Using a Sketchbook to Capture Snippets of Nature

As Spring comes to a close!

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

~Lao Tzu

Apple Blossoms painted from life, 5x7in. Oil on linen/panel.

When Spring arrives, I am always in awe at how quickly, yet calmly new growth arrives. Nature moves at a quick pace, but yet feels in sync and unhurried. On my walks I have witnessed the transition of various blooms. Some lasting a short while and others hang on a little longer. When it comes to timing, nature seems to intuitively know how to keep pace in a balanced manner. I think we all could take a page from nature’s book, don’t you?

Gorgeous apple blossoms bloom abundantly over long stemmed branches!

Perpetual Journal:

Over the last few weeks I’ve witnessed some of my favorite blooms arrive in both my gardens and nature. From flowering quince, snowdrops, tulips to apple blossoms, wild phlox and lupins. If you pay attention, it is really joyful to notice how various forms of growth transition from one to another.

Tulips and Windflowers growing in my gardens

Tulips captured in my perpetual journal last year. The forget-me-nots were sketched in 2021.

I can never keep up with regards to capturing all spring’s beauty in my artistic practice. Working from life is so much more rewarding and informative, than working from photographs. I love the energy and details I observe when working from life. However, I’ve learned I must pick and choose what subjects I will capture each year. It’s just not possible to document all the beauty spring has to offer!

My visual record of a few of these gorgeous blooms have been taking place in both my Perpetual Journal and Botanical Sketchbooks. Sometimes I wish I could press nature’s pause button, so I could record a few more spring subjects!

It is always such a thrill to see these early blooms of Flowering Quince!! After a long winter their vivid red/orange hue is a delight to witness.

Flowering Quince captured in my perpetual journal this year. The Serviceberry entry above it was sketched in 2022.

Here is the full page spread in my Perpetual Journal just before I added color and text to the flowering quince entry.

Botanical Sketchbook

This year I decided to take a chunk of time to paint flowering quince in my Botanical Sketchbook. I worked on this entry over several sittings.

Full disclosure, I almost gave up on this piece after one of my cats jumped up on a desk I thought was a “safe” spot and brushed her tail over the whole section I had just spent two hours painting!! Oh my! Tail clean up quickly took place as well as paint removal on the background that had red/orange paint brushed into it. Luckily, I had prepped this page with six layers of shellac spray, which made it much easier to “lift” the paint off the page where necessary.

Willow and Mocha, the two little rascals who caused a bit of havoc in the making of this painting study! Poor little Mocha injured her eye earlier and is still recovering. I am happy to report her eye is healing well —-long recovery, over a month now.

Now that wasn’t the only catastrophe! During another session, my second cat jumped up suddenly on the table with my palette on it and caught green paint on the side of her paw. Another emergency cat clean up occurred again! Luckily, my painting was still intact.

Although I loved painting this subject, you can only imagine how relieved I was to finally complete this entry. lol I paint with oil paint, so it is a much more complicated clean up as compared to a water based medium.

Here are a few photos of my process while working on this piece. I worked both in and outdoors in natural light.

Set up of subject as I began working outside.

Moving along with a grouping of flowers—-working with oil paints.

Completed Oil Study with Color Palette used. On the opposite page, I will be recording what colors I used to mix each color swatch.

If you experienced spring in your area, I would love to hear what flowers you enjoyed this past season.

I’m excited to now say hello to Summer, because that means our beautiful wild roses will bloom abundantly early in the season. Happy Summer if you are now experiencing summer in your neck of the woods! Such a joyous and easy paced time of year.

Warmly,

Debbie xx

Future Post

One of my fav locations, Grant’s Lake, N.S. (Entry painted on location in my Landscape Sketchbook, Oil on paper)

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be sharing more about a larger painting I’ve been working on. Well, I’m happy to say despite all life interruptions I’ve had during the making of this piece, I’ve finally put the finishing touches on. I will soon share the finished piece in a future post!

At the moment, I’m reorganizing my plein air kit. I’m really looking forward to getting back out on location to gather more field work for future pieces. I’ve already been out a few times, taking photos and notes of inspirational subject matter. I’m excited about a few compositions I have in mind for future larger work. Can’t wait to complete a few studies both on location and in my studio!

I’ll keep you posted!

Inspiration

A beautiful video of an artist who found healing and inspiration from her gardens.

Nature Journaling

If you are interested in Nature Journaling, this is a wonderfully informatiive website as well.

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Divider Image by freepik