Can Keeping a Nature Journal bring Natural History Back from the Brink of Extinction?

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In June 2014, Jennifer Frazer wrote an article in Scientific American called Natural History is Dying, and We Are All the Losers. That article has once again been making its way around Facebook, in groups dedicated to nature journalers, naturalists and other involved in environmental issues. Its garnered a lot of attention and many comments.

There's been much discussion, and lamenting of the state of affairs that Frazer points out. 


Her article opens with this sobering insight, "In other words, the people society depends on to know the most about life -- people with college biology degrees -- in nearly all cases have no obligation to learn anything about actual living organisms. To me, this is a shocking dereliction."

She goes on to point out a number of other disquieting facts about the stigma of "natural history" within the scientific and academic communities and notes that "Natural History [flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries], when Linnaeus, Darwin, and even U.S. Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt were avid and avowed naturalists. It was a time when basic knowledge of local plants and animals was considered part of a good education -- and of being a good citizen" (emphasis mine). 

Frazer tells us that the enthusiasm for nature study and natural history encompassed schoolchildren as well, noting that between 1890 and 1940 books such as....Anna Botsford Comstock's, Handbook of Nature-Study  were an essential part of classrooms across America. 


I believe that keeping a nature journal has now become a very important part of creating a culture that values nature. In fact, I might go so far as to say that acquiring a basic knowledge of local plants and animals makes us better citizens, global citizens as well as local citizens, who will act, engage and vote with environmental concerns in mind. It may also be a practice that rescues natural history from the dust bin in the university basement. 

Years ago when my children were young I home educated them and nature study was a big part of our lives. We had Anna Comstock's book mentioned above, and we were heavily influenced by the 19th century educational philosopher and practitioner Charlotte Mason, who advocated nature study as an essential part of a child's education. In fact it was during those years that I  began keeping my own nature journals, (badly at first, but with much joy). 

Our children are our future, and the best hope for the future of our planet, and because I think that keeping a nature journal is such an easy, enjoyable but important way to develop a knowledge, love and appreciation for nature in both adults and children I have invited Lynn Seddon, author of Exploring Nature with Children, to write a guest post responding to Frazer's observations and expounding on her own experiences as a Charlotte Mason home educator in the UK. 

Lynn's post will be published on Thursday September 1, 2016 and I hope you will check back to read it. 

Click HERE for a free nature journaling mini-class, and stay tuned for my upcoming online course Beginning a Nature Journal: creating lively sketches of the natural world coming in spring 2017

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??  

The Top 5 Reasons YOU should be Keeping a Nature Journal

Excited and ready to begin? Click HERE for a Free Nature Journaling mini class video - Also don't miss the free downloadable guide to nature journaling, just click on the tab in the top left of the navigation bar above. 

Reason Number One: You’ll experience less stress, anxiety, and negativity

• Nature journaling provides a way for you to encounter nature on a regular basis

• The scientific community is now compiling evidence to support what so many of us intuitively know. Being in nature calms the mind and helps you feel less anxiety, stress and negativity.

• David Strayer, of the University of Utah says ... we see changes in the brain and changes in the body that suggest we are physically and mentally healthier when we are interacting with nature.

Reason Number Two: You’ll be a kinder more ethical person

• Time spent interacting with nature as you observe and journal has a positive impact on your behavior.

• “ An experiment conducted by Paul Piff of the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues, in which participants staring up at a grove of very tall trees for as little as one minute experienced measurable increases in awe, and demonstrated more helpful behavior and approached moral dilemmas more ethically, than participants who spent the same amount of time looking up at a high building. “ - Yes! Magazine, Jill Suttie, Mar, 12, 2016

Reason Number Three: You’ll improve your ecoliteracy and your memory

• Nature journaling helps you learn about the natural world and raises your ecoliteracy. Ecoliteracy is the ability to understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible, and to understand the principles that organize ecosystems. However, before you can do any of that, you need to be familiar with the plants, animals and minerals that make up the world around you, especially in your own backyard.  Lifelong learning is beautiful thing, keeping alive the sense of joy, wonder and curiosity we had when we were children. Keeping a nature journal is the perfect way to learn throughout life while forming a deeper connection with the natural world.

