My daughter and I are now starting to consistently do nature journaling. Keyword being "consistently". We have started this 2 years ago and we both struggle so much at the beginning. We still have challenges now but compared to when we started, we have gone a long way.
I have always talked that nature journaling helps enhance kids' drawing skills along with developing their awareness about the environment. Now my kid is a very observant child. That part, she gotnon the bag already. But she seemed to not love drawing or painting when we started. She always wants me to also do the drawing activity with her.
This was a challenge to me since I was not born with the gift of drawing or painting. I struggle when I see a blank paper waiting to be drawn on. I dread having to draw anything during my childhood. Then my daughter's wish to always draw with me made me think that I might as well study how to paint or even draw while we're at it.
We started with oil pastels, then we moved to color pencils, then water color. Now we are working on gouache. Which is now my and my daughter's favorite. It's a little bit like water color but it's not. It dries faster than water color but can be reactivated if you put too much gouache on the palette. For me, it's a lot more enjoyable to use than poster paint, warer color, or acrylic paint.
As I was looking at my artworks I can't help but smile! I can't believe I was able to make them. I know they're not gallery worthy yet but still, I can't believe that I habe it in me. Haha. Looking at them really makes my heart so happy.
I am teaching myself how to paint, not only because my daughter loves painting with me, but also because I am very much enjoying the process.
I followed a pagenin one of my socials and there I found a quote that John Muir Laws - an innovator of nature journaling - said:
Drawing is not a gift. It is a skill. You can learn to draw. You just have to put in the pencil miles.
This really inspired me. I know I'm not a good painter yet, but I'd like to show my child that as long as one has patience amd the will to learn it, they can achieve it. It also supports my belief about habits. As long as I makenit a habit that me and my daughter put in the time to practice drawing and painting, we will go the distance.
More importantly, she will go the distance. I'm just an old lady trying to catch up on as much learnings as I can while I still can. I am just on a mission to prove that age should not stop you from learning new things. Besides, the mental activity is good for the brain. Keeps it healthy and sharp. With all the things that are happening in our life, we should still give our old selves a chance to grow some more. Make room for new knowledge to come in.
