Nature Journaling Without Leaving Home

Nature journaling is on my mind now that summer is almost here! We had a nice, warm spring, but very wet, so I haven’t been able to get out to my favorite parks and hiking trails as much as I would have liked. I had big plans this week. My trails were all mapped out, my field bag ready to go. Then, mosquitoes. Yep, I slept with the window open the other night. It rained. Mosquitoes decided to feast on my feet! The bottoms of my feet! So now I’ve had to get imaginative and find things to nature journal without leaving home.

A New Plan for Nature Journaling This Week

Since I can’t comfortably hike until these bites heal, I’m dropping back to Plan B — nature journaling at home. While it’s nice getting out and about, why should staying home to work in my journal be any less an exciting adventure? Let’s take a look at what you might find to journal about during a week at home:

• My vegetable garden
• Bees on the flowers
• Birds hopping around the yard
• Plenty of squirrels to observe
• The neighbor’s cat prowling through the yard
• That interesting weed growing next to the fence
• One of my many houseplants
• The dog taking a snooze in the sun
• Pill bugs under a rock
• Cloud formations 

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So many ideas come to mind as I sit on the couch thinking and planning. I’m sure when I actually get outside, something else interesting will catch my eye. 

General Drawing Practice: Without Leaving Home

Something else I can do this week while I’m sidelined; drawing practice! I can go back to the very basics and do a few value studies or shading exercises to keep my skills sharp.

This forced downtime is also a good time to get out a few books or comb the internet for anatomy to sketch. I’m really interested in birds, so I tend to draw them frequently. Drawings can be more accurate, if you understand the bone and muscle structure hiding under the feathers, so sketching the anatomy of a bird is a great way to spend some time this week.

As a matter of fact, time spent studying the anatomy of many of the common things we sketch in our journals is never a waste of time! Knowing not only the anatomy of birds and mammals common to your area, but also understanding plant structure will help you to ‘see’ your subjects more accurately and make deeper connections.

Live Camera Feeds: Africa in Your Nature Journal!

Practice your gesture sketching in your jammies! All you need is your sketching materials, your computer, and an internet connection. You can watch animals on live camera feeds from around the world! How cool is that? 

Always wanted to go on an African safari, but don’t have the money (or the time)? Navigate over to AfriCam ( www.africam.com ) for a real-time glimpse of the fauna of Africa and sketch to your heart’s content. Or how about a scuba diving adventure? You can’t sketch in real life while you’re diving, but you can capture live sea-life by using Live Feeds! Try ReefCam (www.reefcamtv.com ) or BreatheBonaire, ( www.breathebonaire.com )

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Find bees, birds, farm animals, and almost anything else you can think of at Explore ( www.explore.org ) and EarthCam. ( www.earthcam.com )

All of this drawing practice is a way to nature journal without leaving home. It’s not often that I have mosquito bites all over my feet but there are rainy days, sick days and days I just don’t wanna put pants on,… don’t judge me, you know you’ve had some “no pants kinda days” ha! With all these options and ideas at your fingertips, there’s no excuse for times when you can’t get out of your own house and garden!