Creative Ways to Connect With Your Garden in the New Year

Alex Drewry--Class of 2025 • January 20, 2026

Mindful art-making snacks for busy lives

For many of us, life moves fast. Between work, caregiving, weather, and energy levels, spending long stretches digging in the dirt isn’t always  realistic. Yet the desire to stay connected to our gardens—to plants, seasons, and the more-than-human world—remains.

This is where mindful art-making snacks come in: small, accessible creative practices that don’t require much time, space, or preparation. These quick activities create moments of spaciousness—ways to be with your garden rather than work on it.

Whether you garden in containers, tend houseplants, or simply notice what grows along your daily walks, these practices invite connection, curiosity, and care.

This blog post is inspired by artists and educators working at the intersection of nature, mindfulness, and creative practice.

Shadow Tracing: Drawing With Light and Time

On a bright sunny day—or even during the few luminous hours of winter—shadows offer endlessly changing images of the natural world. All you need is paper, a pencil, and light.

As you begin to notice shadows, you’ll discover silhouettes everywhere: leaves against the ground, stems on a wall, branches stretched across a path. Shadows are always in motion, making this practice an exploration of impermanence, presence, and composition.

This activity can also be done indoors—perfect for container gardeners, houseplant lovers, or cold-weather avoiders. Experiment with lamps, flashlights, or even candles to create dramatic effects.

How to begin:

● Gather your supplies in a sunny spot with visible plant shadows—on the ground, pavement, or a nearby wall.
● Place your paper beneath the shadow and rotate it until the placement feels right. Artists often call this moment of choosing a study in composition.
● Quickly trace the outline of the shadow before it shifts. Notice both positive shapes (the shadow itself) and negative shapes (the space around it).
● (Optional) Design and adorn your drawing. Add color, pattern, collage, or texture to the positive and negative spaces. There’s no wrong way to continue.

Flower Pressing: Preserving a Moment in Bloom

The first time you grow a flower that truly stops you—dahlias were that flower for me—it can feel meaningful to preserve it.

Flower pressing is a slow, simple way to honor a bloom and extend your connection to the growing season.

Classic slow method:

● Start with fresh, dry flowers. Gently pat off any dew or moisture.
● Layer flowers between parchment or blotting paper, leaving space between blooms.
● Sandwich the layers between heavy books or under a weighted stack.
● Let dry for 2–4 weeks in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Change the paper every few days—especially during the first week—to prevent browning or mold.

Pro tips:

● For thicker flowers (like roses or dahlias), gently deconstruct the bloom for better results.
● If patience is in short supply, quicker methods—such as pressing with a warm iron—can also work.

Pressed flowers can later become collage material, journal elements, or keepsakes tucked into winter notebooks.

Urban Botanical Art: A Daily Devotion to What Grows Nearby

Another way to connect creatively with your garden—especially in winter—is through urban botanical art.

This practice begins with collecting small finds during walks through your garden, neighborhood, or nearby green spaces: a fallen leaf, a twisted twig, a piece of bark, a seed pod. Carry a small container and follow the impulse to gather respectfully.

These humble objects can become ephemera for daily devotion—small arrangements, temporary displays, or creative prompts that keep your senses engaged with the living world.

A beautiful example of this practice is The Dog Walk Diary by Margot Guralnick

Consider limiting digital distractions while collecting—try airplane mode, or use instant photography so images emerge slowly and tangibly. Let the focus stay on noticing.

Other gentle extensions of this practice include creating nature mandalas (arranging found items in circular or repeating patterns on the ground) or building small found-object sculptures that are meant to be temporary and returned to the land.

Writing and Drawing from Nature’s Perspective

Your collected objects can become invitations for reflection:

● Free-write about your walk. What did you notice—sounds, textures, smells, sensations, feelings?
● Write in the voice of your object.
● Describe the world from the perspective of an ant, a butterfly, or the soil beneath your feet.
● Imagine what your object felt while it was alive or connected to its plant.

Then, spend time slow-drawing your object.

Set a timer for 2–5 minutes and try an attention-focused contour drawing practice. Keep most of your attention on the object rather than the page, allowing your hand to move continuously without erasing. The goal isn’t accuracy, but staying connected to the experience of drawing.

Some people prefer very little visual reference to the page, while others check in occasionally to re-orient. There’s no correct way—follow what feels accessible and supportive.

Let lines overlap, repeat, or wander. Try making several drawings of the same object on one page, noticing how each version changes.

Afterward, bring your drawings to life with watercolor, ink, or even soil-based pigments to keep the work literally connected to dirt.

This practice can be adapted using touch, memory, or imagination, depending on how you best experience your subject.

Texture Rubbings and Nature Printing

Texture rubbings are a simple way to explore tactile sensation. Place paper over a textured surface—bark, stone, leaves—and rub with a crayon or pencil to reveal patterns through value.

These rubbings can:

● Be cut into squares and assembled into a garden texture collage
● Become pages in a garden journal
● Document seasonal changes in plants and surfaces

Leaves, flowers, and other natural ephemera also make wonderful printing tools. Apply paint or ink and press them onto paper to create monoprints. You can also glue collected items onto cardboard to create a textured printing plate.

Pro tip: Use the back of a wooden spoon as a brayer to hand-burnish your prints, transferring ink through steady pressure.

All of these practices are invitations, not prescriptions—adapt them in ways that honor your body, senses, and access needs.

Looking Ahead: Planting for Future Making

The new year can also be a time for future crafting. Consider planting a dye garden—flowers and plants that can later become pigments for watercolor, fabric dye, or mixed-media work. Even the act of planning these plantings can be a creative ritual.

Winter Inspiration

If you’re looking for further inspiration:
● Amy Maricle, Mindful Art Studio
● Andy Goldsworthy – collaborative, ephemeral work with nature
(Rivers and Tides documentary)
● Nils-Udo – environmental artist
● Joanna Musiał- Janicka –inspired practices (Mindfulness by the Tree)