Reconnect with nature through sketching and writing with these simple methods for capturing the living beauty of each season. Clare Walker Leslie and co-author Charles E. Roth offer easy techniques, exercises, and prompts for all ages.
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"Clare Walker Leslie's work is so invaluable in field of nature study, for all ages everywhere. We use it in our Roots and Shoots program to help young people sharpen their observation skills and deepen their connection with nature."
From the Inside Flap
Like a string of beads - or pearls these little - or grand - episodes help us link to the larger strand. This stringing of images, thoughts, connections, helps us to have more understanding, reason, compassion, gratefulness. - Clare Walker Leslie, journal entry, September 3, 1997
You can experience a spirited yet tranquil exploration of the living world by creating your own nature journal. In any season, any weather, and any place, nature journaling compels us to slow down, observe, reflect, and once again embrace our connection to the living mosaic that is our environment.
Using the methods Clare Walker Leslie and Chuck Roth have developed over years of journaling teaching, Keeping a Nature Journal guides you in creating ongoing journals for all seasons and purposes. You'll also learn techniques from other amateur and professional nature journalists.
Simple methods for capturing what you see in sketches and words will inspire you to make journaling a part of your daily life and will help you create journals to enjoy for years to come.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
123 of 126 people found the following review helpful
By N. C. Derham
Format:Paperback
What makes this book so great? It is partially a nature journal itself, yet it is full of *real* ideas for your notebooks. I love the authors' drawings and comments, and how they help you draw well with small exercises. I was amazed at how well I could draw a bird after doing the bird sketches they recommend. They include sidebars with annectdotes of teaching approaches. They suggest ways to make a note book your own, to make it more interesting, and to make it more scientific, too!
Some of my favorite pages in the book are city or country landscapes, including houses and buildings. The authors remind us that humans are part of nature, and what they build is too, just as a wasps' nest is. A drawing of a street in Cambridge MA made me a bit homesick...but it also reminded me that this would be our last year with a cabana at the beach. I started documenting our days there, and rather than take photos, I tried to record our days in pictures I drew. These are not amazingly Rembrant-esque, but they accurately reflect the days we spent. With a bit of help from this book, I was able to capture perspective and shadowing as I drew my children and the local flora and fauna, and add comments as I draw--the time and temperature, what the animals are doing, when the last rain fall was, or how I felt. The entries in this notebook include the buildings and benches, the fences and the kites--everything it take s to capture a scene.
Leslie and Roth talk about different types of notebooks, with examples. Seasonal notebooks capture the changing wilderness; scientific notebooks record observations with commentary. A notebook may include only flora or fauna. It may record a journey or special occasion.
A nifty section includes a discussion of materials and tools for drawing.
... Read more ›82 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Okay, this is a winner! If you do NOT have it on your bookshelf then get it! This has become one of the required textbooks for many of my courses. (Visit my Amazon page for more information.)
It is flat out beautiful -- the beauty is that it is filled with the illustrations and notes by the authors. The book delves into the questions you might have, doubts that might arise -- and those get answered but the book allows and encourages creativity and growth through the nature journal process.
You'll find hints for what tools to pick for your illustrations and notes, tips for observing, what information you might want to include, how to overcome your critical mind, beginning drawing exercises and tips on how to enchance your creativity. You'll find a seasonal section that gives some good suggestions for documenting natural changes and events. Later there are more drawing exercises on shading, drawing flowers, anatomy, landscapes, etc. There are also samples of different journal techniques, tips on how to set up a nature study, how to keep records, how to journal for a scientific study or biological research project and still more!
Toward the end of the book group journaling and exploring is discussed. What you will also find are valuable tips for quizzes, writing, science, art, history, music and math projects. The suggested reading list and assessment scale for the journal or porfolio are also vital resources within this book.
If you are not convince now you never will be! One of the best personal journaling _and_ teaching books I've encountered this last year.
38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a beautiful guidebook...it's lavishly illustrated with the authors' own nature sketches and comments so that you can really get a feel for what a nature journal is all about. Not only will you be keeping a record of the world around you, but you will be learning to see that world with new eyes. It's so easy to glide over the tiny details that make life truly remarkable...by taking the authors' tips and lessons to heart, you will find yourself paying deeper attention to the little things.
