June Is Bustin' Out All Over
And green is the theme - bugs, birds, and forests are featured in our activities this month!
Hi, friends!
May has been “one of those” months for me. While there were definite highlights, the lows felt almost defeating. It’s times like these that I lean hard into my nature journaling practice, my work, and Cricklewood. And it’s no coincidence that both my leisure and work projects involve nature — I have always felt better among the plants, waterways, and creatures of this world (urban, suburban, and rural). I want to share this with you through all the activities here. One of the highs has been brainstorming projects for Cricklewood. I’m so enthusiastic to see what you do with all of it as you develop your own practice!
Everything is green again in my neck of the woods so to celebrate I have a lot of fun activities scheduled for us this month. If you haven’t experienced the Wonder-Filled Wednesday livestreams yet, this is the month to join in as we hone our skills drawing and painting nature subjects (see the section, Coming This Month, below, for dates and links). The livestreams are open to everyone and beginner-friendly, and replays will be sent out the next day to paid supporters.
I also have a special project for paid supporters who receive the monthly Nature Journal With Me newsletter. We’re making a forest cake - squeeeee! (I am so excited.) This is a relatively new section of Cricklewood where we work on a more involved nature-inspired art project. It’s a soupçon of traditional nature journaling with a heaping cup of inspiration and flavored with our creativity.
Okay, I think I’ve overbaked this metaphor… (Ack! See what I did there? Stop me please… help!)
I’m bringing back the monthly nature journal prompt for all subscribers (paid supporters, you will still receive the weekly prompt with the livestream replay). You’ll find that in a section below. These are simple prompts to help you reap the benefits of being anywhere you can find a bit of nature. They are meant to be relaxing and refreshing — something I know I need these days!
Looking forward to spending some time with you tomorrow for Wonder-Filled Wednesday, 1:30pm ET (link below). Until then…
xoSusannah
Coming This Month
Wonder-Filled Wednesday livestream (everyone), 1:30pm ET
6/4 Painting The Rose Chafer Beetle Using Watercolor
Continuing from last week livestream (replay here), we’ll paint this beautiful beetle again — but this time in color! You didn’t have to attend last week’s livestream to enjoy this one.
6/11 Color Mixing And Matching: Greens
I’ll have a selection of foliage for us to use to learn how to mix the right colors to match our references.
6/18 Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)
Using what we’ve learned about painting iridescence and matching greens from the last two livestreams, we’ll tackle this beautiful and near-threatened bird from the cloud forests of Central America.
6/25 Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassinac)
Listed as among the “10 most gorgeous green birds in the Americas,” has striking plumage in shades of green, purple, grey, and brown. This swallow breeds primarily in western North America from central Alaska and western Canada south to the Mexican highlands, and winters mostly from Mexico south to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
6/27 UPDATED Nature Journal With Me (paid supporters)
We’re making a forest cake — using ink and watercolor instead of flour and eggs, but it will be just as delicious!
6/30 Tiny Owl Dispatch (paid supporters)
Monthly Prompt
Support
Cricklewood is a space where we can learn from nature and each other as we rewild. Because nature journaling is so beneficial to our well-being, I make a lot of the content available to all subscribers.
To be completely blunt, however, Cricklewood cannot exist without the support of its readers. Paid subscriptions fund all content creation and activities that happen here, and help support the studio.
If you find this content interesting, valuable, and want to support this project, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Are you getting a group of nature journalers together?
I’m so pleased to offer group subscriptions! Gather 5 or more in your group and take advantage of 15% off each seat in an annual subscription now and for the entire time your group chooses to stay paid subscribers.
Other ways to support my work
If a paid subscription isn’t for you, consider hiring me for illustration or purchase original art.
Or if you’d rather support my work through general patronage you can do that here, or buy art supplies for my studio here.
Sharing this newsletter, commenting on posts, and engaging with my posts on Notes (in the App) are all fine ways of supporting my work, and very much appreciated!
And finally, if you just can’t swing a subscription but want access to all the content, just drop me an email and ask me to comp you a paid subscription. I’m happy to do so, no explanations needed. Things happen to all of us, and I don’t want lack of funds to be the reason you can’t reap the benefits of nature journaling.