• Keeping a nature journal will not only make you a lifelong learner, you’ll also be improving your memory. Research done by Dr. Marc Berman and partners at the University of Michigan shows that performance on memory and attention tests improved by 20% after study subjects took a pause for a walk through an arboretum.

Excited and ready to begin? Click HERE for a Free Nature Journaling mini class video

Reason Number Four: Your creativity will flourish

• Recording observations in your nature journal of the the infinite variety and diversity in nature opens our minds to endless possibilities and attunes our senses towards natural beauty and harmony. We begin to creatively form connections and seek unique ways to express our growing awareness of what is beautiful and delightful around us in nature.

• David Strayer, of the University of Utah indicates that the kind of brain activity seen when we’re spending time in nature is “ the kind of brain activity—sometimes referred to as the brain default network—that is tied to creative thinking.”

Reason Number Five: You’ll experience personal growth in heart and soul

• Your nature journal becomes a container in which you can freely and safely delve deep into the mysteries of nature, the Source of creation and your connection to both. By simply taking time to be in nature, to listen, observe, rejoice and contemplate we put ourselves in touch with something much bigger than ourselves, and we capture that in our journals in words and images.

• John P. Milton, in his book, Sky Above, Earth Below: Spiritual Practice in Nature writes, “Today, our modern world is filled with high-tech wonders. Our urban and suburban existence surrounds us with crowded, artificial environments of plastic, steel, concrete, and glass. Environmental toxins, high-stress lifestyles, devitalized food, loud noise, unnatural electromagnetic fields, and microwave radiation assail our cells and sensibilities. . .When we leave these tensions for a while to cultivate our natural wholeness in the wild, we are renewed with the fresh vitality and spirit of Nature. New pathways open for living in harmony with our communities and the Earth. We discover deep inspiration to help transform our lifestyles and our culture toward harmony and balance.”
• Michael Hyatt, former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, sums it up nicely when he writes…”God created humans in the wild and placed us in a garden. We’re meant to live a substantial portion of our lives outdoors—and it’s a unique place to experience our Creator and restore our spirits. Nature is God’s reset button for our minds, bodies, and spirits. If you’re spending all day indoors, you’re missing the restorative power of nature.”

Excited and ready to begin? Click HERE for a Free Nature Journaling mini class video

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Excited and ready to begin? Click HERE for a Free Nature Journaling mini class video

New Sketching on the Spot Book Available Soon

I'm over the moon and positively giddy! Cathy Johnson's newest book, due out this July, 
( and available for pre-order through NorthLight Publishers or Amazon), Artist's Sketchbook: Exercises and Techniques for Sketching on the Spot, features some of my nature journal pages on the cover and in the book as well. I'm thrilled to be in the company of some of the most wonderful sketchers on the planet. Click this link to see a complete list of sketching artists who have contributed to this wonderful new book.

From the publisher....Vast opportunities and great joy await you as you learn sketching “on the spot”—be it in your own backyard, amid the bustle of a busy market, on a hike or wherever you happen to find yourself.

Cathy Johnson leads you on this thrilling expedition as you explore ways to turn everyday sights and experiences into a cache of visual memories. She and other artists have opened their sketchbooks to share their favorite subjects, ranging from nature’s paraphernalia to aging buildings, crashing waves and beloved pets. You will travel the world through sketches and stories, through deserts and deep woods, cities and small towns. Along the way, you’ll pick up helpful tips and clever, on-location improvisations for making your sketching sessions pleasurable, safe and productive.

The Artist’s Sketchbook is a pure delight, full of passion and possibility, ideas and inspirations. You’ll learn ways to be prepared, simplify, still your inner critic, embrace the here and now, and in doing so, discover wonders you never thought to look for.

