Nature as a Salve for the Soul
Newsletter 69
Dear wonderful people, as I’m sitting here surrounded by gum trees I’m considering the importance of immersion in nature for calming the nervous system and general health and wellbeing. March has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me, not for any major reason - just general unease and overwhelm around the state of the world. I didn’t go to nearly as many Adelaide Fringe of Festival shows this year, but I couldn’t resist the draw of WOMADelaide (a world music festival) and a day at Writers Week.
After a very mild summer indeed, it was only natural that the heat of summer finally set in over the WOMAD weekend! I actually really loved the 38-40 degree days, taking a forced rest under the shade of the beautiful trees at Botanic Park and listening to gorgeous music from around the world. To me, WOMAD is like a travel ticket around the world. Experiencing the music and culture of artists from places I’ve never been is endlessly inspiring. Art (music included) highlights humanity and the good in the world, it’s very humbling. Favourite new artist - Aurus!
Nature Journaling
It’s interesting how quickly interactions with the natural world can calm a busy mind. One tangible habit that I’d like to continue to regularly foster is my nature journaling. The other day, I was feeling very overwhelmed with a million thoughts zooming around and crashing into each other in my mind. Just an hour sitting around outside painting flowers and writing in my nature journal had me completely fixed! See my post about it here.
March VLOG
Showing my pumpkins and some sketchbooks. 😊 All my left-handed drawing so far.
Art Classes
Quite fortuitously, something else that gives me an enormous amount of joy is teaching! My most recent class at Cleland Wildlife Park was so delightful that I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day! Painting animals outside whilst Potoroos jumped around our ankles was pretty special. Similarly, painting birds at The Cedars as wrens flit around in the garden is utterly delightful. Our next bird to paint the The Cedars is the Rainbow Lorikeet on the 14th of April, tea is included. Hope you can make it (book here).
I’m also running a nature journaling workshop for kids/families at The Cedars, check it out here.
This Saturday afternoon I’ll be teaching yet another bird painting class (this time at Between the Vines). Join me with a glass of wine, scrumptious cheese platter and a paintbrush as we paint our feathered friends. How-to-draw sheets and all materials included. Book here.
Homeschool art classes will be running again in Term 2. 10-11am at The Summit Community Centre. I’ll be running the classes next term next to my lovely friend and excellent art teacher
. With the two teachers, we will be able to split the class according to age so I encourage older students to come along if they like. Book in here.I’m teaching plenty of other classes coming up, check them out here. Also, if you’ve been to one of my classes recently, you can download my class notes here.
Home and Garden
We’re in! Kyle and I spent our first night in our own house last night. I feel very proud and excited, there’s still a lot to do (like finishing tiling the shower) but we’ll get there. 😊 The garden is really becoming a place of pure joy for me too. The other day, I was watering the pumpkin patch and saw something orange over the fence. Turns out that there is a whole other pumpkin growing that I didn’t even know about (so exciting)! 🐸 Another fun surprise was the cherry tomato bush that just appeared between the gum trees, I kept it well fed and watered and it’s going very well indeed.
Australian Animal A-Z Book
I'm not sure if you realised, but since the middle of last year I've been putting aside $5 from every A-Z Book sold through my Etsy store to the Bob Brown Foundation who are doing very important conservation work. The other day I made a donation of $250, which I'm pretty pleased with! Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy from me online this past half-a-year!
I'm going to continue to donate $5 from every book sold to this awesome cause, and it would be incredible if you could help me by buying a book! They're only $25 and are jam-packed with lots of interesting facts about Australian Animals (some more well known than others). The books are printed sustainably in Adelaide on recycled paper and have a calm matt feel. 😊
What a happy gift with heart! I'm going to do another donation at the end of August and would love to double the $250 donation... can you help? Check it out here.
I recently did a blog post about the first animal in the book - the Antechinus! Check it out here (I even did a fun voice-over so you can listen while you draw).
Free Calendar
As a little treat, I thought it might be nice to give you all a copy of my 2024 Anthropomorphic Calendar so you can keep organised for the rest of the year. Download it here.
Coming Up
Thanks again for joining me on my journey as a Illustrator. This month I’ll be busy working on a special children’s book about a fish as well as some new designs for Banksia Red. I’ll also be continuing my left-hand drawings and nature journaling as a treat.
I hope your April is filled with autumn leaves (if you happen to live on this side of the world), love and creativity.
With love and a dose of whimsy,
Zinia
Thanks for recommending the music. I am enjoying it.
Bronwyn