I’ve recently started using phenology wheels to make small daily observations and watercolor paintings. Today I'm sharing how to make your own wheel, along with some of the history and significance behind them. I love the practice of pulling out my watercolor paints for a few minutes each evening to capture what I noticed that day.

There’s lots of talk about nature journaling being accessible— you can do it wherever, whenever, whoever you are— but in actual practice, it can be difficult to figure out how to make it accessible for chronic pain, illness, and other disabilities. If you’ve struggled to make it work for you, know that you aren’t alone.

Today I’m going to take you through the process of making the first painting in the series, titled Intersections of Land and Sea.

Recently I’ve found myself enjoying the process of making art more than I have in a while, and when I sat down to think about why that was, it occurred to me that slowing down had a big role in the renewed joy I was feeling when creating.

What do birds have to do with landscape? We may think of birds as creatures of the air, but their connections to the landscape are abundant. From interacting with and influencing their habitat through nesting, migration, and predation to how their physical presence becomes a part of the landscape we see.