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 #9 (4 – 8 February): Trudging Down Muddy Paths
The squelch of mud underfoot, sparse grass wallowing in water, churned up vestiges of last autumn’s leaves. The footpaths are deep, the air is sodden, the only green on the trees is the coating of ivy on every trunk.
The drizzle surrounds me and I walk. Birds are silent in the rain. The traversal of space is slowed by the terrain, slopes become slides, and one is pleased for the grip afforded by the rocky substrate poking through the mud. The water in the air seems to muffle everything: sound, colour, the landscape. Underfoot, the water deepens everything: squelch, slick, slurp, suck. The treetops ahead are skeletons.
Cresting the hill, water runs in a channel downslope, cleaning the mud from the stones and creating a miniature stream. The soundscape returns in a trickle of descending water and a woodpigeon calling into the rain.
The Page
The Process
I couldn’t think of anything better to depict mud than mud itself! I gathered a small trowel of soil from the garden on a dry day and spread it out onto a plate to dry further. I kept it in the studio drying for 2 weeks. I don’t know if this is a helpful or necessary step, but I figured that the drier the soil, the lower the chance of fungi that may affect the paper.
After the soil seemed pretty dry and “dead” (I am sure it wasn’t dead at all!) I put it into a pestle and mortar and ground it down, removing and small stones or root debris I found. I then passed it through a mesh to remove any big particles I missed.
I tipped the powder onto a sheet of paper and poured on some gum arabic. Giving it a good mix livened it up again, and made it look just like the mud I wanted. I painted some out onto a test page, adding in some water to see whether the pigment could be lightened in tone with water like paint (it worked well!)
Finally, in my journal I painted the mud of the path using this soil mixture. When dry, I used a soft brush to remove any grains. I then painted the rest of the scene using Derwent Inktense.
The Video
You can watch the process of creating this mud pigment painting in this vlog. I also show some of the other painting techniques used to produce this work.
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.
