Most Wednesday afternoons I join my buds (Buds - Get it?) for a botany walk at various woods and wetlands in our county. We are on the lookout for native wildflowers, ferns, mosses, trees, and even the occasional liverwort. We walk, talk, and discover. Some take notes. Some take pictures. I have made it my practice to sketch and note. At first there were way more notes than sketches. But after 2 years of drawing on the trail, I can sketch quicker. We don't stay in one spot for very long unless it is a matter of counting stamens with a magnifying glass to determine species, so my sketches are in pen and done very quickly.
I found that these nature journaling pages, when added to a bowl of oatmeal with sliced apples, cinnamon, and colored pencils, make for a well balanced way to start the day!
The pages are done in "vignettes" like the one at the top of this post and the small one below. I couldn't resist drawing the tall fuzzy Cinnamon Fern fiddleheads growing in the Skunk Cabbage Patch. The little green "tongues" sticking out of the ground are Canada May Flowers. I don't believe that this form of Maianthemum canadense will have flowers.
We saw this little Mitrewort growing in the wetlands. It's characteristic two leaves were so tiny! Usually the leaves are a bit larger. When I put color to my notes I am reviewing what I saw that day. This helps me remember the information. I need all the help I can get!
More Botany Walk pages:
