The Nature Creative Membership

 

The Nature Creative is my monthly nature journaling membership designed to help you connect to the nature around you. This video gives you an idea of what's included. The Creative year begins again in September with all new content for 2022-2023. 

Find all the details here.

Nature & Nurture Journaling Class

It's time to sign up for Nature & Nurture: a six week online class (do at your own pace) covering the lives of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Beatrix Potter. We'll talk about their lives, the landscapes they lived in, how that nature translated to their writings, and what observations we can make about our own lives in nature. As a bonus we will also explore teatime with these authors and try our hand at painting some food.

Landscape has a huge effect on one's life, even when we don't realize it. The three landscapes of these authors are unique and varied. 

 

Each of these authors lived during a different time in "tea history" and we'll explore what kinds of tea they drank, what they had to accompany that, and how we can "taste history" ourselves.

The houses these women lived in played another role in their lives and writings.

We'll talk about the moods of landscape and how those moods appeared in the books that were written.

Included will be plenty of watercolor tutorials so you can add to your sketchbook!

And there will be an optional live Zoom each Wednesday evening so you can join others in the class to discuss what we are learning.

If you have any questions, find me on Facebook or Instagram and send me a DM.

I'd love to have you join me! Find the sign-up info by clicking this link. 

FREE Journaling Winter Nature Journaling Course in January

 

I am so excited to offer you a free online nature journaling course this January called Journaling Winter!

You can access this course by signing up for my newsletter (see the left side-bar of this blog). All you need will come automatically to your email inbox (well, except for physical painting supplies)! You can then view the course whenever you want on your own schedule.

I created this course because I want to encourage everyone to get out and explore nature this winter as one of the biggest ways to beat the winter blues and find encouragement and joy in what can be a discouraging time of year. I am convinced that connecting with nature will reap benefits in each of our lives. 

I hope you find a way to make nature connection a part of your winter! If you take the course, let me know if you enjoyed it. 

End of August Beginning of September

 The last two weeks have been full, as usual. Look at this beautiful collection of spices! My neighbor who grew up in India has been teaching me some of her recipes and these were the spices (some of them) needed to make Biryani this past week. 

I took Michael's mom over to visit my mom for lunch this week. All this outdoor entertaining is wonderful and it was the perfect weather.

My mom's flowers are just stunning, and they went with the tea cozy!

David and Laura picked out pumpkins from the patch they helped Grandma plant. Earlier in the summer they spent quite a few days helping with garden work. 

The pumpkin patch grows in a big field. 

Of course we had to say hello to Job the donkey and his attentive care-giver.

Mom keeps busy taking care of her people and bringing them lots of joy and love and good food! 

I took care of myself this week by scheduling a kayak time to my secret point. I enjoyed studying, planning, reading, and painting, not to mention watching all the wildlife and doing some plain old thinking.

I spent some time creating flat lay pictures for my nature blog -- do you know about that? It's where I blog about nature! And soon I'll be sharing some of my favorite nature books!

It's dahlia season and on the weekends my sister orders lots to put up for sale. They are just too pretty!

Sometimes my morning walk is extra special. What a gift.

Since I last wrote we had a son turn 18! Congrats Drew! We decorated by finding a whole bunch of things one can legally do when one is 18 and hanging those ideas from the bunting. Finally Drew can buy spray paint and actually get a job without having to get a work permit.

I've worked at the flower shop quite a bit lately -- lots of weddings and extra orders. This was an anniversary bouquet made to look similar to the original wedding bouquet. Those types of orders are fun to fulfill.

One Sunday afternoon we met at the park to celebrate Drew and cousin John's birthdays. 

The cousins enjoyed seeing each other -- we all enjoyed being in nature!

One weekend we had a lot of social engagements and I made A LOT of pies. 

This one was rhubarb:

This was a peach tart:

Once in awhile I get a chance to paint the flowers at work.

My online nature journaling classes started this week! I am very excited about them -- can't wait to "meet" everyone I don't know in person. My mind is bursting with ideas for the next five weeks.

One last picture of flowers.

Our Labor Day fun plan was cancelled due to rain so we are now working on house organization and the to-do list. Wondering if our evening meal will be rained out too! 

School Begins

Another Monday of flower therapy.  It's always a challenge to take the flowers I've ordered ahead of time and find things to add to them at the wholesaler and keep it in budget! Never a dull moment.

I managed two five-mile walks with my neighbors this week. One walk was on a very beautiful foggy morning.

The reservoir looked like a July morning in Maine. 

I've been putting a lot of time and effort into creating my Intro to Nature Journaling mini course which will be sent out free to my newsletter subscribers within the next week! (If you want to subscribe, check out the form on the sidebar - be sure you are signing up for the newsletter and not just to follow the blog by email.) 