You definitely don't have to be an artist (I'm not, by far) to be able to keep a journal of this type. In fact, there are several basic drawing exercises included that will help you develop some skill, even if you think it's hopeless. The important thing is to stop and smell the roses...and then draw them.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By tagnrocky
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book inspired me to start my own nature journal and gave me the confidence to draw in it! Wonderful, encouraging and instructional. If I can draw nature, then anyone can!
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This beautifully illustrated and printed book will inspire both the amateur naturalist and the teacher. Leslie and Roth make the process of nature journalling easy to understand and to present to others. Their detailed observations encourage the reader to really look, to really see.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I coordinate outdoor workshops for women to provide them the opportunity to learn new skills. We hosted a new class,Nature Journaling, and the instructor needed a book to suplement her curriculum. I selected this book based on the Amazon recomendations and further research. Both the instructor and participants loved the book. It was very helpful and useful once they left the workshop.
I think this book is a great resource in any EE/nature/writing library.
I think this book is a great resource in any EE/nature/writing library.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By P. Edwards
Format:Paperback
Not a journaling guide but an inspiration to draw and record in a journal. Her artwork and ability to capture the moment is simply amazing - and should be since she is a professional artist. Better than the pictures is her persuasion that you can also draw and record the world around you. Many types of journals are discussed with suggestions of organization, etc but the strength is not the information but the encouragement to DO.
If you are interested in scientific journaling, or looking for an instruction manual I do not think you'll be happy with this book. It is light on drawing technique but heavy on simple tips to get you drawing. If you desire to draw nature and record what you see/experience but don't think you can or are afraid of what your pictures will look like this will be a book you'll treasure and refer to often.
If you are interested in scientific journaling, or looking for an instruction manual I do not think you'll be happy with this book. It is light on drawing technique but heavy on simple tips to get you drawing. If you desire to draw nature and record what you see/experience but don't think you can or are afraid of what your pictures will look like this will be a book you'll treasure and refer to often.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Art is in the air
For those who are just learning to "see" the world around them and want to learn how to record what they see, here is an instruction manual for learning to draw the wonders... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Thomas in Iowa
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love it but I'm not convinced this book will teach me to draw.
I had already started to keep a nature journal a few months ago when I came across this book and purchased it from Amazon. Read more
Published 1 month ago by K.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book
I have always loved nature and this is a great way to reconnect with the outside world...journal it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by L Keene
3.0 out of 5 stars
I wished it had more about drawing nature
I thought it was more a guide to draw nature; indeed, it's a book about nature journaling. I wished it had more about drawing nature. But it's a good book, with fabulous drawings.
Published 2 months ago by M. Guerrero
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring
I am looking forward to using this outdoors to take my own watercolor journaling to the next level this spring.
Published 3 months ago by Beach lady
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Handbook
I love this book not only for it's practical tips and guiding lessons, but for the sheer beauty of the sketches throughout. It is well worth the price... in fact a real bargain!
Published 3 months ago by J. Catlett
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Resource for Nature Lovers
"Keeping a Nature Journal" is beautifully illustrated, and wonderfully inspiring--a wonderful book for anyone who loves nature and sketching, and wants to become more in love with... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Pidjen
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nature writing
I gotta say this book looks really neat but I am afraid it is going to be boring. It is bran new.
Published 4 months ago by sabrina
5.0 out of 5 stars
Keeping a Nature Journal
This book makes keeping a nature journal very accessible to even non-artsy folks like me. I was very excited by it and am looking forward to getting back into nature journaling as... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lesley M. Lyman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great gook
I love the drawings in the book; they inspire me--which is what I need. it's a good book; what i expected. It's informative. It gives me a lot of ideas. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Snoopy
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
books:
See all 10 books this book cites
5
books
cite this book:
- The Colored Pencil: Key Concepts for Handling the Medium, Revised Edition by Bet Borgeson on page 118, and Back Matter
- Earth Day (On My Own Holidays) by Linda Lowery on page 107
- A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place by Hannah Hinchman on page 60
- Earth Science (Rivers Curriculum Guide) by William Donato on page 197
- The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson on page 14
See all 10 books this book cites
- Nature-Oriented Activities: A Leader's Guide by Betty van der Smissen ReD on page 154, and page 201
- A Pacific Northwest Nature Sketchbook by Jude Siegel in Back Matter
- Voicing the Vision: Imagination and Prophetic Preaching by Linda L. Clader on page 73
- Companion for the Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart in Back Matter
- Writer's Guide to Nonfiction (Writer's Compass (Perigee)) by Elizabeth Lyon on page 181
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