Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! This was unplanned, so I appreciate you taking some time to be with me on this livestream. I think the new software settings are going to work. The camera situation, however, I need to address next (grrrrr)!
Hi, friends!
Lack of sleep and pernicious worrying triggered what I call the “ickies” or when I’m feeling faux-sophisticated, “ennui.” It’s dread, fear, frustration, deer-in-headlights paralysis, sadness, and restlessness rolled into a neat little burrito of energy with no place to go. So Thursday I took a mental health day, spent some time with nature, and made some art not for work, not for my exhibit — nothing where the outcome is important. Just made something to self-soothe.
I drew a bird.
And I felt measurably better. Friday, I didn’t feel quite the same amount of heaviness, but still not quite myself so after finishing work for the day I drew another bird. This time a Red-shouldered Macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis).
Inspired by the vibrant colors of this bird, I decided to experiment with colored pencils and livestream part of the process. (Also I needed to solve the pixelation problem I’ve been having on our Wednesday livestream and test out the new software settings…)
I’m still on the fence about the colored pencils, although I definitely warmed up to them by the end of the livestream.
This is the beginning of my “ornitherapy” — not a real word, but I’m sure someone more clever than me has already coined the term — studying birds and drawing because it relaxes me. It’s nature, really, that calms my nervous system (and there is science behind this), but my entry into nature is studying the birds. Drawing them is just how I process the information. It could easily be writing, quilting, photography, interpretive dancing (think Swan Lake or The Firebird), etc. Expressing the experience is the important part, isn’t it? We own our experience when we work it out our own way.
How do you “enter” nature? Is it the birds or aquatic life or moths? Share in the comments (and don’t forget to put links to your own nature-inspired writing, visual art, interpretive dance, etc).
See you next week for Wonder-Filled Wednesday!
xoSusannah
P.S. to Paid Supporters: I plan to send out Nature Journal With Me No. 3 by the end of next week. Thank you for being patient! xo
P.P.S Birds of the World from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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