Welcome back! Today’s post is the latest in our series about Nature Journaling. When nature journaling, I would argue that two of the most important things are curiosity and creativity – and in our journals we can sometimes discover joy in their overlap.

I is for Imagine

When we are young, we often have vivid imaginations – and it forms a key part of how we play with others and engage and learn about the world around us. But as we grow older, there is often a shift towards more fact or argument driven engagement with others. But what if we let our curiosity run wild?

In nature journaling, many of us are drawn in by something in our environment – from the plants growing in our backyard to the birds visiting a local lake. As we notice more, we begin to see more of the connections, which inevitably leads to questions. And for many of us – questions need answers. Sometimes, we are able to find them simply by looking or observing further…an empty bird feeder may be the result of acrobatic squirrels in search of a meal. But sometimes, no matter how long we look, we may not get a clear answer. This is where imagination can step in.

Think About It…

In using our imagination when writing in our nature journals, we can explore two approaches – one with imagining the possible cause(s) of what we have observed and another with telling a story about what has occurred. Both are fun ways to engage in our nature journaling practice.

The first way our imagination might be used in our journal is brainstorming. Here we are trying to generate possible reasons or explanations for what we have observed. The longer I have journaled, the less I worry about what the truth might be and try to think of as many possibilities as I can. Some might be more likely than others, but they can all lead to noticing more, wondering more, and stretching my skills as an artist and naturalist.

The second way to play with imagination in our journals is through story telling. Stories can be realistic and grounded in what we think happened or they could be fantastical and use the world around us to inspire something more. Amy Tan’s book “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” does a fantastic job telling stories about the birds she encounters in this way, along with pictures from her own nature journal pages. This is very different from the storytelling approach of Beatrix Potter whose nature observations inspired tales featuring the creatures she encountered. Others have used poetry to engage imaginatively with the world around them, like the works of Robert Frost or Mary Oliver.

Challenge: Play Time

This week’s challenge is to let your imagination flow onto one (or more) of your journal pages. Tell a short story…explore possibilities…let your imagination flow and connect your observations in a new way. Do not worry about whether it is correct – that’s not the point. A nature journal is about the world through your senses – so have fun with it!

Until next time…
Happy Exploring!
Kirsten, the NW Naturalist