Middlewood Journal: Drawing Inspiration from Nature

Setting out from her house, fondly named Middlewood, in the Piedmont of South Carolina, Helen Correll takes long, wandering walks along Meetinghouse Creek with her dogs to observe and draw the nature of her landscape. From her studio nestled in the forest behind the house, Correll paints and writes of the day’s journey, its temper and conversation.

With a foreword by naturalist Janisse Ray, Middlewood Journal: Drawing Inspiration from Nature gathers Correll’s illustrations and writings from her hikes and blog by the same name to create a treasury of discoveries, from giant red mushrooms peeking beneath a cover of leaves to hawks on a branch so close you can hear their preening. Season to season, you will discover the miniature beauties of the South, the life that you only find by slowing down, allowing the landscape to inspire: turkey tracks in creek water, persimmon trees that fool the eye, tidy little snow holes hiding the casualties of winter.

Correll draws the language and color of life in the South to give breath to a poetry of names: blue darner dragonfly, horse nettle, red-bellied woodpecker, tufted titmouse, heal all, starlings, white wood aster, rue anemone, wild blue phlox. Witness the change of seasons through the blooms, bird songs, and balance of sunlight in Correll’s delicate prose and drawings in Middlewood Journal.