Tiny Signs of Spring
I began this page in late March when the first daffodils began to poke from the ground and a few green buds appeared on the lilacs. I thought I’d capture spring’s tiny, tentative first steps: woodcocks calling, the phoebe’s return, flowering red maple. I hope you’ve noticed these things too and can make time to get outside to watch the great unfolding of the new season.
Tips and Techniques-I find doing a composite page that evolves a little bit each week really helpful in early spring. It motivates me to get outside and see what’s happening and to celebrate small but steady progress. If you want to try it, pick things that interest you and build the page as you go. You don’t need a grand plan for the layout. Just keep adding sketches and make notes or use text to fill extra space until the page feels complete.
Drawn In 
I love this sampling of our earth’s awakening Jean! You have a way of capturing even the tiniest detail to remind us of the complexity of life. Happy Spring!
Thanks Maryclare! I love the details, especially the ones that we easily overlook for the showier things.
I love this sampling of our earth’s awakening Jean! You have a way of capturing even the tiniest detail to remind us of the complexity of life. Happy Spring!
I love your sampling pages Jean!! I think I’m going to try this instead of a perpetual journal… I don’t really have the patience for that and most journals don’t have enough pages for a whole year perpatual journaling.
If I look at your page, I notice that everything here is more advanced. I’ve spotted the first blue butterfly this year (Celastrina argiolus) and speckled wood, the magnolia and forsythia finished flowering. The fields here are yellow with all the dandelions and the crabapples in my garden are in full bloom. The is so much to see, you almost have to choose what to sketch on your page!
You absolutely have to choose Ilse. That’s always part of doing a composite page like this. There will be always be things that catch your interest, things that just don’t fit, and things that you just don’t get to. It’s always a snapshot.
Jean! You’ve captured bits of emerging Spring beautifully. Your pages are full of excitement. Not only a butterfly within your layout, but your illustrations literally gave me tummy butterflies! A great idea to capture fleeting elements of new life. A most Welcome Spring!
Thanks Barb– We had a big hatch out of those moths and woke to discover about 25 of them clinging to the back porch. They were gone within a day.
The true definition of fleeting!
Lovely, as usual. Happy spring!
Thank you!
I like this method of drawing a few items at a time and then adding more. Sometimes a whole page at once seems daunting , especially at the change of seasons.
I agree, Patty. I don’t always have time for a big subject, but doing smaller things keeps me looking and sketching. I like the way small things always add up to something bigger when put together.
Love these pages and the coming of spring. Curious what paper you use or what notebook these are in?
Hi Joanne- I am using a Handbook Journal Co sketchbook with 140lb watercolor paper.
Thanks