'Full Day course of Nature Journalling' with Steve Pardue   *new course*

Have you wanted to create a nature journal but don’t know where to start or how to do it?

This full day workshop will provide you with all the skills and tools to create a beautiful concertina nature journal. We will begin the day by taking a short nature ramble in and around the gardens at Quirky Workshops - chatting to the hens and exploring the compost heap. We will follow this up with a guided drawing session in the Swallow Barn. Steve will be on hand to offer plenty of tips and tricks so you can develop your own style of drawing and looking at the world. You will spend the day filling in and personalising your nature journal giving you the confidence to go out in the world and capture the beauty of nature in your own way.

I will take you through the process I follow for creating my journals which are really an expression of the joy I feel when out and about in the woods or the river. I will be using my own journals of nature captured over the last 5 years and show how you can create a body of work by simply recording in your own way the things you see every day. I now look back on my earlier journals and can not only see how my artistic style has evolved and changed but more importantly I can look up the dates when I first saw sand martins arrive for the summer, or when the last swift left, or when the first chiff chaff … well chiff chaffed!

And it is so easy - no rules - no great artistic skill required - just observation and a daily habit of drawing. I will show you the materials I use and the techniques I employ. Weather permitting, we can spend some time outdoors looking at the nature around us and we can then come back indoors and draw our observations.

You will be provided with a set of 5 blank nature journals in an optional special leather pouch, plus a few fineliners and a copy of  'My Shortcut to Nature Journalling' guide as reference - all of which are yours to keep.

I will also have a variety of fountain pens and journals available to try and buy.  

10am to 4pm   

£85 inc. fresh coffee , home made biscuits & tasty home made lunch.
Materials: £10 with an optional special leather pouch (below cost price) at £15 

 Dates for this course - see the table below to book:

Saturday 23 August 2025  ...   new 'full day' workshop

Note: Typically this course runs with around 10-12 students.  Suitable for Beginners & intermediates.

Please bring: A simple set of watercolours and brush. Your £10 materials money for your journalling kit, plus £15 is you would like the optional leather pouch binder too - plus clothes suitable for exploring the Quirky gardens during the day.

About the Artist    I am an artist and designer, living and working in Northumberland. I combine my love of walking and nature with my art and fill my notebooks with poetic and immersive responses to nature and the world around me. Often my work includes words from music and literature … as well as my own words that spring from nature. I work mainly in fountain pen and watercolour.

My daytime job is delivering public art commissions and design for outdoor spaces through my design agency from my studio in Hexham.