Nature has the amazing ability to speak to us
- Herb Broda: Nature Notebook
- December 21, 2018
- 2148
The brochure said, “Beginners welcome,” so I did it. I enrolled in a “fundamentals of drawing” course.
Understand that my drawing skills have been stalled at the stick-figure level since the second grade. However, it’s healthy to try something out of your comfort zone, and this seemed much safer than skydiving or wrestling alligators.
So off I went to the art center with my little bag of drawing pencils and a decades-old sketch pad. Each week I struggled as I tried to comprehend information that was totally new to me.
Something finally clicked the evening the instructor gave me a handout that described techniques for drawing trees. Since one of my goals was to draw in nature, the tree packet was perfect.
As I began clumsily drawing trees, something began to change. I noticed I was seeing patterns and shapes I previously hadn’t noticed. Lines and silhouettes began to pop from the landscape, and intricate, branching patterns and strong frameworks in the now leafless trees began to stand out.
Nature just appeared different to me. I had always looked at the massive oak in our front yard as a nice tree, but now I was seeing a stunning complexity and comforting prominence I had previously overlooked. Everything changed because I was no longer just “looking at” the tree. You could say I was now “beholding” the tree.
“Behold” is one of those great words that we don’t often use. If you are beholding something, you aren’t just passively staring. You are engaged; your interest is captured by the setting, or the person or the object. You are alert and present in the moment.
We “look” at 10,000 things a day, but we behold very few. Whether it’s nature, buildings or even the people around us, we often scurry through a day without really pausing to see what or who is there.
Nature has the amazing ability to speak to us if we just pause and behold. It can show us the massive and the frail, the delicate and the persistent. At another level, it can even bring into focus the comforting, intertwining rhythms of the mortal and the eternal.
Nope, you won’t be seeing any of my sketches in any art gallery. But you will see me outdoors, pausing a bit more often now to really pay attention to the details of the nature around me.
I hope you will join me this holiday season in doing some beholding. Let’s joyfully be present as the stark landscape blends with lights and wreaths, carols and steeples, and blessed friends and family.
Feed the birds
Here is a great family project for the holidays. Making a bird feeder personalizes nature in an active and engaging way. It also fosters a sense of stewardship and creates endless opportunities to see nature up close.
This great idea for a Christmas tree feeder appeared in Birds and Blooms magazine. All you need is one of those cone-like tomato cages that are now stored in your garage. The cone shape is the form for the tree. First, cover the wire cage with evergreen, holly, juniper, arborvitae or any seasonal foliage. Anything works. Just cover the cage.
Instead of ornaments, add pine cones smeared in peanut butter and then rolled in birdseed. You also can accent the decorations with fresh fruit slices or even some dried fruit. Popcorn and cranberries on a string create an edible garland to put on your tree. See if you can find some suet cakes shaped like a bell or star to put at the top of your “tree.”
My wife and I placed ours near the regular bird feeder. The “tree” seems to have earned a five-star rating in the squirrel community with the little dudes jockeying for position each morning.
The beauty of this project is you can keep it going for much of the winter season. Occasionally replenish the goodies that have been eaten by grateful visitors. Of course the feeder is only the beginning: The real fun comes in seeing how many different birds (and squirrels) come to visit.
Email Herb Broda at 4nature.notebook@gmail.com.