Nature Journal [Hardcover]

Clare Walker Leslie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 2003

No one could describe Nature Journal as a blank book. Clare Walker Leslie has transformed what could have been an ordinary diary into something truly unique. The text and illustrations offer just the right amount of inspiration and guidance to help the journal-keeper begin and succeed at making this book his or her own.

First Clare explains to the budding journal-keeper how to get started and suggests some possible formats to follow. She even includes a few sample pages from her own journal as inspiration.

Then come the journal pages themselves. The left-hand page has ghosted-back lines for those who prefer a sense of structure. The right-hand pages are left blank for sketching or writing. Short, inspirational quotes and exercises to help guide the journaling process are scattered among the pages.

At the back of the journal is Clare's mini-field guide, packed with essential information on how to recognize (and draw!) basic families of birds, insects, and trees, thus sparing the journal-keeper the trouble of lugging multiple field guides into the wild.  Drop it in the mud. Get trail mix stuck between the pages. This journal can take it! Printed on recycled, acid-free paper with a lay-flat binding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"When you are drawing like this, you have become invisible. Birds fly over your paper. squirels eat in front of you. Insects hop on your sleeve, plants open and close, the sun shifts, hawks mate over your head--and you watch with great humility because this is happening with you there and with you not there...

About the Author

Clare Walker Leslie is a nationally known wildlife artist, naturalist, and educator. She conducts workshops and classes at various educational institutions such as Williams College and Massachusetts College of Art. She has written six books including Nature Drawing and The Art of Field Sketching. Clare lives in Vermont and Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (July 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580172962
• ISBN-13: 978-1580172967
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > Self-Help > Journal Writing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome companion to "keeping a nature journal", March 27, 2006

By 

J. Gibbons (Boise, Idaho United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nature Journal (Hardcover)

If you have the original book "Keeping a Nature Journal" then you will find this journal to be awesome. It is for using what you learned in book 1 to make your own recordings. Beautifully bound. Very nice item. Of course it is blank...it is a journal.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, July 18, 2007

By 

Roger E. Plankenhorn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nature Journal (Hardcover)

If you have ever read one of Clare Walker Leslie's books before, then it won't surprise you that this is a Journal that invites you to go out into nature daily, but gives you ways to make your journal special and your own personal work of art. She shows you the basics of how to draw birds, flowers, trees, etc. to make your time in the outdoors more fun. If you follow her ideas, you will find that you will get down your old journals for years to come and look at them. They will all bring back fond as well as bad memories. You will find yourself putting them all down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Claire Walker Leslie Nature Journal, September 18, 2009

By 

John Sharp "isitime" (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nature Journal (Hardcover)

I'm new to nature journaling, but not new to nature. I am, in fact, a geezer who has spent much of his life outdoors. A friend told me that I should get 'Keeping a Nature Journal' by Leslie and Roth, which I did. Knowing nothing I also bought 'Nature Journal'.
'Keeping' it's a great book. It will inspire you to journal, if you don't already. There's also plenty for semi-experienced or experienced journalists. If you, like most of us, don't think you can draw, buy this book.
However, I'm reviewing 'Nature Journal'.
'Nature Journal' is a bunch of blank pages for journaling. There are tips, etc, but it is mainly a pallet for self expression - journaling. What is so great about this book is the quality of the paper. You can erase any pencil drawings and hardly know they existed - particularly useful for newbies. I would think that the paper quality would also be great for pen and ink drawings (not there yet).
I recommend the exercises in 'Keeping' but I use a standard Composition notebook for this. I try to draw daily from photographs (mine, but there are plenty available on the net.