10 Tips: Your Winter Nature Journal
Keeping your winter nature journal can be tough when you live where winters are long and harsh. We’re talking multiple feet of snow and temperatures below 0 F. Difficult but not impossible! I’m going to get you started with a look at 10 ways you can continue your Nature Journaling even in harsh weather!
Tip #1: Work on Improving Skills
- Practice sketching from photos, your own or online. If you use photos that you’ve found online, make sure you understand copyright laws before sharing your sketches!
- Explore.org is a great online resource full of live video camera feeds from around the world. It’s more like sketching in the field with animals moving rather than a stationary subject in a photo. Perfect for practicing your gesture sketching!
- Take a class! Winter is the perfect time to sign up for that drawing or painting class you’ve been wanting to take. Check local art centers or online sources.
- YouTube is a great resource for free tutorials on drawing and painting techniques. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for videos on general Nature Journaling topics as well as drawing and painting tips, with new videos uploaded every Friday.
Tip #2: Bird Feeders are a Natural For Nature Journaling in Winter
Granted, if it’s super cold outside there won’t be lots of birds but there are a few hardy souls that stick around even in the coldest weather.
A bird feeder or two outside your window will be a favorite hang-out for them! Get out your nature journal and sketch away while they have a snack!
Tip #3: Field Trips
Field trips are a go-to for winter journaling! Find a few local indoor spots where you can get out your sketchbooks in a heated environment.
- Aquariums
- Conservatories
- Natural History Museums
- Zoos with indoor exhibits — my local zoo has indoor exhibits for many of the animals, including big cats, reptiles, insects, nocturnal creatures, and an aquarium.
Watercolors are not an option when it’s really cold out! In winter, I travel light and carry only a graphite pencil and a permanent pen.
Tip #4: Local Nature Programs
Check the events calendars of your local public library, parks systems, and rescue organizations. Many offer programming with live animals in indoor settings in the winter! Even better, find a way to volunteer and get up close and personal with them!
Tip #5: Nature Journal in Winter Around the House!
There is truly nature all around us, all the time. We just take some ordinary things for granted!
- Produce from your kitchen — Yep, ALL sketching will improve your skill-set! So, draw that apple or that pepper before you eat it!
- Houseplants — if you don’t have any, get some! Added bonus: besides being great to work on your drawing skills, they help to clean the stale air in your home if you’re stuck inside during a long, cold winter!
- Grab a bouquet of cut-flowers from your local florist. Choose flowers with different shapes to ready your drawing skills for spring and summer!
- Pets — Live models ready and waiting for you! And they stay still enough for you to sketch them in different positions — well, some of them anyway!
Tip # 6: Field Guides
Most nature lovers have at least one field guide on their bookshelf! Practice sketching your favorite bird, plant, mammal, or tree! Learn their common markings and traits, so you’ll be ready to live-sketch them in better weather.
No field guides at home? Check your public library. They usually have several to choose from.
Tip # 7: Anatomy Books
Although most of us don’t have bird and mammal anatomy books hanging out on our bookshelves, you can find plenty of these at your local public library as well. You’ll be surprised at how much better your live sketches become when you understand how to draw the underlying bone and muscle structure of your chosen subject.
Learn to sketch how a bird’s wing folds and where the feathers lie.
Tip # 8: Taking a Trip to a Warmer Climate?
Are you heading out to visit relatives or perhaps you have a business trip scheduled in a warmer climate? (or at least slightly warmer) Don’t forget to pack your nature journaling kit and take advantage of those spare moments!
Tip # 9: Foraged Items in Your Winter Nature Journal
- Shells saved from your beach vacation
- Interesting sticks, rocks, and twigs saved from your last hike
- Found bird feathers
- Fallen leaves, acorns, and pinecones
All of these items can be sketched in the comfort of your warm home — in your pajamas!
Tip # 10: Practice Hand-Lettering Techniques
Learn and practice new hand-lettering techniques to enhance those journal pages. Once again, online resources abound!
Check out Pinterest and YouTube to find tutorials on every type of hand lettering and calligraphy that you can imagine!
Get my Hand-Lettering for Nature Journalers FREE pdf booklet from the Freebie Library to get started.
Bonus Tip #11: Play Around with Layouts in your Winter Journal
If you’re anything like me, you scroll through Instagram, Pinterest , or your favorite Facebook group, and oooh and ahhh over the amazing (and organized!) page layouts that some of your favorite nature journalers come up with. Study them, copy them, and layout a few pages in advance. Find the layout ideas that work for you.
I’m certain that there are many more ways to continue your nature journaling practice even in the harshest of winters, but these 11 tips are a great starting place! Can you think of any others? Share them in the comments!
