- Jeanne Beck
- Jul 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 27
I am keeping my focus in these posts on the natural world and creative expression. I hope once we complete our new home, we can restore the current property to a healthy, thriving eco-system - even thinking about that future is medicine for my spirit. I know I'm not alone - thousands and thousands of others are helping to make habitats for birds and pollinators and learning to be stewards to all living beings. May our numbers swell to millions.
This month's moon is called the Buck Moon because this time of year bucks grow their new sets of antlers in preparation for the mating season later in the Fall. We have many white-tailed deer on our property. If you want a quick read about bucks and antlers, here's an article on a government US site that explains everything you might want to know.
New Moon - 6.26.25
My previous journal is not complete but I am starting the new journal at the beginning of this lunar cycle rather than midway - hope beyond hope this is the month I will get all caught up! Much time and energy has gone into planning for the new house build, so I am accepting there's going to be less time for creating until it's done and we're moved in.
Still, I am delighted with how much looser and more spontaneous my sketches and samples are, maybe because I do have less time to fret over them. The threads of my writing, drawing and gardening practices are starting to weave together and I feel great about how they inform each other.
I'll continue to make quick practice pieces, get more comfortable and confident working outdoors, celebrate all the beautiful native plants that are flourishing on our property, and make plans for a fully native lawn, meadow and pollinator gardens around our new home.
Drawing from Nature
On my first trip outside to draw, I worked next to my perennial garden, appreciating the array of leaf and flower forms on the different plant varieties. I used several dilutions of ink, Artgraf, a water-mister and charcoal, desiring to keep my marks loose and expressive. Within minutes I got totally absorbed in what I was seeing, alternating between three sketchbooks of varying sizes, so if one was too wet to work on, I could quickly grab another. I had put everything in a tote bag and discovered when I was packing up that one of my ink containers had leaked all over it, even with the top on it.
Before I went outdoors to sketch again, I purchased a tool bag for carrying supplies. It has a flat bottom on the inside and multiple pockets inside and out so it stands up when open for easy access to art materials, and a shoulder strap to make it easier to carry. Bottles nestle in pockets so they don't tip over and leak. I will practice on our property until I feel comfortable with my supplies and how best to work away from home. I could try a blanket instead of stool but that would be one more item to carry. I'm learning by doing, which means adding new items and editing out ones I don't really need (like the large plastic container of powdered charcoal).
For this outing I used some Japanese shoji paper (very porous, doubt I will use it again) and some drawing paper (which worked well), a handmade long-handle horsetail brush, plus fat and slender bamboo brushes, which hold a lot of water and are great for ink washes.
In a pinch, I will take just sketchbooks and charcoal to visit a location away from our property and sketch. I still want to keep practicing here first and keep finding lots of inspiration right where I am .
Full Moon 7.10.25
I went outside to watch the beautiful orange moon rise one night in the southeast; it was stunning. Many fireflies were flashing their mating signals and it brought back happy childhood memories of chasing, catching and putting the little beetles in glass jars with holes punched in the top so I could watch their magical lights blinking on and off up close. I thought they were magical, like Tinker Bell in Peter Pan!
I've cut the large pieces I worked on outside into smaller 8 x 8" samples. I'm starting to add layers over them, using pan pastels, gesso, acrylic inks and paints. Enjoying the freedom to let them stay samples.
I feel calm and steady as I explore the mark-making ideas and tools. The above are efforts to try getting the feeling of landscape without a strong horizon line. I'm considering how far I can move into abstraction and still create something that references the landscape around me.
It's a natural tendency to want to make a leaf look like an actual leaf or carefully draw petals just as they look on a flower. That's not what attracts me in nature, it's the spirit, movement and emotion of the natural world I want to express.
Last Quarter 7.17.25
I'm glueing and assembling pages for this month's journal at the dining room table, incorporating my samples, photos and some writing from my journals. It feels so much more spacious to have a space dedicated just to working on sorting, arranging and gluing. Now I can use my studio space for sketching and painting and there's less risk of getting unwanted blobs or smears on book pages and covers.
With the abundance of rain this summer, everything is lush and growing and green. My experimental meadow (planted last year) filled in much more this year with what our local Cornell Cooperative Extension garden expert calls "early meadow stuff" - tickseed, white daisies and Black-eyed Susans. Of course, the Common Milkweed returned too. I love seeing it evolve - sadly I won't be here next year, but will create an even larger meadow next door over the next few years. Earlier in the season many Sweet Williams also bloomed here in a nice variety of colors. I felt fortunate to take a lovely, detailed photo of a giant swallowtail on one of the coneflowers in front of our house, too.
Dark Moon Wrap-Up 7.24.25
The construction progresses. Not very pretty yet, but it's happening! Today they are pouring cement into these frames for the foundation walls. We have to enlarge the window opening in the kitchen to meet code, so now we need to redesign the kitchen! Framing will start in early September.
My Fave Pieces from this Lunar Cycle
I did create some pieces that feel "complete" - they have the blend of looseness, movement and suggestions of landscape and plant life that are what I most want to express about the natural world.
Thank you for your interest and for taking the time to read - may there be many lovely days ahead for us all to enjoy.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings healthy.
May all beings be free.
Blessings and peace,
Jeanne
