Forest meadow journal
This is the third post dedicated to making everyday things special by finding ‘Art in real life.’ I’ve started the rewarding experience of making a forest meadow journal to chronicle my experiences, beauty, and nature discoveries.
The old book cover and end papers are so incredible I didn’t want to ruin it, but it was time to take the risk… so I did. It was learning experience for sure, and I would’ve done a few key things differently, but over all it turned out pretty good.
I made the interior spine it like a traveler’s style journal with elastic to hold a traveler’s journal insert for writing and sections of paper for sketching and watercolor painting. Below you can see the amazing illustrated end paper of the old book, and the added cover of the dotted traveler’s journal. The title is made with a tag glued on and the plant illustrations around the edges were drawn in pencil, then pen, erased, and colored with colored pencils.
Takeaways from making the journal:
Risk doing it even if it means not doing it perfectly
Don’t wait for the perfect time to do the project that sparks enthusiasm
Even the outside cover of the book was a work of art, embossed with some illustrations that spark stories of outdoor adventures. I haven’t changed anything on it yet, and like the title of the book, so I won’t be changing that. I may eventually paint a watercolor of one of my forest paths to go in place of the image on the front.
My dear sister-in-love, Krista, sent me some verses and devotional that echoed exactly what I want my forest meadow nature diary to show and tell:
Job 12:7-10 NOG
“ask the animals, and they will teach you.
Ask the birds, and they will tell you.
Or speak with the earth, and it will teach you.
Even the fish will relate the story to you.
What creature doesn’t know that Yahweh’s hands made it?
The life of every living creature and the spirit
in every human body are in His hands.”
The Scripture was so inspiring that it sparked me to illuminate the Scripture as the first page of the writing portion of my journal with pencil, pen and colored pencils.
Bear sitings & wild turkeys
On three separate occasions this month, I saw a black bear. The first was while on a forest walk not far from our new home, when I heard a lot of rustling in the brush and trees. A bear was reaching for some berries. I was not prepared for a bear encounter and was surprised how fast this ‘ol body could run down the path to the road. I haven’t missed taking bear mace with me since.
One night I couldn’t sleep and went out on the patio to see the stars. A big lump in the meadow grass lumbered up and began to make a kind of grunt-snort sound. I’m not sure who was more startled, me or the bear, but I screeched and went in the house as fast as I could. With adrenaline pumping, I couldn’t sleep but went to the studio where I heard the grunt-snorting continue for quite awhile. We noticed bear scat close-by the next morning.
The third was a bear crossing the road about 100 feet in front of me. I didn’t get a photo of the bear, as I was stunned to see the bear, but I did photograph the tracks so I would learn what they look like. The upper left of the journal page below shows a sketch of the tracks I made from the photo.
Why did the turkeys cross the road?
The same day I saw the bear cross the road, on the way back, there were five turkeys crossing the road. Here are some photos I took below. I was fortunate enough to capture a photo of one spreading its wings as it strutted after the rest. When I was finished with my walk, I sketched the turkeys on the pages of folded watercolor paper from the photos on my phone below. In the sketch, I used the various photos as reference and sketched the turkeys as if they were all crossing at the same time. Then I painted it with watercolor paint from the comfort of our home, without having to worry about bears, wildcats, and wolves (Oh my!)
https://www.valeriesjodin.com/blog/art-in-real-life-3-forest-journal
What I learned from seeing the turkey spread its wings and zooming in on the photo was the feathers I found recently were turkey wing feathers and a tail feather. Then I painted those in the following page of the journal.
Takeaways from time spent in the forest
Take bear mace along and be aware of the signs/tracks,
but don’t let fear keep me from venturing out into nature.
The God who made all of nature and beauty is the same
God who walks with me.
Spending time in the forest and walking outdoors can bring
health, beauty, and joy.
Journaling forest experiences rekindles the memory and
helps me notice the wonders of nature I might overlook otherwise.
I am immensely thankful!
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