development. It can be the vehicle for dealing with problems, issues, emotions, questions and serve as the place that we can tap into our inner wisdom and intuitive knowing through art making.  

Altered Books

I also fit altered books in the category of book arts. An altered book being an actual published book that is taken as the basic structure for an art journal, where the book itself is altered and becomes the foundation of the art journal,  

The Artist's Journal

That brings us to the artist's journal, which you might also hear called an illustrated journal or a visual journal. For me that's the broadest category and my "sketchbook" often becomes an artist's journal in the winter months when I have to work in the studio more because of the weather. In addition to sketches from life I may also do some collage, or carve stamps and play around with them in my sketchbook, I might also venture out into other media, or combine media just for fun and play to pass the time in winter. The artist's journal might also take on the role of a place to capture ideas, do thumbnail sketches to work out a larger art project, do materials tests or just jot down "to do " lists or notes etc. 

It's highly likely that unless you are constructing a specific project your sketchbook/journals at times will contain elements of all these types of journals. For example the first altered book I ever made I specifically created to be a sketchbook. I altered the front and back covers inside and out with collage elements and prepared the inside pages with primer and then filled the book with sketches from life just as I would have in any other purchased sketchbook. 

In any art form things can be rather fluid and that is definitely the case with art journaling of any type. The most important thing is to simply be making art as often as possible and not really worry about whether you're doing it "right" or in the "right" type of journal or book. The joy, the benefit, and the magic is in the doing. 

Altered Book Project #2

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I've begun work on a new altered book project. This one will have a nature theme running through it. Although I wrote out all my intentions for this project on the first page spread seen here, (it was subsequently covered up by layers of mixed media) the real intention for this project actually came out when I found a quote that I wanted to include on the page.  

"...part of the process is to re-enchant the world of nature." T.A. Mann from The Sacred Language of Trees

I had lots of intentions going in which were very intellectual, exploring the archetypes of nature, exploring our relationship to nature, and several other lofty ideas. Yet it was so clear to me by the end of my first page spread that this book was going to be about re-enchanting nature. I'm glad I got all my intellectual ruminations out at the beginning and that they are still there somewhere buried under juicy layers of paint, ink, stencils, marks, photos and other imagery. 

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Some of you may be wondering what an altered book is, and what art journaling is compared to keeping and artist's journal or sketchbook journal,  An altered book begins by using an existing book , typically used from a library book sale, used book store, tag sale etc. You can either just begin creating artwork right on the pages of your book or you can prepare the pages in various ways to help them stand up to the mixed media you'll be using. In this book I removed about half the pages to make room for all the collage and additional layers of paint I would be using. Then I glued pages together to make fewer but sturdier pages. Finally I applied a coat of gesso to all the new pages. You can read about my first altered book project with more explanations HERE

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This altered book  is also an art journal. An art journal is a book (altered or simply a blank sketchbook or writing journal) which is used to contain art made on each page. Typically it's mixed media work, but it could also be a single media. Art journals are usually personal art, meaning that people make them for the sheer love of creating, for self exploration, for relaxation, as a spiritual practice and for many other personal reasons. A sketchbook is typically a place for sketching from life. Sometimes that takes the form of a nature journal, urban sketching or simply documenting your life.  And artist's journal may contain both elements, as well as other things like color experiments or tests of new materials, or any other creative pursuits like hand carved stamps or even some collage, but usually the focus is on recording your daily life. All of them usually include some writing and a lot of visual images. None of these terms is set in stone and people use them in different ways.

In the nice weather, spring, summer and fall, my regular daily sketchbook tends to be a lot of nature journaling, But it will also contain sketches from outings to museums, zoos, the beach etc, It might also contain sketches from restaurants, people sketches, my dogs flowers and veggies from my garden and any number of other things. In the winter when I'm inside mostly my sketchbook tends to become a playground for more experimental work and lots of sketches of the views from my windows.

It was that experimental work during the winter months that led me to want to create separate art journals where I could really delve into mixed media.

I was introduced to altered books at a class I  took about seven years ago. I  made my very first altered book back then.  

