In my nature journaling project for 2025, I am following the Japanese calendar of 72 microseasons (little ‘seasons’ of about 5 days each). I am painting a journal spread for each microseason I identify and writing a little description to accompany it. This year, I am using only art in this journal to convey the changes through the year, no dates and no words on the pages themselves. This is forcing a creative and responsive artistic method, new to my nature journaling practice so far.
Season #7 (25-29 January): Robins Posture and Pair
Exiting the darkest time of the year, robin behaviour becomes increasingly territorial as the daylength increases gather pace. The robins on my patch now battle for the food in my hand; sometimes singing and “growing tall” at an interloper takes precedence over actually feeding.
At my feet, robins on the path flutter their wings and bow to each other, ducking their heads and spreading their tails. Within a few weeks, robins are gathering beakfuls of last year’s brown leaves and flying off to the hedges.
No longer resolutely following me down the path all winter, seeking access to the seed in my pockets, the robins stay much more firmly in place. Robin territories now shrink to a patch of hedge which they defend vigorously. As winter tends to spring, it will become possible to identify specific pairs by their position on the path.
The Page
The Process
This page was an exploration of gold leaf, inspired by Jackie Morris’ work in “The Lost words. Both Robins were painted first using a combination of Derwent Inktense pencils and the Studio Pan Set. There are certain colours that are especially good for robin painting, you can find out more in my Derwent Inktense course, which includes a special tutorial on painting these enigmatic birds.
Once the paintings were complete and dry, the surrounding paper was painted in sections with EVA glue. The left page was gilded with loose leaf, 23-carat gold, and the right page with the equivalent in transfer leaf. Transfer gold leaf is stuck onto squares of paper, which detaches after the leaf has attached to a stronger glue.
The process was much easier with the transfer leaf, as you can see in the accompanying video below. There’s plenty of advice in there if you’d like to try your hand at embellishing pages with real or imitation gold leaf.
The Video
You can watch the gold leaf process and the practice pages, in this vlog.
Want to have a go yourself? The Nature Journaling Circle membership is a welcoming space for you to learn field sketching and other nature journaling skills with me. There’s a monthly live tutorial and a social session, plus access to all my pre-recorded video courses and a community of lovely nature journalers from around the world. If that’s something you might be interested in, consider joining us here.
