What I have not drawn,

I have never really seen.

~Frederick Franck

Visual Journaling Workshops & Classes

• Nature Journaling
• Nature Sketching
• Visual Journaling
• Spiritual Journaling
• Bookbinding (Making a Hand-Made Art Journal)
• Writing Your Life's Stories

Reflections in Rock Time...
THE ART OF KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL

Explore the artistic, scientific, and reflective pursuit of keeping a nature journal. Nothing can connect you closer with your own true nature than recording and reflecting on the miraculous world around you. Observing closely the texture of clouds, the petals of a flower, the vibrant life force of the green world reveals to you insights you might never discover in the rush of daily life... Sit on a rock, sketch a tree, write a poem, smell the damp freshness of earth with all of your senses peaked.

Nature journaling brings a sense of wonder and deep, soulful appreciation into your daily life. It can be done in your own back yard, or out your window, as well as on travels away from home. Whether you are a beginner or advanced nature-journalist, Maria's workshops will cultivate your observing and recording skills. You can go as deep as you are drawn into the process, studying field sciences, art techniques, or just simply feast on the wonders of the natural world.

In workshops, we explore the outdoors equipped with journals and simple art materials, collecting small samples from nature. In the field we observe and record details, reflect, write musings or poetry, and sketch or paint the beauty surrounding us. No artistic talent is necessary... Maria teaches an easy, basic approach to capturing the essence of a subject in a journal. Entries can be as simple as tracing around a leaf or as elaborate as watercolor landscapes. Your journal will reconnect you with the mystery and magnificence of nature. This is a sensory path to the profound, an artful daily practice for your life through all of the seasons.

“Perhaps, after all, our best thoughts come when we are alone.  It is good to listen, not to voices, but to the wind blowing, to the brook running cool over polished stones, to bees drowsy with the weight of pollen.  If we attend to the music of the earth, we reach serenity.  And then, in some unexplained way, we share it with others.”

~Gladys Taber

Schedule a Workshop

Workshops can be designed for all ages, both in the classroom and out in the field. Nature journaling workshops or interpretive programs can be from a one-hour introductory session up to a week-long, in-depth wilderness retreat. Maria also tutors individuals interested in learning this art.

To schedule a workshop, contact maria@windword.net

Check the classes and workshops page to check on dates and locations for upcoming events.

See photos of Maria's work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/windwordwriter

Read some samples of her daily journal entries at LiveJournal.