A glimpse into our nature journal class…

...and an invitation

We are currently in the middle of Nature Journaling: Botany Through Art. Our class meets Monday mornings at the Naples Botanical Garden for 3 hours as part of an 8-week series underwritten by a grant from Aroha Philanthropies.  This foundation supports creative expression in  the arts through community involvement in a variety of ways.  Our class series is part of their Vitality Arts  program – creative expression for adults 55 and over.  

Sue Slick, one of our talented participants, created the video below of our last class as we sketched and painted on the Performance Lawn.  She took video clips and photos, put them together and made something wonderful to share.

Our class wasn’t publicized because of the full waiting list, so you won’t find us on the Garden’s calendar.  What you will find there is the art show we’ll be having at the end of February!  You are invited to join our nature journalers and visit with them as you view their final art project and enjoy a tour through their nature journals.

Nature Journaling: Botany Through Art Show

10 am-12 pm ~ Saturday, February 29, 2020 

(Included with regular Garden admission)

Kapnick Hall Terrace, Naples Botanical Garden

4820 Bayshore Drive, Naples, FL 34112

We range from beginners to practicing artists, with varied backgrounds that shape our connections to nature and art.  What you will see is the unique story each artist tells through the skills they’ve learned.  None of us need to have the skills of professional artists – our nature journals reflect a very personal journey and our learning process.

This is the important take-away: this connection to place, our creative insights, even the missteps.  These are all part of the process.  We hope we inspire others to make their own personal connections to the beauty of nature found throughout the gardens inside.  There is a new adventure open to us all, no matter our age or limitations.  This is it.  Nature. A page, a pen, a brush.  And you.  

Last session: preparing materials
for plein air sketching.

Last session: capturing a landscape!

Overlooking the lake
in the Florida Garden.

Above and Below

What a wonderful world!

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light."

     ~ Theodore Roethke,
 American poet

 This sketchbook entry was inspired by a recent writing prompt in a class I’m facilitating.   The class series is at the Naples Botanical Garden - Botany through Art: Nature Journaling with Watercolor Pencils, and the idea was created by the Garden’s co-facilitator.  

The prompt was: “If you were one inch high, where would you live in the Garden and what would you do?”

It didn’t take long for me to choose the Water Garden.  I’m always fascinated with the hidden worlds of nature – what lies beneath water, leaves and rocks, the micro-level bits of life too small to see, the colors of light our eye can’t process.    My attempt was to show the three worlds that M.C. Escher so eloquently captured – the world above the water, the surface, and what lies below. 

It’s a wonderful art and writing prompt that channels us into thinking differently.

Every part of the water lily connects to these three worlds.  It’s an aquatic plant floating on the water’s surface that is connected to the world of water and the world of sky.  The stems below the water are the plant’s support, its lifeline and anchor to the earth below.  The bloom and lily pads rest on top of the water’s surface, reaching into the world above.  

What other life surrounds this water lily?  How is it experienced by small insects, reptiles, fish, and (maybe even) birds?  What universe exists inside its sphere?  These are the wonderments that lead me to explore and learn – all set into motion by a simple question.

Media
Aquabee sketchbook, 6x9”

.7 mm mechanical pencil
Mondeluz watercolor pencils

Derwent Inktense water soluble pencils

Niji waterbrush, Medium

 

Catching up…

Time has been slipping by so quickly – which is what happens when you are busy!  In Florida, our busy season reflects an increase in population when our winter visitors flood the city and beaches.  So I’ve been busy on several other fronts, which leaves me little time for sketching and posting.  So…maybe I can catch up here!  Here’s an update if you’re interested.

Butterflies, gardens and nature journals

In November I was invited to speak at the 14^th Annual SW Florida Butterfly Conference held at the EdisonFord Estate in Fort Myers, Florida.  I shared some inspiring journal pages from various artists on gardening for butterflies, with observations on caterpillars and nectaring butterflies.  I also included some images of early and contemporary naturalists as well as butterflies interpreted through an artistic lens.  I left feeling that participants were inspired to start their own nature journals, perhaps documenting their own butterfly gardens or just capturing images from their travels.  I was inspired in turn by the warm response and friendly comments, and learned quite a bit about butterflies!