The book as a container for our experiences both in the world and within ourselves fascinates me and I'm really enjoying the altered book process as well as the mixed media journaling. A lot of really wonderful, beautiful things happen when we embrace our creativity and make space and time for ourselves to honor the images and words we use to express our inner lives. 

Nature Journal Entries - June 24,25 &30

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I'm still using the calligraphy pen and the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and enjoying their bold, expressive black lines, combined with my QoR watercolors on the creamy and textured Gutenberg paper. 

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I've missed a few days outside due either to weather or simply needing time inside to complete some other projects. More than ever I realize how much I need time out in the woods. I'm reading TA Mann's book The Sacred Language of Trees and finding so much wisdom, affirmation and inspiration there. 

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I'm also coming to the full realization that my routine ( and you might read ritual here) of going out to the pond each day, praying, observing and sketching is actually a true spiritual practice. I always thought it was, but never down to my bones, and so I never declared it to be so out loud or in writing. But now I see that it is.

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Now I'm thinking that my little sacred grove of trees and my sacred pond (yes, I'm going to call them that from now on) might need an outdoor shrine or alter in addition to the benches I've already placed there. 

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The first thing I think I might do is Gelli print some fabric and cut prayer flags or some simple strips of cloth to tie on to the trees as an act of prayer.  Similar to what they do around holy wells in Ireland, like this...

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It's really amazing to me how the simple, primal one might even say, act of sitting quietly in nature transforms a person.  Someday maybe I'll find a vocabulary of words that can adequately communicate my experiences. Until then I'll continue to sit in silence and draw as my primary way to record what is a sacred, and transformative experience.

She Sells Sea Shells

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In August I'm teaching a nature journaling class called Gifts from the Sea (you can read about that and register HERE).  So to get ready I'm exploring the lovely world of shells.

Obviously, some shells are very complex shapes with spirals and spikes, twists and ridges. Others seem deceptively simple, i say deceptively because even a clam shell presents it;s own challenges when sketching.

I'm working with that same calligraphy marker I mentioned yesterday, the  2.0 Yasutomo Calligraphy Marker, and watercolors, including Daler-Rowney Pro-white something I almost always have on my palette, to boost the opacity of the paint if I need it. 

When faced with unfamiliar, complicated subjects I always like to sketch using a continuous line drawing and sometimes even just a contour drawing, that is drawing the entire outline of the shape without lifting my pen from the paper. The continuous line drawing technique is similar in that you don't lift your pen (or at least you try very hard no to !) and you can move in and out and around the subject as you sketch it instead of just staying with the outline. Before you add color these type of sketches often look like sculptures made of wire, which is a good way to think of them as your sketching. Think about your pen line as it it were a piece of flexible wire that you are bending and twisting into the shape of the shell. 

I do this because it makes me look very, very closely at my subject and feel with my eyes the shape of the thing, I get to understand its structure its proportions, its patterns and rhythms. the last two are particularly true of the shells.  

A nice rich shadow underneath the shells makes them "pop" from the page and looks really great on the creamy colored paper. 

A bit of writing and an undulating line for a border, restated with some watercolor pulls the whole page together.   

Nature Journal Entry- June 17, 2015

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There's a lot of energy in the woods and in the air in general as we're moving rapidly towards the summer solstice. The trees and every growing thing seems to pulse and vibrate with living energy.

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I've found a little companion in the woods, a Gray Catbird who entertains me for hours and seems to actually seek me out when I'm sitting by the pond each morning. Today I was able to watch her fledgling who seemed rather petrified sitting alone on a shrub growing in the shallows in the north side of the pond. e had no need to fear though, mom was nearby watching. 

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Another treat was being able to watch a doe and her fawn browsing along the south west edge of the pond. The Great Egret was back again for a bit, long enough for me to get a few sketches done. 

Every day that I spend in the woods, eyes wide open and ears attuned, brings me into a deeper and deeper relationship to the earth, and in particular our little pond.  After fours years I feel as much at home in our woods as anywhere on earth. I feel a true kinship with my wild neighbors and i am so thankful for that. 

