Telling about it ...
Reflections: writing, drawing, sharing
drawing earths story marks and words flow through ages healing future heart
Be a documenter. Outline and write and draft and draw and assemble. Keep track of the world. The planet’s stories are all told in parts. Leave a record for the future, as our progenitors have done for us. Anna Pavord, Landskipping
For the last three decades I have commented and written, through books, blogs, papers and newsletters. And in the previous year or two, I have embarked on a watercolour journey, (with a daily practice target to draw, journal or sketch). Along with an attempt at capturing feelings when in nature, or reflecting on nature, through haiku.
A haiku focuses on the natural world and highlights in short verse a brief moment in time, through vivid images. Typically it conveys a sense of sudden enlightenment and can be read in one breath. Writing Landscape (In the Moment) Linda Cracknell.
Why?
I am starting to feel this is a regenerative act, a continuum between the past and the future, an act of reciprocating, a moral responsibility. The quotation above from Anna Pavord perfectly captures why I do this.
Biophilic Art: creative visual expression that intentionally incorporates or emulates the feelings and responses to nature’s elements, patterns, and processes to foster an innate human connection with nature.
Through my watercolour learning journey, I attempt to make my work and sketches a conscious act of biophilia. Work that integrates living or abstract elements and principles, that aims to satisfy my / our inherent need for contact with the natural world … while sensing and promoting mindful well-being and environmental consciousness. On the front page of my first watercolour sketchbook, I scribbled that great short and powerful poem from Mary Oliver:
Take Notice,
Be Amazed,
Tell About It.This then, is me telling about it.
Similarly, I am conscious of the shifting in my writing, to what may be considered as Biophilic Writing. An attempt to cultivate a deeper connection and kinship with the natural world through words
Biophilic Writing: creative literary expression that intentionally incorporates or emulates the feelings and responses to nature’s elements, patterns to foster an innate human connection with nature.
Can such an approach, through direct experience of nature observations & commentary or in surfacing past and present literature awaken and strengthen our innate relationship with nature?
In this sense, I see Regen Notes as an act of regenerative consciousness that:
Preserves Knowledge: sharing and capturing insights, observations, and understandings, strengthening links between the past and future.
Deepens Awareness: recording forces me to observe more carefully, think more deeply, and engage more fully. This is especially so in observing and sensing nature, weather patterns, clouds and feelings for watercolours.
Builds Cultural Memory: Regen Notes, along with many other brilliant regenerative substacks, books, papers and notes can become part of our collective human story, fostering resilience and continuity across generations.
Enables Conversation: Through a newsletter approach, rather than a website or paper, we can prompt and enable conversations, give a little time and space for reflection and perhaps, just perhaps, allow future generations to engage with our thoughts, discoveries, and perspectives.
As we do, with relish, with our progenitors.
This makes the act of recording not just beneficial but essential on many levels to how we can be responsible stewards of knowledge and experience across time.
A Selection of my words and images can be found here: Bluesky Art Biophilic Playbook Regenerative Paybook From Surviving to Thriving RESTORD 2030 Sustainability, Restorative to Regenerative FutuREstorative Working towards a new sustainability All available through my linktree.
Zoom Regenerative 71
… with Fiona Gray 18 March 2025. Hold the date, registration and details soon.