I live in Baltimore City, MD and for these prompts I'm using activated Derwent watercolor pencils and micron pens in a Moleskine watercolor album. I don't have watercolor paints yet...trying to get more use out of these watercolor pencils I have before I take the plunge into paints.

Day 1: The colors of Trumpet Vine, found in the Bolton Hill Neighborhood of Baltimore. Maybe not the most engaging design, but I enjoyed the exercise.

7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 1 - student project

Day 2: Textures of American pokeweed berries and wintergreen barberry leaves, both found in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. 7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 2 - student project

Day 3: Black and White Rose of Sharon, found in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.

7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 3 - student project

Day 4: Hand-lettered questions and observations. It's a rainy day, so I just observed the area outside my apartment building. Very cool exercise. I am not at all experienced with hand-lettering, and my handwriting is not great, but I still enjoyed the process.

7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 4 - student project

Day 5: Nature pattern inspired by candle Larkspur flowers and young Allegheny blackberries. The flowers arrived in my bouquet from my CSA share yesterday...they are local, from Carroll County, MD. The blackberries I observed during my trip to Delaware last week. In addition to watercolor pencils and micron pen, I added a touch of gouache. This was a fun exercise for me. I didn't put as much pressure on myself to draw realistically.

7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 5 - student project

Day 6: One meter challenge in Contee Parago pocket-park by my apartment. I found 3 plant specimens that were interesting to me, and when I looked them up on my PictureThis app, I discovered that they were all lilies.

7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 6 - student project

Day 7: Mini Map. I’m on vacation at The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park in Howard, PA. I completed this map to include some of the different plants I observed around the grounds. I spent all afternoon/evening identifying them and creating this map. Drawing the plants in a small, simplified, yet still recognizable form presented a unique drawing challenge. It was time well-spent though. Now I feel like I have a neat little souvenir. 7 Days of Nature Journaling - image 7 - student project

Overall, I am so glad that I completed this challenge. I had fun, learned a lot, and stretched myself. And most importantly, I got a little closer to nature.

Catherine Champion

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