I recently went on a monthlong trip. I was only taking an iPhone, and wanted to capture both the activities and emotion of the travel experience. I wanted a journal that would work for pencil, pen and water media. At my local bookstore, I was worried that some of my go to writing notebooks were not strong enough for the water media and ruggedness of the travel. I went back several times to make sure the book I purchased would be right. I worried that I was setting myself up to be disappointed by placing high expectations on a book! I eventually chose The Laws Sketchbook for Nature Journaling. During the trip I appreciated the thick paper, not only was it a pleasure to write on, but I could paint on the same page. The toned paper was an added bonus that encouraged me to practice drawing and shading some of my observations. The lay flat binding held up to repeated openings and worked well as a left-handed person. The rounded corners didn’t get caught on my backpack and still look nice. The true gem of the book was the 16-page nature journaling section in the back. About halfway through the trip, I realized I was writing more than painting or drawing. I read the section provided by JML. Even though I knew some of the ideas, I was able to absorb the concepts in a new way since I was seeing the world in a new way. For example, the section on “Invitations to Discovery” was directly responsible for several ideas of page layouts, including a cross section of the rainforest and an inventory of the mammals we saw. While traveling, I find it difficult to pull myself away from evening conversation to document, sketch, and journal during a trip but I prioritized it this time in part because of how nice this sketchbook is to use. I am proud of the way I incorporated art into my journal and feel a deeper connection to the experiences I had. I am confident in saying that the JML sketchbook increased my enjoyment of and documentation of the trip. When I returned, I looked up the book again online. I realized that you can use the cover like a canvas. Now that I have filled the inside, I am excited to try to encapsulate the trip on the outside of the sketchbook.
