Thirty Day Nature Journaling Challenge!

To add to the fun for September I have created a thirty day nature journaling challenge!

This is meant to inspire people in the nature journal club and beyond to nature journal every day, and make the most out of the momentum created by the Wild Wonder nature journaling conference. You can download it as a pdf, print it, and put it on your wall. That way you can check off the prompts. Here is a pdf you can download: 30 Day Challenge Wild Wonder Nature Journaling

I will try to post something every day with tips and ideas for each prompt.

There are no dates on the prompts. This means if you really want to you can do them out of order. This just means you won’t be on the same day as everyone else though.

Why do a thirty day nature journaling challenge?

I know what you’re thinking. I often think the same thing. You are probably asking yourself “why would i want to do a thirty day nature journaling challenge?” It’s a valid question, you live a busy life, you already have challenges and responsibilities in your normal life. You might not want to turn your creative time into another challenge. You might feel like following prompts for your nature journaling art will limit your creativity. Well, to answer all your doubts here are five reasons why a 30 day nature journaling challenge can be awesome!

1.  First, the consistency of nature journaling every day is the single most powerful way to improve your learning and enjoyment. It might feel like a chore on some of the days when you have to squeeze it in. However, after a week you will start getting in a flow.
2. Next, you will end up nature journaling near home more or even in your house. This will be out of necessity but then you will realize how special your nearby nature is! You might learn something new about your houseplant or your cat!
3. Starting the challenge a week before the big nature journaling conference will get you warmed up. This means you will be better able to absorb all the great information and artistic tips. This will increase the value of the conference for you.
4. Equally important, and fun, starting with prompts will boost your creativity. It seems like having more options is good for creativity right? Wrong. Many artists through history have realized that prompts and limits actually stimulate their greatest creative works. Finding creative ways to launch yourself from these prompts is fun.
5. Finally, doing a thirty day challenge like this connects you with community. You can share

September: a big month for me!

September is almost here and it is going to be fun. As long as my visa extension goes through on Tuesday. If for some reason that doesn’t work I might have to somehow get to Colombia or Peru in 24 hours. If things go according to plan I will be spending all of September in Quito, the second highest capital city in the world. I’m going to be staying in a little room in a high rise apartment building but I’m going to be nature journaling every day. Sound like a paradox? Not necessarily.

I have three main objectives in September: Teach and participate to the fullest in the Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference. Do a collaboration with the Quito Vivarium and Herpetological Society on an educational book about snakes. Lastly, I will be doing a ton of work on the Nature Journal Show, producing videos, doing interviews, and planning collaborations. I will be doing daily summaries of what is happening during the nature journaling conference and I will be interviewing as many of the teachers and speakers from the conference as possible.

Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference

Here is the complete teacher schedule for Wild Wonder! I’m going to try to interview as many of the teachers as possible! Last year I also reviewed all of the art supplies mentioned by the teachers and recommended for the classes and created a simple shopping list that you could use to get ready for your classes. I might not be able to do that this year because it was a huge amount of work and I won’t be able to access most of the supplies in Ecuador to test and review them. However, I do have this exciting new video where I help you pick the best nature journaling supplies for you. It is easy to spend way too much money so I help you avoid common mistakes.

However, I will try to do daily recaps of what happened at the conference on The Nature Journal Show.

I’m also teaching a class at the conference for Nature Journaling Beginners.

You can learn more about the conference and sign up here: https://johnmuirlaws.com/wildwonder/

Still on the fence about the conference? Check out this video with John Muir Laws sharing how awesome it is.