A Gift of Nature
Author, artist, and nature lover, Jan Rastall, recently published her first book: Living, Fully, The Colorado Trail. The paperback records her journey along the Colorado Trail in 2022 through paintings, short poems and trail treasures.
“I appreciate the divine designs I see in nature—the shapes, colors, and patterns of pinecones, flower petals, feathers, butterfly wings or the line of a distant ridge,” said Jan. Each of her daily entries includes something found, written and drawn. Reading her haiku-like poems, the reader feels the awe and reverence that nature inspires, while the sketches bring the physical landscape to life.
Jan has been sketching scenes from her trips and outdoor journeys for the past 45 years. The last element included in the book are trail treasures. “I refer to objects I find lying on a trail as a ‘trail treasure’. If it’s lying on a trail where someone is likely to trample right over it, I consider it a gift of nature, so I pick it up and preserve it. I also pick up micro-trash such as wrappers, caps, bandaids, etc. to discard at the next opportunity,” Jan explained. While the formula of her book is simple, the resulting compilation brings to life all the complexities of Colorado’s varying landscapes.
Create and preserve your own nature observations
What you need: Art supplies, curiosity about the natural world, willingness to go outdoors and discipline to make time for it.
Jan’s art supplies: Bic retractable, lightweight #2 pencil; a small eraser; three black ink pens in various thicknesses, 0.005, 0.2 and 0.4; a Windsor Newton compact watercolor set with twelve colors; two travel paintbrushes; and a sketchpad with 80 sheets of 41# paper. A second smaller notebook to press ‘trail treasures.’ Allow 24 hours to dry plants and flowers.
2–4 years: An adult can take a child to a location which offers minimal human impact on the environment. The adult can carry a journal to record where they took the child, what they saw, verbal expressions from the child upon observation of various natural objects; distance walked or cycled; time of day and date. Children can help collect and press trail treasures like leaves, wings, feathers and flowers. Back home, the adult and child could talk about their outing, what they saw, heard, touched, felt, and explored together.
5–12 years: Children should be accompanied by an adult. Provide the child with a sketchbook, graphite pencils, pens, and colored pencils. Go to various places outdoors to observe the sights, sounds, smells, and tactile qualities of the setting. Listen for birdsong, wind song, water song, notice unique smells, and touch tree trunks, rocks, and found objects. Encourage the child to draw something they see in their sketchbook and then write a few
words to describe their feelings about the space, or a detail they want to remember. Allow plenty of time. If the child gets restless, encourage them to stick with it. Explain that our highly stimulating society is not natural. Ask them to, or assist them with, recording the details of their visit. Later, discuss the outing, what they experienced, chose to draw and write and why.
12 years +: In addition to the creative exercises listed in the 5–12 year age range, ask children to record a logbook of trail conditions, interesting route details, unique features or geologic formations, weather and water sources.
ELEVATE THE ARTS: Purchase a book by emailing Jan at mtnairartllc@gmail.com. A portion of the proceeds of each book goes to the Colorado Trail Foundation (CTF). The CTF is the organization that maintains the trail and provides valuable information about the CT on their website, coloradotrail.org.
