Field Notes: Playful sea lions, playful lines

Sep 12

4 min read

California sea lions returned from southern breeding grounds back home to Moss Landing, California. Often piled on top of each other on the shore or floating docks this summer they were encroaching onto human paths. Recently they 'hauled out' (resting on the shore) in huge numbers, creeping up onto the shore, gregariously climbing over caution tape, construction fencing and barricades that were meant to hold them back.

What I've learned from experience is that you can't keep sea lions out of any place they want to be! On this evening there were so many of them covering the sidewalk that they spilled over into the road.

We decided to watch them from down the street, to give them ample room to rest without being disturbed. They were hilarious to watch.

Wet sea lions, just out of the water, clambered over a row of dry-furred sea lions, lined up like a can of sardines.

Some slept peacefully, and behaved nonchalantly to the human visitors taking photos.
Once in a while there was a scuffle, and a couple sea lions sit up and bark at each other to fight for their spot.
Like dogs, some would sit up to scratch themselves with hind flippers
Or rolling back, belly-up with outstretched front flippers like a sunbather, or
Or showing off their flexibility sitting with nose high up over head, and back toward their tail end.

What caught my attention?

It wasn't just one sea lion, but it was the whole scene. The noise, the smell, and the hilarity. 75 or more sea lions piled up, jostling for space.

Photographs just were not capturing what it felt like to see them and be in their presence. This is why I wanted to capture this in my nature journal.

At first I just watched them--letting my senses open up, and enjoying all the movements, sounds, behaviors--and smells!

The Way onto the page:

I didn't have a plan for this page, but just started with what captured my attention. The scene.

I started with drawing the closer sea lions in the center and worked outward from there- using a ball point pen (my fountain pen was out of ink). I worked fairly quickly, in a blend of contour drawing and gesture sketch to capture their main shapes, and not focusing so much on the finer details in the face.
Working outward from the center of the page, I expanded to add the orange cones and noticed the broken caution tape and fencing attached in small pieces on the posts, then the barricades with sea lions perched neatly atop of them.

I drew one of the guys scratching himself with hind flipper- I placed it on the top right of the page--just because there was room. I didn't have an overall plan ahead of time.
I pulled out my watercolor kit and started to splash on come color--not being too fussy with exactness or color matching. I'm not doing a watercolor painting, but just adding color to dress it up.
Finally, to draw in some of the sailboats in the distance. I used a white colored pencil instead of pen, so that it falls into the background and not visually compete with the sea lions.

The entire page took about 20 minutes to complete while standing outside. I added the title and some remarks when I got home.

Nature journaling doesn't have to take hours. Sometimes 20 minutes is enough time to drop into the present and notice something deeply.

What did it reveal?

Reminded me how fun sea lions are to watch. I used to work with them at the Marine Mammal Center decades ago, and it reminded my of my earlier days as marine biologist and naturalist.

As I took in the scene, their behaviors reminded me of:

Go with the flow.

Take time to relax and rest.

Cuddle up with your friends, but don't bug the big boys!

Be flexible.

Be playful.

Ah yes, good advice, I certainly can use more time to rest and relax, and the let go of conditioned seriousness for playfulness. The more I slow down and listen, I find myself seeing and feeling through my encounter with them. I think of these as Nature's wisdom messages.

A Way In

An active scene like this can feel daunting to approach with your journal, but here's what can make it easier.

Sketch loose shapes- don't worry about exactness- especially for a scene with so many animals. You can do a close up of one guy with more detail (kind of like I did on the top right).
Squint. Blur your eyes to help you see the shapes easier. Practice drawing the main shapes with light strokes, don't worry about extraneous lines-(gesture sketches) because after you add color and words it will fall into the background.
Break it up: Sometimes I'll take a huge scene and break it up into several smaller windows, or mini landscapes. Or just choose a segment of a larger scene.
Let color be the seasoning, a little adds a lot of flavor, too much will ruin it. I add a little color to make the page come alive-- not painstakingly cover the entire paper.

The page is the conversation

For me, Spark Journaling isn't about creating a masterful drawing.

It's about using my nature journal as “scratch paper for my conversation with nature”—a place to record discoveries, wonderings, observations, and what I notice when I slow down enough to listen.

If I wanted to, I could create a beautifully accurate illustration of these sea lions later.

But in that moment, I didn't want to leave the experience for perfect drawings.. I wanted to be there—watching, noticing, wondering, drawing, and letting the page be messy and imperfect.

The page became a way of staying in relationship with what had sparked my attention.

Want to find your own way in?

Join me for a workshop, or work with me privately for a more personalized experience. Together, we'll explore simple ways to build your nature journaling skills, loosen the inner critic, and let your curiosity lead you into a deeper conversation with the natural world.

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