9/1/2023: Announcing a new series of Nature Journaling Workshops!
Join DCLT and The daVinci Pursuit for monthly nature journaling workshops through early 2024. Visit our Walks & Talks page to learn more and register.
Postponed: Now, Sunday, October 1st, 1-2pm – Ahoy Matey: Returning to a Rich Tradition (Town’s Wilbur Preserve, 79 Short Neck Drive, South Dennis (on Bass River).
In this workshop we will explore the natural world around us through a new and beautiful lens. Historically, sea captains have kept logs (just another form of a nature journal) noting weather conditions, stars and planets, animal life in and above the sea, human behavior, and other strange encounters on their long voyages. We will take a journey back into time and try our own nature journaling skills near the waters on the Cape. Bring your inner sea captain and join us with your journal as we explore the past.
Sunday, October 15th, 1-2pm – The Zen of Nature: Slowing Down (DCLT’s Fresh Pond South, parking at the cemetery, 226 Main Street, South Dennis).
Making space and time to slow down is so important to our own health and well-being. During this workshop we will learn ways to slow down through journaling while in nature. We will bath ourselves in nature and reflect on a given place over time. How was it formed? What lives there? What makes it special? Why do things look different in this place compared to others? We will explore how we are feeling throughout the experience and see what changes happen to us as a result of taking the time to slow down.
Sunday, November 12th, 1 – 2pm – Using the Written Word: Exploring Nature Through Writing and Poetry (Town’s Coles Pond at Crowes Pasture (a bit of a walk from parking area, but worth the views!).
In this workshop you will explore how to create word pictures in prose and poetry. We will create simple ideas about what we are seeing and attempt to refine the written words into lasting images that we can combine with our drawings and objects in our journals. We will learn the power of writing regularly as a means of capturing the essence of who we are in the world around us.
Sunday, December 10th, 1-2pm – Fall: A Time of Gathering and Collecting (DCLT’s Tobey West, 272 Route 6A, Dennis Village (careful parking!).
With fall comes the magic of change. As we walk through the woods, we will collect objects from nature that symbolize the change we are experiencing around us. We will learn to record visually and in words as well as press objects into the pages of our journal to discover during the coming winter.
Sunday, January 14th, 1-2pm – An Introduction to Drawing in Nature (Town’s Princess Beach Conservation Area, 200 Scargo Hill Road, Dennis Village).
Many people feel that their greatest regret was nit having learned to draw. In this workshop we will participate in exercises designed to get our minds and hands working together to represent objects we see in nature. We will practice blind and modified contour drawing, quick gesture sketching, diagrammatic drawing, and finished drawing.
Sunday, February 11th, 1-2pm – Seasonal Guideposts: Town’s The Plashes Conservation Area, 33 Plashes Drive, Dennis Port (prepare to walk, and ground could be wet in places).
Making your journal into a record of seasonal variations will be the theme of the final workshop in 2023. Within each of the seasonal periods there are different objects and events that are changing. Our ability to see these changes comes from the regular practice of nature journaling. We will explore how birds, animals, plants and trees, Weather, shy and landscapes, and seasonal celebrations affect nature and us. Come prepared to journey through a year on the Cape and prepare yourselves for the coming spring.