I’m Wanda. I drive a rural mail route outside Nelson, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, five mornings a week. By lunchtime I’m usually done, and I’m usually parked somewhere with a view of a fence line, a stream or a stand of tree ferns.
How this started
Six years ago I found a shoebox of my grandmother’s pressed ferns, each one taped to a card with a date and a place in her small handwriting. I tried to draw one at the kitchen table, did it badly, and wanted to try again the next day. I haven’t really stopped.
What I write about here
- Keeping a nature journal with a short lunch break and a small bag
- Drawing leaves, flowers, seed heads and ferns in colored pencil and watercolor
- Field notes: what to write beside a drawing so it means something later
- Cheap supplies that hold up in a damp van
- Honest reviews of online courses for botanical and nature drawing
What I am not
I’m not a botanist or an art teacher. I’m a hobbyist who draws a lot of weeds and writes down what worked. If I get a plant name wrong, please tell me.
You can write to me at [email protected].