Chapters focus on sketching subjects close to home, on travels, in nature, in urban settings and from everyday life.

• 10+ artists share favorite sketches, tips and techniques.
• 15+ demos reveal on-the-spot sketches as they come together.
• Includes expert advice on getting the best results from a range of mediums, including graphite, ink, colored pencil, watercolor and gouache.

Nature Journaling Retreats

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Yesterday at Mercy by the Sea in Madison I lead a nature journaling retreat. It was an incredibly beautiful day and a wonderful group. We went way beyond just sketching and touched on the need for self-care and creative expression, the joys of being in nature, our place in the universe, the wisdom available to us though nature, and so much more. The next nature journaling retreat, The Wisdom of Trees, is Sat. June 18. Registration is open at this link.

Sketching Life, Death, Re-Birth

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Is been cool and drizzly, misty and rainy for almost a week now. Not a terribly cheerful start to May.  I've been spending a lot of time in the garden despite the dampness and a little less time sketching, especially since mist and rain make it difficult to take a sketchbook outside.

Today I concentrated on what was at my feet and that was some gorgeous Turkey Tail Fungus. I love this stuff. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm wondering if I can bring some inside and dry it or preserve it in some way. Its concentric bands of color and texture are indeed very reminiscent of a turkey's tail, thus the common name for it.

The juxtaposition in this spread of a dead tree limb decaying under the fungus and the fresh new crab apple blossoms is a perfect little microcosm of the entire Universe, life, death, decay, re-birth. I'm always amazed at the deep and profound truths that Nature simply scatters round us all the time.

White gel pen at the end helped to accentuate the light bands of color. The flowing wet in wet background was so fun to do and reminded me how versatile the Stillman & Birn Zeta mixed media paper really is.

The blue behind the blossoms is Winsor & Newton's special edition Sapphire Phthalo mixed with some Daler-Rowney ProWhite. The Sapphire Phthalo is such a beautiful jewel-like color it's a shame it's just a limited edition. I'm going to have to continue to snatch up tubes wherever I can find them.

I'm hoping for sunnier weather but it looks like I may have another several days to wait.  I just ordered a very intriguing watercolor sketchbook but I'm determined not to begin it until my Gazara Papel watercolor sketchbook is filled. Hoping that will happen in the not too distant future. If the sun would shine I'd be able to get out to the parks and really sink into some landscape work.

More About Why We Should Draw More

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Here's a terrific article that's related to the video I posted a day or so ago. (Click Here for the video) Very much worth the read. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article. I'm certain some of these will find their way into my sketchbooks and art journals....

“It’s only when we look with eyes of love that we see as the painter sees,” Henry Miller wrote in his forgotten 1968 gem To Paint Is to Love Again. 

What the sketcher sees

...where a common eye sees only a white cloud, the artist observes the exquisite gradations of light and shade, the loveliness of the mingled colours — red, purple, grey, golden, and white; the graceful roundings of form, the shadowy softness of the melted outline, the brightness without lustre, the transparency without faintness, and the beautiful mildness of the deep heaven that looks out among the snowy cloud with its soft blue eyes; — in fact, the enjoyment of the sketcher from the contemplation of nature is a thing which to another is almost incomprehensible.   ~ John  Ruskin 1819-1900

To draw today is to reclaim the dignity and private joy of seeing amid a culture obsessed with looking in public. ~ Maria Popova

Even though Ruskin wrote in the 19th century, the quote above is so intensely important right now in the age of Facebook, Instagram, and even this blog.  

Privacy is a thing of the past. Our private lives, preferences, choices, beliefs, buying habits, food choices, likes and dislikes are harvested by corporations like Google, Facebook, your cell phone company and pretty much every place you visit or shop on line. While I do love a great conspiracy theory, this isn't one, it's just a fact of life in the digital age.

