“The Raft” and the Wonder of Drawing Close
“When you draw something, you get closer to it and know it better.”
Even before I put my colored pencils to paper, this statement resonated with me. It just made sense. It made so much sense, in fact, that I found myself buying notebooks and colored pencils and telling the kids we were going to “go outside and draw stuff.” As we thus stumbled into the world of nature journaling, I quickly realized that we had come upon a powerful study method that would indeed draw us closer to the wonders of God’s creation.
In order to draw something accurately, you must study it with incredible attention to detail. You must look, look again, and look yet again as you mine the subject for fascinating details that would easily be missed in a once over observation. The goal isn’t to end up with a super accurate or amazing work of art (though it is fun when that happens). The learning and the wonder is in the process of observing and putting pencil to paper, not in the quality of the final product.
The source of the quote that launched our nature journaling adventure is Jim LaMarche, my favorite illustrator in the whole wide world. In the foreword to The Raft, which he both authored and illustrated, he shares how memories from his own childhood were woven together in the creation of the story and how he, like the main character, Nicky, came to experience the power of drawing the natural world.
If all we had gotten out of The Raft was the nudge to nature journal that would have been enough of a gift, but The Raft itself has been a gift of beauty that we have enjoyed over and over again. The gentle prose wrapped around themes of grandparent/grandchild relationship, love of nature, and summer adventure creates a mood where you can almost feel the bob and sway of the raft as it floats along the river on a lazy summer day.
And the illustrations are exquisite. I cannot overstate my love for Jim LaMarche’s artwork. He is truly my favorite artist. And really, I felt that way even before he sent me, I mean my kids, a handwritten letter and a drawing pulled straight from his own sketch pad in response to a package of letters and artwork we had sent his way. Let me tell you, there has never been a mail day quite like that one in our house. There was a great deal of jumping around and squealing with delight. The kids were pretty excited about it, too.
Landon, Haddie, Palmer, Bridger and Soren in 2016 with Jim LaMarche’s sketch. Look how little they were!
I relive the excitement every time we read The Raft and am thankful for its influence every time we nature journal. Jim (I’m sure he is fine with me calling him Jim—he did send me, I mean my kids, a drawing, you know) was right when he said “When you draw something, you get closer to it and know it better.”
So let’s get outside and draw stuff!
If you are interested in giving nature journaling a try, check out this post for some tips to get you started.
