Janet’s ongoing drawing research and image-making practices explore the external with the internal using a pencil and stylus to travel across the underlying images, meticulously scanning and scrutinising every contour, seeking, and responding to hidden anomalies. The phenomenological nature of these drawings and the act of drawing itself evokes the shared experience of looking for signs of change in the form of disease and decay within the body through medical imaging. Naturalists also use drawings and diagrams to observe, identify and record differences and change. Drawing can reduce information and communicate in a way that photography can’t. In the Blue Mountains there are many unique species with subtle visual differences that often separate the common from the threatened. Appreciating these differences provide stronger connections and, like observing medical scans, early detection can help protect fragile environments. Drawing helps us ‘see it’, ‘store it’ and respond. Even the physical act of doodling, continuous line drawing, tracing and colouring-in can be meditative, boost memory retention and creative thinking by reducing the load on cognitive processes and self-editing. Although learning to draw is time-consuming, and comes with barriers for many, low fidelity drawing activities offer an accessible pathway to visual storytelling and illustration.