🌿 Field Notes #001
Developing a sketchbook habit
I started this year with the half-intention to work more in this sketchbook, thinking that I would use it to record my weekly natural observations on a double page spread, combined with some reflections on what I’d managed to see that week. I figured I would let January be an experimentation period for this and see what came of it, because none of my intentions or resolutions or promises to myself have failed harder than when I start out of the gate with strict rules about them. I took inspiration for this practice (experimenting, letting January be a month to just figure things out) from a few different sources: Make January an In-Between Month, Tiny Experiments (I loved the premise of this book but think I would have gotten the same benefits if it were a long essay), Austin Kleon talking about how January is a hangover month, and finally another tidbit from Anna Brones:
I like the tradition of turning the year, marking the transition. But I don’t enjoy the expectations that come in the aftermath. January is too long, too grim for bold declarations.
From this experiment, I learned a few things:
I am definitely enjoying being back in my sketchbook-
But a two-page spread a week in my larger sketchbook is maybe a bit more than I can handle, speaking as someone who prefers to work smaller and more detailed.
I also think I want to expand these “observations” beyond just nature (though I imagine those will still be the bulk of what I’m drawing). I might incorporate some collage/photographs/pressings as well.
I’m still planning to work weekly in my sketchbook, sharing the things I’ve observed, but I will probably limit it to one page per week. My plan at the moment is to share a post every two weeks and still show you a double page spread, plus maybe a bit about what I saw/did/consumed (media-wise) that week. Another goal of mine this year is to consume more “high-quality” media and fewer 10-second videos that I immediately forget about, but it’s also not lost on me that what was the brainrot of my childhood (television) is now considered “high-quality” (though never a replacement for books!).
All that to say is that I’m sharing week 1 of 2026 with you now, and then will probably start up at weeks 5 and 6 (how are we already 6 weeks into the year?!) to avoid the stress of “catching up”, which is another thing that always guarantees goal failure for me. Letting myself just miss a few has done more for consistency than catching up ever did.
For now, I’m just sharing a bit of what I saw in Woodstock over New Year’s. Not drawn above is a juvenile bald eagle I saw flying overhead on New Year’s Day: technically my very first bird of 2026 (I was sure it was going to be a red-breasted nuthatch based on the quantity I’d seen in the days before).
New York has been COLD cold these past few weeks (not to mention still caked in frozen snow from the storm last weekend) so it has been harder for me to get myself outside. I did manage to get to Central Park the day before the snow came figuring the birds would be out preparing, so I do have some ideas for the next spread I share with you. If you’re reading from a place in midwinter at the moment, know that February 1st is Imbolc or the Celtic fire festival marking the beginning of spring, so we’re starting to turn the corner even if it’s doesn’t quite feel like it yet!