Thursday, July 2, 2009

My New Nature Journal

It has been awhile since I posted here on my nature blog, shame on me for being too lazy to upload photos;-) Anyway, I have been busy creating and taking photos, but not everything I do fits the outline of my nature blog. At least I have been creating.

I have started a new nature journal to draw in. It will be drawing in a copy of Walden. No worries it is only a Barnes and Noble classic printed in 1995. It is a nice book. The paper is a nice weight and has dark print, which is good because I still would like the words to show through most of my drawings. The cover is a dark green cloth and as you can see the cover is very pretty. I won the book on Ebay for very little money. It is a brand new copy, never read because the pages creak when you open it. In fact, the book has been sealed since 1995 so it is in perfect condition. I was searching for a perfect book to do my drawings in and I think this is the perfect one.

Now you are going to ask, "Why Walden?" Well, it is because this is my favorite book. I have read it now going on 8 times and I love it every single reading. Because I have so many other copies of Walden; 1 for each member of the house (but they have not read it all the way through), and 3 copies for me. One copy is the version I read and write in. There are a lot of notes in it. Another copy is the small B&N red cloth covered classics that they put out a couple of years age and the last copy is this new one that I will be drawing in and also perhaps some writing, such as a poem or a comment and the names of the flora and fauna, etc. Okay, I admit I am a bit eccentric but hey, at least I am having fun;-)

Because the book's cover is very nice cloth I wanted to protect it from the elements so I wrapped the book in plastic and made a cloth book cover to keep the original clean. The pattern for the cloth cover seen here with the deer is simply the same as if I had used a paper bag. The ole way we used to cover our school books. Real simple. The material is a piece of vintage fabric I found at a thrift store.

I think it is perfect for the theme of the book. I also think that Thoreau would get a kick out of the cover and what I am doing with his book.

The left photo of the deer is the back of the book, the middle photo is the spine and the right photo is the front of the book. I loved this fabric when I saw it and got all they had, but there was not enough to make anything, except maybe a pillow and I do not like pillows on the sofa.
Now all I need to do is find some flower or something to draw and then more and more. I will post my drawings from time to time just to show you all how it is going. I am off to have some more fun. I hope you have a creative day as well!

5 comments:

  1. What a great project. I look forward to seeing your work in progress.

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  2. Looking forward to seeing how the book progresses!

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  3. This is so interesting. I am going to be following this . I am looking forward to learning from your experiments. Do you have a plan or overall concept or are you just going to draw any nature drawings in here. i would also like to do this one day. At last I can start looking for just the right book now.

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  4. Does nature drawing mean you will be drawing plein aire or does it just mean that only nature will fill the book. If you are open to drawing from photos I can send you a few cactus flowers you probably don't have where you live.

    You are not eccentric; you are a creative soul. One who takes the road divided! Lots more interesting than doing everything by what consider the norm as in a regular sketchbook. Good for you.
    Timaree

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  5. Rhonda, it looks like this will be a real treasure.

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