As an artist, my practice is centred around observation, nature connection and wellbeing. I used to work as a climate change advisor but, over time, realised I could have greater impact as an artist, helping people see and engage with nature’s beauty. After all, we care about nature with our hearts, not our heads.
The minute you sketch something, no matter how wobbly your lines, you see it with fresh eyes. You form a little connection with it. You start to care.
The See Here Now exhibition is a wonderful and timely opportunity to share some of my narrative illustrations from my beginner’s guide, The Green Sketching Handbook: Relax, Unwind and Reconnect with Nature. For the show, I chose two pieces that are ‘before and after’ pairs : what you might see at first glance, without looking closely; and what you might notice when you look more closely (and put down your phone!).
I believe that there’s an urgent need to find affordable and accessible ways to reconnect with nature. Thankfully, repairing a personal relationship with the natural world needn’t be difficult. As soon as we start to notice and engage with the nature in our lives, we tend to adopt more pro-environmental behaviours.
But how can we notice nature if we’re glued to our screens? It’s a well-kept secret that one of the best ways to see something – really see it – is to try and sketch it. The minute you sketch something, no matter how wobbly your lines, you see it with fresh eyes. You form a little connection with it. You start to care.
The challenge is that most of us are convinced we can’t draw and haven’t time to learn. That’s why I decided to develop an accessible approach to nature sketching, which I’ve called green sketching. The aim of green sketching isn’t to create more artists, but happier, resilient nature lovers. The quality of your sketch is irrelevant – it’s the looking that matters and changes how you feel.
Green sketching is now a quiet art movement spreading around the world. I’m on a mission to save the world, one doodler at a time! Why not have a go? All you need to do is put down your phone, pick up a pencil and step outside. It’s a beautiful world out there. Go see for yourself!