Creating the course involved a lot of videoing! 

Laura headed back to school on Thursday to begin fifth grade. She's excited to be back.

Thursday found me back at the flower shop to make 40 market bouquets and 16 bouquets/arrangements for a wedding.

The bride's color choice was stunning!

We hatched two monarch butterflies this week! Such excitement!

 Everyone wants a turn being the one to release the butterfly.

The garden is bringing so much joy right now, especially when we have magnificent skies to go with it!

Happy Monday! I hope you have a good week!

Artist in Residency

I am beginning my Artist in Residency program today! I'm excited to be spending a week at the beautiful home of TC Steele -- sharing about his life with others, his love for nature, and hopefully inspiring many adults and children to record their own nature observations for future generations.

The Saturday workshops are filled, but there are drop-in workshops beginning at 11am on Wednesday, May 15 and Friday, May 17. 

I'll look forward to sharing more about this adventure when it's over!

Special thanks to the Indiana Arts Commission for their grant which makes this all possible!

Indiana Arts Commission Grant

I am excited to announce that I have been chosen as a recipient of the Indiana Arts Commission's Arts in the Parks and Historic Sites Grant. This means I will be Artist in Residence this May at the T. C. Steele Historic Site in Nashville, IN and will be conducting two workshops entitled "Nature Journaling in the Footsteps of T. C. Steele," as well as painting and nature journaling on site for one week in May.

T. C. Steele became Indiana's most famous painter and built the House of the Singing Winds in Nashville, IN as a place to live and paint.

During the two nature journaling workshops we will learn about the significance of T. C. Steele's life and art and his particular love for nature and painting outdoors. We will hike on the property, visit his studio, and tour his home. Here are the workshop details:

Nature Journaling in the Footsteps of T. C. Steele Ages 8-12
Saturday, May 11, 10am-2pm
T. C. Steele Historic Site
Cost: Free
$25 art kit will be provided

Nature Journaling in the Footsteps of T. C. Steele Ages 13-Adult
Saturday, May 18, 10am-3pm
T. C. Steele Historic Site
Cost: $20
$25 art kit will be provided

At this time all slots for the adult class are taken but we are putting names on a waiting list. If you would like to have your name put down on the waiting list, please email me as soon as possible.

There are a few slots left for the children's workshop as well as a waiting list available. Please email me if you are interested.

 During the week that I will be in residence, I will be staying in the Artist in Residence cabin and spending the days painting around the site.

If you can't make it to one of the workshops, I'd love to have you stop by during the week I'm there! The T. C. Steele site is a beautiful place, so peaceful and full of nature's beauty.

Special thanks to the Indiana Arts Commission for sponsoring this grant and making these workshops  available to the public!

Nature Journal: The Rest of April

Our four weeks of spring nature journaling classes are over! It was a very interesting month since spring has come so late. I think we had snow for three of the Mondays in April? 

The Bloodroot captured my fancy this season. I'd never noticed it before. I love it's large white flower and its single leaf and the blood-red root which drips red juice.

 One week we practiced painting the forest (not so much green yet).

My nature journal pages:

Here's our classroom with all my posters on the wall and plant samples down the middle of the table.

I guess the Yellow Trout Lily could vie for first place in my spring flower affections. It's just stunning with its mottled green and brown leaves and bright yellow flower with red/orange stamens. I want to pretend God sends fairies out each night to paint the leaves in wet-on-wet technique with watercolor. :)

Here are more Bloodroots on a sunny day:

One day we stumbled upon these gorgeous red mushrooms which have several names. My two favorite names are Scarlet Elf Cup and Fairies' Baths. If the fairies come out at night to paint the trout lilies no doubt they stop here for their bath afterward.

Here are the mushrooms hugging the Dutchman's Breeches plant.

The kids were inspired by the mushrooms too....and the trout lily.

Here's how our walk looked on the last day of class -- such a huge change from the first week, and even a change from the third week!

Trilliums are everywhere -- I also love these with their distinct three leaves and three petals.

Mayapples cover the hillsides in great swathes and add quite a bit of green to the trail.

The kids all really liked the May Apples.

Some children chose to make a summary page for the month.

The Yellow Wood Poppies bloomed overnight.

The Large-Flowered Bellwort was another new-to-me flower.

We focused on leaf identification on our last day and matched the leaf shapes to the actual plants we found in the woods.

And look at this! The coveted Morel mushroom! This is from my friend's house, a few miles away. One of these years I intend to taste one of the special treats!!

And now art classes are over for the summer! My mom and I are planning day-long workshops for adults in June, July, and August and then I'll start teaching kids again in September. I'm already missing the woods.....(I need to go back).