Watercolor Pencil Workshop: Botany Through Art

Through November and December I had the opportunity to teach a workshop on watercolor pencils via nature journaling at the fabulous NaplesBotanical Garden.  We had a wonderful group of participants, each one adding a unique viewpoint to experience.  I love the mix of perspectives: a college science teacher, a pulmonary physician, artists whose specialties are acrylic and watercolors, a professional writer, and more.  Each of us sees the world in a slightly different way, and our journal pages are shaped by our personalities as well as our life experiences.  Each week was a joy.

Something different! 

I was invited to paint a ceramic piece for the annual Empty Bowls Silent Auction held in January.  For every dollar that they raise, the Harry Chapin Food Bank turns it into $6 worth of food for the local food banks in Collier County.  Painting on clay is a very different and challenging experience!  This is the third year I’ve done this, and each time I’m delighted with the variety and creativity of the ceramic pieces offered.

A twisted bald cypress tree at the edge of a cypress dome.

Back to the Fakahatchee

Our sketch group met for one more time in the Fakahatchee in January, choosing the same location as last November.  Last fall Ipainted a view of the Lake Gloria extension, edged by a cypress dome on one side.  This time I chose a lone cypress tree that caught my eye.  All the trees around were straight and tall, but this particular tree had such an interesting twist to it.  The morning sun caught each ridge of the delineated trunk.  What made this tree grow so differently?  Why the twist?  It seemed a striking testament to the will to survive and thrive, each curve and twist reflecting some event in its growth cycle.  Sort of like the scars, gray hairs and wrinkles we accumulate as we move through the events of our lives.  I could relate to this tree!

Environmental Art and the Food Forest

Later in January I was invited I was invited to share my sketch journals and give an introduction to watercolor pencils at a class at Florida Gulf Coast University.  After a slide show and short discussion we adjourned to the Food Forest to sketch.  This is an amazing place, and I cannot possibly tell you all about it here.  Look for more details in a future post.  I was so impressed by the groups of students in the class as well as the students who created and maintain the garden.  Let me say that if you are interested in gardening and what young people are doing with it, you need to read more or better yet, arrange a visit.  You can visit their webpage here, see the listing on the FGCU site here, and finally, check out their Facebook page for the latest news.  I appreciate Professor Mary Voytek for arranging this wonderful opportunity, and for encouraging and inspiring her class of artists and environmental studies students to explore their natural surroundings through art. 

Also in January…

I had an opportunity to share my sketchbooks and talk about nature journaling at the Family 4-H Day event, Lehigh Acres.

I presented a Nature Journal Workshop for the FNPS Coccoloba Chapter at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.  I met a group of friendly and native-plant knowledgeable folks who did a great job with just a few hours of introduction to a new media. I can only visualize how far they’ve taken their new skills and where they will take them!

A gopher tortoise emerging from his burrow.

And in February…

A group of us went to TheNaples Preserve to sketch.  I had a chance to meet and sketch with an online friend, and we ended up taking part in a promotional film clip for the Preserve.  The Preserve is an amazing place, a little patch of scrub and pines right smack in the middle of the city.  If you live in or visit Naples, you should visit this rapidly disappearing habitat. 

And now for March…

I started another Watercolor Pencil Workshop at The Naples Botanical Garden in March, which is ongoing through April.  We have another great group of artists of all ranges and backgrounds, and I’m enjoying this class as well!  There are old friends and new, and the Garden is at it’s flowering peak.  One of our challenges is that there are too many subjects to sketch!

Leaf demonstration in watercolor pencils at the Enabling Garden..

At some point I hope to get back to sketching more regularly.  I get so much joy from teaching and sharing what I’ve learned, though.  I just need a few more hours in each day…

Thanks for stopping in to catch up!

The above sketches are done with:
6 x 9 inch Aquabee Super Deluxe sketch pad
Various watercolor pencils: Faber Castell Aquarelle and Albrecht Durer, Derwent Inktense
Mechanical pencil
Micron Pigma 01 black ink pen

Click on any image to view larger.