Nature Journal Entry - June 16, 2015

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So I'm really enjoying the Gutenberg paper in my sketchbook.  It takes water media much better than I ever anticipated, so that makes me very happy!  It also makes me happy that i live in a place with such easy access to all kinds of beautiful wildlife. As I sat in the sun on the dock I was kept company by a young Willet, hopping along in the muddy banks of the river

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The to my amazement and delight I got to watch a mother Great Egret teach her two young to hunt, while two Double Crested Cormorants bobbed and dove near by. A little while later a Snowy Egret was searching for lunch further up the river.  It is a wonderful thing to sit amidst the slowly moving waters of the river, the graceful swaying grasses, and the elegant, leggy egrets.  To be still, and move slowly, to look keenly, and be silent is a soul nurturing way to spend an afternoon.  

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Further up the river is a stone railroad bridge,beyond the bridge is marsh and a cemetery.  The cemetery is old, established in the late 1600's, and I think how fitting it is that the cemetery is edged by bridges marking a place of crossing, and of getting form one place to another. I mused about that in the facing page of my sketchbook , but the writing is scratchy and quick and not very legible to anyone but me, so no need to show it here.

Nature Journal Entries, June 7 - 11 2015

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This is my very first page in the first book I made in the book binding class I took in May. You can read about that HERE  and HERE.  It is such a joy to be working in a book that I made from scratch. It brings an incredible sense of ownership and creativity. 

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The book is filled with Gutenberg 130 gms2 paper, something that is completely new to me, and something that I was a little skeptical of, given my penchant for really heavy weight paper. However, this paper does not disappoint. I think I was ready for it after the Fake Journal project in April where I intentionally wanted my paper to warp, wrinkle and crinkle, not that this paper does that really. It takes a fair amount of wet media, both gouache and watercolor, and it gently ripples, slightly, and that goes away mostly after the book has been closed for a bit. But this lovely textured, cream colored paper has a distinctly old world feel to it with it little flecks of brown and grey bits and the slight wave of the paper after wet media use makes it seem vintage, or antique or something. I don't know exactly what to call it  but I love it! Maybe Wabi Sabi is closer to what I'm thinking of.

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I did a good deal of testing on scraps of this paper before I started the book so I  had an idea of what to expect.  I found that though I  love-love-love my Platinum Carbon fountain pen it's a bit too scratchy on this paper so I've gone back to using my TWSBI Mini (another fav) which I uncapped and sketched with without a single skip or problem after not using it for a year, no kidding, that's one of the reasons I love that pen, reliability, and smooth sketching. I'm also back to using Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. I had forgotten how perfectly lovely that ink is. 

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In this sketch I used my other obsession,the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, and you can see how amazing it it on the textured Gutenberg. Love, especially for the figures. 

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Now to talk a little about nature study. I find it so renewing to sit in nature and observe, to become part of the habitat. I know that I am extremely fortunate to have a beaver pond on my property, along with a marsh and then upland grassy areas and woods. There is an astounding amount of wildlife making its home here or counting the pond as part of its territory or using it simply as a feeding place and watering hole.

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Over the years I have come to count many of the species here as my friends and companions. In a suburban environment I think the animals and birds get accustomed to humans and tolerate my presence. Deer especially are friendly, the cat birds are my constant companions, and the river otters, though generally thought to be rather shy, I find very curious about me. 

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Of course I believe that they can sense my intention when I am sitting quietly in their world. I am open, and loving in my intent towards them and I think they sense that. Even my encounters with the very large (and magnificent) Eastern Coyote aka Coywolf bears this out.  Make no mistake,I fully realize the Coywolf is a fierce predator and in the wrong circumstances would eat me for dinner (!), so exercise extreme caution should you encounter one, but when I encounter one (and this has usually been from a distance of, at my closest encounter probably 150-200 feet) I have an immediate respect and genuine love for them which I can't help but think they sense. Part of that respect does mean of course that I look away and move away calmly, but quickly. We share this planet with so many wonderful, fascinating creatures and I count it a rare privileged to be able to walk among them. 

