Nature Journaling Prompt: Moon Journal
Hear from Darin Reid about his prompt from our December Nature Journaling Prompts hosted by Wild Wonder.
By Darin Reid
Moon journal prompt (December 5th): when I was in the first grade, my teacher, Aki Kurose (an incredible proponent of peace and science), encouraged us to keep a moon journal. One of my favorite memories was drawing the moon from my back porch, and then writing about it with the moon-related words that I learned like gibbous and waxing. Tonight I encourage you to go out and sketch the full moon. What details do you seen in the moon, and how would you describe its textures with pencil or ink or watercolor? Painting planets and moons can be a great way to practice watercolor because of their round shape.
—Maria Coryell-Martin
My plans were initially more ambitious—to try something more like our Ambassador Sophia Trinh’s Metallic Moons. However, part of the assignment was to avoid spending too much time on it, and given my limited experience with watercolor, I decided to simplify by sticking to a single pigment, Daniel Smith Lunar Black.
To start, I traced a Triad Template (which happens to be shaped just like the full moon 🌕) using my Helvetica Pencil. Next, I dipped a Rosemary R10 in Lunar Black and laid down an initial wash of light silver. After letting this layer dry, I added more layers to give the moon a more varied, textured appearance. Once I was happy with the moon, I pulled out my Le Corbusier Stencil Set, which I’d been itching to use, and tried filling in the letters with the R10… which bled more than I wanted, but there was no going back at that point.
While December’s full moon goes by many names, I chose “Cold Moon,” which is a name traced to the Mohawk people of southeastern Canada and northern New York State. My favorite part of the whole exercise is how elegantly Jemma Pereña’s piece from December 6th and 7th led into my page. Thanks, Jemma!
To read more about the month of nature journaling prompts, and to see the full list of prompts, click here. Be sure to tag your art with #NatureJournaling2026 and #ArtToolkitFridayPrompt for a chance to be featured on our blog and Instagram!