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More curious however, is that we tend to give up our privacy in favor of sharing. Everything. Sometimes way too much. I just taught a class this morning. Many of the participants were brand new to sketching and had the usual uncertainty ( and howling inner critic monkey chattering away in their brains) and they were feeling that what they produced was not very "good".  It takes wisdom born of trusting the process and just making art to begin to see the vivacious beauty of the marks and splashes you make in your sketchbook. It takes wisdom and time to begin to value the unique things that you make. It takes wisdom, time, and  courage to accept what you do on its own terms without imposing someone else's standard on your creation.

So I encourage sketchers to either share their sketches with no one or only with someone they think will offer positive support. This is after all, personal art. Art for joy, personal enrichment and growth. Plus, no one needs nay-sayers hanging over their shoulder, spilling negative energy into their little corner of the universe. This by the way includes your own inner critic. Shush her and let you inner creative self breathe and play. 

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To share or not to share?  

The massive corporate spewing of our private lives and work has had some very negative effects.  When you put your stuff out there you run the risk of negative, jealous, bitter, petty, insensitive, comments about what you are doing. Cutting you down,  undermining any confidence you're starting to build in trusting your own inner creative flow. We are also our own worst enemies, in that we are generally conditioned to automatically compare our work to someone else's.  So what's the remedy?  After several years of uncontrolled sharing people have generally had enough and there are now many closed groups on Facebook, and even blogs that you need to join to view content. I like these. Not because I'm elitist but because I like a safe, supportive place to share my work. That's my recommendation, only share in an environment where you know your work will be honored for what it is: a creative expression from the heart. We're all on a journey through life. Creative self-expression is something that can make life a whole lot sweeter. The doing, the process, the making. It's all wonderful stuff.  Find others who know that too, and you'll grow in your art making by leaps and bounds. 

If you're looking for a safe closed sketching group on Facebook I recommend Artist's Journal Workshop  You have to click the little button that says "join" and a moderator will then enter you into the group as a member. Please read the group description in the right hand column and the Group Guidelines which are the first post you'll see. The group is very large, almost 20,000 members but incredibly congenial, supportive and creative.  You'll be inspired and learn so much, and have a safe haven to post your sketches. I hope to see some of you there! 

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.

Great Egret Studies and Bonus River Otter!

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Egrets are incredibly elegant birds.  Tall, and slender, with sinuous necks, and flashing, bright white plumage. They stalk along the pond edge, looking, listening, pausing, and then suddenly spearing their prey.

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They are far less shy than the Great Blue Herons that come to the pond and so I have far more sketches of them. I might get five minutes of time observing the heron before he will fly away, while  I could easily have fifteen or twenty minutes at a stretch to watch the egret, who will then only fly a short ways down the pond edge. 

As an aside I will say that I was thrilled to see a river otter last week also. They are purported to be very shy but I have never found them to be so. Even though I startled this one as I was walking in the woods he stayed in the area and since I was now standing very still near the pond edge he came swimming back quite close, looked at me and seemed perfectly content to have me watching as he swam and dove.  Every time I see them in the pond I marvel at how much bigger they are than the ones at the zoo. I've talked to the staff there that feeds the otters and they tell me that their otters are a normal weight and length. They certainly look healthy and happy as they swim and splash in their pool and come swishing down their water slide. But really the otters that come to our pond are almost twice s big as the ones at the zoo!  I think that perhaps they are more muscular being wild and having great lengths of rivers, streams and ponds to navigate which also provide plenty of food for them.

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Anyway back to the egrets. I see them, (one, but often a pair) almost everyday. Certainly in the morning, but then again in the early evening.  I also noticed that they fly off into the woods surrounding the pond which makes me wonder if the nest there, or perhaps just roost during the heat of midday.

They are enormous fun to sketch and I suspect that by the end of my days I'll have sketchbooks upon sketchbooks that are peppered with many, many drawings of them. 

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.