Connect with nature this spring!
Looking for a way to connect with nature this spring?
One way that we love to connect with nature is through nature journaling, the process of recording your observations about nature onto paper. Local Illustrator Jo Bone, shows us how to do this by making string nature circles. Check out the activity below for how to make your own!
How to make a string nature circle:
Draw a circle on a piece of paper with a compass or plate. Cut a piece of string long enough to make a decent-sized loop, grab something to draw with and go for a walk (Chingford Park, Bethunes Gully and the Dunedin Botanic Garden are perfect for this activity). If you’re short on time, or prefer to create at home, just take your string and a mobile phone/camera.
Look around and have a go at making a circle with the string on the ground in different places. Is there a composition that catches your interest? Settle down (a portable chair or stool is perfect if you have one) and draw what you see inside the circle. Feel free to stylise it, choosing certain elements that appeal the most. Or, take some photos of different string nature circles to capture on paper when you return home.
You can interpret this activity however you choose, creating an artwork from your circle or using it as an opportunity to document all the different things you can identify inside your circle and making notes. We would love to see your string nature circles – please take a photo of what you create and email them to openvue@northeastvalley.org. Or have a go at colouring in Jo’s nature circle from the bush loop in Chingford Park as part of the Kids’ Corner activity in the October Valley Voice!
Other ideas:
Create some wild art! Go for a walk and gather leaves, flower petals, sticks, stones etc. and
use them to create a nature artwork on the ground.
Draw in a moment! Take a piece of paper and something to draw with and go for a walk in
nature. Find somewhere to sit and quietly take in all you can see around you. Create a
picture – a souvenir of this moment to take home with you.
With many thanks to Jo Bone for this activity. Catch Jo at her website here: www.joboneillustration.com or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/joboneillustration.
