Green Sketching
A gentle, joyful practice to deepen your communion with nature and nourish your soul.
Pause, observe, sketch.
Receive.
When did you last really notice the living world around you?
Morning light. Pōhutukawa leaf-burst. Birdsong. Seed-pods.
Green Sketching is an invitation to pause and pay attention — to settle your busy mind and come into relationship with nature.
Not to capture it on your phone. To really see it.
What is Green Sketching?
Green Sketching is a simple practice that brings together nature, noticing and creativity.
Choose something in nature that catches your attention. Pause. Look closely. Put pencil to paper and sketch what you notice.
The sketch isn't the point. The noticing is.
Drawing invites you to slow down and look more closely — at the veins in a leaf, the shape of a flower, the colours within a stone.
To grow in intimacy with the Sacred Wild.
If you can doodle,
you can Green Sketch.
This practice is for everyone. You don't need to be an artist or have any drawing experience. And there is no such thing as a perfect Green Sketch.
There is nothing to master - other than perfectionism.
The invitation is to be curious. Have a go. Recover a playful way of being in the world.
At a Green Sketching workshop or gathering, you'll never be asked to show or share your drawings.
Your sketch is for you.
The art of Joy Spotting
At the heart of Green Sketching is Joy Spotting — letting nature catch your eye and delight you!
It is being receptive to beauty. To wonder. To awe.
Lingering long enough to notice nature around us, in all her variety.
Harakeke. Tūī. Golden flowers. Tiny shells.
The more you notice, the more there is to notice.
Joy Spotting trains your eye for appreciation.
For me, this practice is a reminder that there is goodness in the world.
It settles me, lifts my spirits, and leaves me with a sketchbook full of beautiful memories.
Your Green Sketching Guide
Kia ora, I’m Nicky.
I find deep joy in wild places — beaches and bush trails. Through my work as a soul companion, I have a passion for helping others reconnect with what brings them alive.
I discovered Green Sketching through Dr Ali Foxon’s book, The Green Sketching Handbook: A Field Guide for Joy Spotters. So much of her story resonated with me that I reached out to Ali, met with her online and trained with her as a Green Sketching guide.
I’ve always kept a sketchbook close, drawing and journalling. My paintings begin with encounters in nature too. So Green Sketching felt like a natural fit. Gentle, simple, joyful and creative — drawing on the deeply sustaining presence of the Sacred Wild.
There is now a growing community of Green Sketchers and guides around the world. As the Green Sketching Ambassador for Aotearoa New Zealand, it’s my privilege to share the practice here.
My hope is that people fall in love with Green Sketching and make it part of everyday life — a simple habit that sustains and nourishes them.
Come Green Sketching
A Green Sketching workshop is a chance to step away from the busyness of everyday life and spend a couple of hours slowing down, noticing and creating in the company of others.
I’ll gently guide you through the practice, with plenty of space to explore, be curious and find your own way into Green Sketching.
New workshops are offered regularly in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Join my Field Notes e-newsletter to learn about Green Sketching gatherings and other emerging offerings.
