True Nature [Hardcover]

Barbara Bash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2004

In the tradition of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea , writer-illustrator Barbara Bash brings a spiritual awareness to her surroundings as she caringly records encounters with animals and plants during solitary walks around the countryside of upstate New York. In this four-color book—designed to look like a one-of-a-kind hand-bound journal—she creates the look and feel of a spontaneously composed diary chronicling her experiences and reflections during a series of solitary retreats. Her handwritten notes and exquisite drawings capture wondrous moments in the natural environment: a dragonfly's brief pause, a surprised deer in tall grass, woodchucks watching her from a distance, a raindrop making its way down a windowpane. Nature lovers, gardeners, and anyone who enjoys walking in the woods will recognize a kindred spirit and find hours of pleasure in these pages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A beautifully wrought, engagingly honest work; a don't-miss pick for nature lovers and spiritual seekers." -- Chronogram

"Inspiration for readers to set out on similar journeys of their own." -- Healing Lifestyles and Spas

"Speaking of beautiful books, we highly recommend, as a gift to someone who is spiritally- and artistically-minded, True Nature" -- Taconic Newspapers - Ann LaFarge

About the Author

Barbara Bash is the author and illustrator of a number of books on wildlife and natural history. She has worked for many years as a calligrapher and teacher of book arts and botanical drawing. Her books have been featured on Reading Rainbow and listed on the Booklist Editors' Choice, John Burroughs's List of Nature Books for Young Readers, the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and the CBC-NSTA list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301641
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301647
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 0.7 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow Down While At Home, January 3, 2008

By 

Story Circle Book Reviews - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Nature (Hardcover)

What a perfect title for Barbara Bash's beautiful book. True Nature is what she got in touch with on her solitary retreats--her own true nature and nature which included birds, animals, fish, plants, trees, and weather conditions around her.

Reading the book offered me a retreat of slowing down while still at home. Bash went to a cabin in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York for a week during each of the four seasons. She practised sitting meditation and nature journaling as she finds both practices to be contemplative, "developing awareness and attentiveness to the world." She began practising Buddhist meditation in the 1970s with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche who she credits with calling her out of hiding and showing her how to live. Her book is a "record of that ancient process of coming to rest where we are."

Simplicity was part of Bash's days on retreat, away from the demands of home. While on her own, though, crucial inner themes were allowed to appear and did so throughout the seasons: "...uncertainty and self-doubt, a lost feeling and the relief of finding my way, a sadness that enveloped me, a fear of the dark, and a gentleness and ease with myself and the world."

"Calligraphy is a picture of the mind," a Zen saying advises, and Bash took a look with brush and ink. The book is in her handwriting with artwork created from the sketchbooks she filled while on retreat. Some of the images were scanned directly into the book; others she redrew in the same spirit so as to fit the design of the pages. The art was created with pencils and watercolours on Arches and Strathmore papers. Among her daily observations were afternoon bird calls, which she illustrated with sound shapes and colors.

As I read, I felt calmed by the simplicity of Bash's days. I could relate, as many women will, to the inner voice chastising her for laziness. As Bash realized, the very act of drawing slows her down--"opens me up each time I touch the paper." She could see the cottonwood tree, hear her pencil on the paper, the wind and a squirrel near by and noticed a spiderweb glistening. As is so often the case when we slow down, Bash felt worn out. She felt she couldn't produce anything good. "I am wearing something down, wearing something out--the expectation of who I think I should be."

During her winter sojourn, the weather got wild. "The energy would quiet down, regroup and gather again." So often Bash's descriptions of nature are revelations of her own life, and ours too. The night darkness was a challenge to Bash who writes, "The darkness within. The darkness without. I will keep touching it."

The illustration of spring woods on the outer cover of the book is on paper that looks like watercolour paper--as if the paint might still be wet. The hardcover book the paper cover protects looks like a private journal with a charming watercolour of a bird pasted on it. We're very fortunate Bash's solitary musings and discoveries were made public. So many books are full of many words. This one is not. You can read it in one sitting but there is so much that is real and true here. Life is seen close up with the bullfrog painted in summer, the monarch butterflies of autumn, the cow bones and miniature landscape of fungi on a broken branch found in winter and the emergence of spring in an unfurling of ferns.

"Each subject calls forth a different visual response, sometimes precise and detailed, sometimes loose and immediate," Bash writes. In most instances she chose the "relaxed line, the simpler, less polished approach, since this is the true nature of sketching." It is her hope that her book will inspire others to pick up a sketchbook, "step outside, and discover what is waiting for you--ready to be drawn and seen." I think it will also inspire readers to get in touch with their own true nature.

Barbara Bash is a calligrapher, illustrator, author and performance artist. She has written and illustrated many books on natural history for adults and children. The research for those books took her all over the world, including Africa, India, Indonesia and the Pacific Northwest. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with her husband and son. There she creates her books and does expressive, calligraphic performance art. To learn more about Bash's work and the workshops she teaches in illustrated journaling and expressive brush calligraphy, visit www.barbarabash.com.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women

5.0 out of 5 stars True Nature, October 19, 2010

By 

Barbara E. Smith "southern reader" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: True Nature (Hardcover)

I have already done this, but will repeat--

This is a special book to me, like a meditation. I received it originally from a

friend, and continue to purchase it for friends. Just love it and delivery was

prompt--no problems at all. Good dealer too----

5.0 out of 5 stars True Nature, September 11, 2009

By 

Commentator5 "DEBBY" (NEW ORLENAS, LA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: True Nature (Hardcover)

This is one of the most beautiful books ever. For those into beauty, self-actualization, and nature, this book is for you. Buy it, reflect, read, and you will always keep it near you.