Wednesday, June 14

International Nature Journaling Week 2023

 International Nature Journaling Week this year was from the 1st to 7th of
 June.
This year the theme was - Sensory Safari. The exploration of nature focusing on one sense each day.

Day 1 - Colour
The view of the tea gardens and shola trees from the deck.
A textile and fiber artist at heart, so what could you expect.
A patchwork of greens which I see from my work station on the deck.

Day 2 - Texture
Bark of the Silver Oak tree.
Silver Oak trees are planted at intervals in a tea garden to provide shade for the tea bushes.
The leaves are dark green on top and a silvery pale green on the reverse and hence the tree gets its name.

Day 3 - Aroma
Angel's Trumpet or Brugmansia.
When it blooms especially the yellow one, the fragrance is intoxicating.
I used watercolor pencils for my illustrations.  I've had these colour pencils for the last 25 years. Still going string.
An incredible sight. At dusk the flowers release their fragrance as does the Raat ki Rani or Cestrum nocturnum.
The garden is a delightful place to be at night when these plants in bloom.
I have pink and white Angel's Trumpet growing in the garden but the yellow one has the strongest fragrance.

Day 4 - Song
There are so many birds in the garden.
It's been interesting learning to identify the different birds by their call. 
My Journaling at the end of four days.

Day 5 - Flavour
Summer in India is all about Mangoes.
This year we ate plenty of our favourite variety - Imam Pasand. We tasted Sugar Baby or Chakkra Kutty for the first time when a dear friend brought us some. Bite sized and sweet.
I made a Gujarati pickle - Chundo and a particularly sour Baganapalli was made into Mango fruit leather.
How many varieties of mango have you tasted and which one is your favourite?


Day 6 - Movement 

Where I live, the natural world is abuzz with activity be it night or day.
There's quite a bit of wildlife too.

Day 7 - Heart
Nature is slow and we too try to live a slow life which enables us to appreciate nature.
The changing seasons, the moon as it waxes and wanes. To appreciate the interconnectedness of everything in nature.  
 
The Sensory Safari I took.
Must continue to journal, probably use fabric and embroidery to do the Journaling.






2 comments:

Queeniepatch said...

What a beautiful journal of what I imagine to have been a most memorable week.
We have Angel's Trumpets in Japan, too, and they are impressive in size and fragrance.

Maya Sara Matthew said...

That's interesting, that you have the Angel's Trumpet in Japan as well.
What colour are they? There's one called the Purple petticoats Angel's Trumpet which is very pretty.

ShareThis