Gena Richman is one of those teachers you wish you had when you were a kid. She taught generations of students at Mary Collins School at Cherry Valley. Nature Journaling was a part of every student’s ongoing education. Her classes went on regular field trips to nearby Magnolia Park (walking distance) where she progressively built Read More
Category: Book and Equipment Reviews
Reviews of books and equipment used for field journaling or the study of natural history.
Book Review: “Nature Drawing a Tool for Learning” and “Keeping a Nature Journal”
Let’s take a look at two books by Clare Walker Leslie: “Nature Drawing a Tool for Learning” and “Keeping a Nature Journal”. Both tremendously helpful guides to keeping your own nature journal or sharing the skill with someone else! Learn more about Clare. Read More
Using a Compass Clinometer slope, dip, and angle. (video)
Learn how to use the clinometer on your compass to measure slopes (dip) and angles to treetops and even the sun! I demonstrate a great approach to measure the angle of the sun during celestial events such as the solstice or equinox. Read More
Book Review: A Year in Nature
Clare Walker Leslie is one of the most influential writers and teachers in the field of nature journaling. Her books have long been an inspiration to me and my work. Her latest book, A Year in Nature – A Memoir of Solace is an intimate and rich look into the pages of her journals. She Read More
Journal like da Vinci, think like da Vinci
What twenty tricks can you draw from the notebooks of Leonardo daVinci to level up your own journal practice? Read More
Building words
“We encounter each other in words, words / spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed / words to consider, reconsider.” —Elizabeth Alexander Language changes how we think((How does our language shape the way we think? Lera Boroditsky, Edge 2016)) and the right word can open a door to thinking articulately about new ideas. Before we had a word for genocide, Read More
Customizing the Holbein Palette
My favorite palette is the Holbein Folding Plastic Palette. It has 24 wells with good adjacencies to mixing areas. You get a mixing area for warm colors, cools, greens, grays, browns and a separate section to mix tints with gouache so that your other mixing areas do not become chalky. It is a great lightweight Read More
Book Review: Looking at Birds
Looking at Birds: An Antidote to Field Guides is an outstanding guide to observing the world and bringing greater joy and curiosity to the study of birds. The author is John Busby, master bird artist whose fast bird sketches capture the aliveness and energy of a bird like no one I have ever seen. His Read More
Book Review: Bay Area Birds
This latest book from David Lukas is a gem. It is concise, rigorously researched, well written, comprehensive, and conveys a deep love of nature. This is not an identification manual but rich accounts of the natural history stories behind the birds. Lukas gives detailed life histories of 320 of the birds that live in or pass through Read More
Sketchbook Reviews (video)
Here is a review of several sketchbooks that you journal keepers should know about Bare Books are great low-budget journals for teachers. Another great option for teachers is to use unruled composition books. Roaring Spring Composition Books work very well. You may also find other brands. Kunst & Papier Sketchbooks are cool bound sketchbooks that can be folded Read More