There has never been a better time to turn to the healing powers of nature. One of the many ways you can do this is through the practice of nature sketching. Nature sketching can provide many benefits to our lives. Carving out time for quiet contemplation, honing sustained concentration and being mindful about our surroundings benefits our physical health and our mental health. It strengthens our hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Using all parts of the brain, it balances our left and right sides of the brain regions.
Perhaps what may be at the top of the list of ‘benefits of nature sketching’ is the chance to deepen one’s observation skills. Can’t remember how to tell the difference between the delicious beach edible goose tongue and its toxic look-alike arrow grass? Sketching them forces us to notice the little differences between the plants that will help us remember in the future what we want to add to our beach salad and what we don’t. Furthermore, we find this is true regardless of how “good” our drawing is because it’s not the product we likely remember so much as the attention we paid to it in order to draw it, thus helping our brains really learn how to identify and remember the plants.
Click here to check out this video by Sea Wolf Adventures guest naturalist and artist Kathy Hocker to watch her process of nature sketching and who’s talented instruction we are excited to be featuring on our April 2021 Springtime Migration on Alaska’s Inside Passage adventure.
