Let go of perfectionism. A sketchbook is a place to record your first response to a scene, to experiment and even to improve upon your plein air painting skills. Let go of creating a perfectly polished sketchbook and instead focus on representing your sensory responses. The sketchbook page should trigger memories of the location, which you can even choose to make a larger canvas painting out of at a later date.
Nature journal MUST HAVES: * used all mediums in kit * Flora/Fauna creature study (all class) * depiction of feet somewhere * land/water specific Flora * land specific Fauna * movement * river painting with river water * pressed leaves * burnt willow drawing * mud painting * relief/rock rubbings * ~ nature therapy ~ attainable "higher self" goal * goal to burn-last night : ~what habit do you want to let go of down the river? Let mother nature take your burden...
Research Questions 1. What is it's natural habitat? 2. What is it's hunting/eating patterns? 3. Is it nocturnal/ diurnal? 4. Is it predator or prey? 5. Other interesting facts!
"we are creatures of habit" LIKE A RIVER: like water, dripping and flowing into canyons, carving pathways into the landscape, just as our brain carves pathways (neural pathways in psychology) with repetitive thoughts.
what thoughts...patterns....do we want to leave downstream?
what flowing pathway do we want to create in our mind? picture these as little tributaries that you are creating to form positive pathways?