Nature journaling

Nature journaling offers an opportunity to slow down and bring our attention more fully to the world around us!

This can be fun and healing and gives us space to see things we may not have noticed before. It can help us to sit in Country, to feel more of its depth and complexity and to sense some of its seasonal rhythms. In this space we can re-connect, and find solace and energy amidst the stress of climate change.

Inspiration

Check out these two online workshop videos created by Australian author and illustrator Trace Balla!

You’ll find lots of inspiration and encouragement, plus useful practical tips. Make sure you check out Trace’s sketch of Yuin Country and Gulaga Mountain too!

duration: 21 mins

duration 20 mins

You can discover more about this wonderful artist and author here https://traceballa.com/

Local creative gleanings

Mark Ward shares his thoughts & pages from his sketch books…

Guerilla Bay artist and sculptor Mark Ward takes inspiration from the natural world around him, and the beach life on his doorstep. Visually curious and deeply observant, Mark draws on the discards and detritus of local life and the found objects he stumbles across.

My subject matter is descriptive

of where I live or travel – paintings and

assemblage sculptures can be read as visual

sketchbooks or diaries.

Transformed into assemblages of surprise and deconstructed whim, the materials Mark selects still carry resonances from their past life and previous identities.

Rich with texture and use, and re-assembled, Mark’s artworks playfully invite the viewer to look with fresh eyes. What’s often found is life, nature, and a liberating sense of humour, where human-made materials are re-imagined and re-invigorated. Sometimes with social or satirical bite! It is hard NOT to chuckle.

Working in nature is important to the artist’s practise too.

Working surrounded by nature, often outdoors, suits my pace and sensibility. Parrots and finches have sometimes explored my table of coloured wood blocks while I paint nearby.

My subject matter is descriptive of where I live or travel – paintings and assemblage sculptures can be read as visual sketchbooks or diaries. A collection of detritus and found material that is constantly added to over time is important to me. Through the process of selecting and transforming unlikely materials, I try to create works still potent with their previous identity and meaning. My intuitive response to objects is often a starting point for a new work. What follows is a slow and deliberate working process moving from one piece to another.
Mark Ward

Interview excerpt + scope out more here: The BAS Makers-and-Spaces

Mark generously allowed WOOEE to duck-dive headfirst into his recent sketch journals.

Filled with nature studies and bubbling to the brim with rich re-imaginings and life-enlarging ideas, here are the fertile gleanings from Mark’s artist diaries.

Take a peep and breathe in some creative essence!