Being Outside and the Joy of Nature Sketching

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I love being outside and one of my favorite ways to really be present and mindful when I am outside is by sketching.  By taking time to stop, look and draw I find that I activate all my senses, my curios intellectual side and my more intuitive inner, spiritual self. 

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Even sketching my grill, which at the moment is creating a micro-climate for my seedlings, (being black and absorbing a lot of heat from the sun and warming them from below), causes me to awaken, be more alert and engaged with the world around me.

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Nature journaling, of course takes that sort of awareness to a whole new level.  Spending intentional time in the woods forms relationships and connections between myself and the natural world that have been previously disrupted by modern life. It puts me back in touch with the powerful natural rhythms of  nature and realigns my own rhythms with the rising and setting of the sun and the changing of the seasons. 

So many wonder-ful  things to experience in nature. Today I was only out for about and hour and I had the wonder filled chance to see a pair of Baltimore Oriole's and then spot their nest in a near by maple tree. I was entertained by a Gray Catbird walking on the ground and quacking like a duck! No kidding, catbirds are related to mockingbirds and are expert imitators, and will impersonate many other bird and animal sounds. I also got to watch a Great Egret stalk around and then catch a fish and swallow it down it's slender throat. I realize that our pond and property is a place filled with wildlife but I also know that nature is ALL around even in a city park. If you take time and sit quietly and spend some time observing day after day you'll begin to see an entirely new world emerge before your eyes. One that was always there but which you were not aware of.  Dedicate a few days to spending an hour or so outside in the same spot  and see what you can discover! 

Nature Studies, Great Egret Stalking, Shadbush and Swimming Snakes

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I'm working in a Pentallic Nature Sketch, sketchbook. It has nice 130lb mixed media paper in it. It's a product I used to use all the time before the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks were around. At that time it was the heaviest weight paper I could find in a sketchbook.  It used to have a paper front cover and a heavy cardboard back cover. The paper front cover always took a beating and got ripped. I always said if they ever put a better cover on the book that I would go back to using it.  Well, Pentallic has put a wonderful cover on their Nature Sketch sketchbook.  It's heavy, covered in forest green leather like vinyl and has the same graphics as the old one only in simple silver instead of full color. The back cover is still plain uncovered heavy cardboard.

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You'd think I would be elated. But....I'm finding with this book, and maybe it is just this book, the back cover keeps coming out of the metal spiral binding. That drives me crazy. The holes are rectangular and the spiral binding is the typical double wire loop, very similar to what I use when I make sketchbooks with my Cinch binding machine. The old paper cover sketchbooks had a flexible, black plastic binding that was a continuous spiral so the covers could never come off.

I'm also having a problem with scanning. The book is just slightly wider than my scanner bed and the spiral binding won;t allow the page to press flat against the glass scanner bed and light gets in at the edges and so you see the yellowish discoloration of the page on the binding side of the image. Sigh.  I am moving closer and closer to investing in a Epson large flat bed scanner, though I fear In will still have problems with spiral bound sketchbooks not laying flat.  I'm going to have to try trowing a towel over the whole thing when I scan to see if that keeps the light out. No amount of photoshop fixes seem to really help this, at least in the amount of time I want to spend fixing up images to post.

So, enough complaining!  It's been beautiful out and I had no end of fun watching a Great Egret in my pond stalk his lunch the other day. The Shadbush is blooming and that means the Shad are running in the rivers, and Shad festivals are about to start popping up all over Connecticut, a sure sign that spring has finally and truly arrived. Other residents of the pond include large numbers of Tree Swallows who are mating and nesting in hollow trees, Red Wing Blackbirds patrol the pond, and Northern Flickers and pecking and excavating holes in trees.

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The Eastern Rat Snakes are out in abundance I saw four on the rock wall sunning on my way down to the pond and then three swimming in the pond, which is always a weird sight no matter how many time I see them, they're like little Loch Ness monsters!  

Much more to come as spring blossoms!