In straightforward text complemented by step-by-step illustrations, dozens of exercises lead the hand and mind through creating accurate reproductions of plants and animals as well as landscapes, skies, and more. Laws provides clear, practical advice for every step of the process for artists at every level, from the basics of choosing supplies to advanced techniques.

This is more than a guide to drawing birds it is also an introduction to the lives, forms, and postures of the birds themselves.An imaginative field instruction book for really seeing and drawing birds by the bestselling author of the innovative field guides on the Sierra and San Francisco Bay.

Expanding on the philosophy and methods of The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren have developed the first-ever comprehensive book devoted to helping educators use nature journaling as an inspiring teaching tool to engage young people with wild places. In their workshops Laws and Lygren are often asked the how-tos of teaching nature journaling: how to manage student groups in the outdoors, teach drawing skills (especially from those who profess to have none), connect journaling to educational standards, and incorporate journaling into longer lessons. This book puts together curriculum plans, advice, and in-the-field experience so that educators of all stripes can leap into journaling with their students. The approaches are designed to work in a range of ecosystems and settings, and are suitable for classroom teachers, outdoor educators, camp counselors, and homeschooling parents. Full-color illustrations and sample journal pages from notable naturalists show how to put each lesson into practice. Field-tested by over a hundred educators, this book includes dozens of activities that easily support the Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards--and, just as important, it will show kids and mentors alike how to recognize the wonder and intrigue in their midst.

From the day it was released in 2000, Keeping a Nature Journal has struck a profound chord among professional, casual, and occasional naturalists of all ages. In response to this groundswell of enthusiasm, we have revised KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL, updated the interior design, and created a new cover. Undoubtedly the most exciting new element in this second edition is a portfolio of 32 illustrated pages from Clare Walker Leslie's most recent journals, reproduced in full color. What makes KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL so popular? It is inspiring and easy to use. Clare and co-author Charles Chuck E. Roth offer simple techniques to give first-time journal-keepers the confidence to go outside, observe the natural world, and sketch and write about what they see. At the same time, they motivate long-time journal-keepers to hone their powers of observation as they immerse themselves in the mysteries of the natural world. Clare and Chuck stress that the journal is a personal record of daily experience and the world around us. Nature's beauty can be observed everywhere, whether in the city, suburbs, or country.

This revised edition of the classic guide Keeping a Nature Journal has a fresh look, with full-color art and expanded sections on journaling styles, drawing techniques, and how nature journaling can be a valuable means of self-expression and a tool for fostering mindfulness and connection with the natural world.

This fun and easy-to-use nature drawing and watercolor guide is perfect for anyone inspired by nature to draw, doodle, ink, and paint colorful flora and fauna. Artist, author, and popular art instructor Peggy Dean presents this nature drawing guide that teaches you how to master drawing and watercolor techniques from sketching and shading to washes and blending. With Peggy's easy and energetic lessons, absolutely anyone--regardless of ability--can learn to draw the natural world. Beginning with delicate cherry blossoms, wildflowers, and lacy ferns, lessons build to composing stunning bouquets of flowers and majestic landscapes. You'll also discover how to draw animals such as colorful fish and birds in flight, as well as mammals like stoic camels and the mighty polar bear. Through the lessons on technique combined with clear, detailed instructions, you'll gain the expertise and confidence that will allow you to quickly build your skills, discover your own personal style, and achieve beautiful botanical and animal illustrations.

Painting with watercolors gives you endless opportunities to create the world you want. You choose whether to let the sun blaze or the rain pour, to move a maple tree here or make the trail wind over there, to subdue a hillside with quiet greens or make a forest glow with dazzling golds and reds. It's not only a matter of what to paint, but how to go about painting it. This book examines, one at a time, the three major elements of landscape painting: water, sky and land. You will be encouraged to try numerous ways of painting each one. Then you can choose the methods that best express how the outdoors speaks to you. Let this reliable collection of tips, techniques, ideas and lessons be your companion on a sure path to creative fulfillment and better watercolor landscapes.

Introduces aspiring artists to the fundamental materials, equipment, and techniques used to paint nature-themed subjects in a realistic style, with tips on how to re-create a variety of different habitats, from forests and meadows to mountains and deserts, as well as animals and plants, and includes seven complete painting demonstrations. 20,000 first printing.

Draw and paint beautiful, vibrant, and realistic birds and botanicals with The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration. Take a sketch and transform it into fine art! The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration is a guide for contemporary artists aspiring to master shape, color, and texture and render beautiful, realistic, and vibrant botanical artwork. Author Mindy Lighthipe, an expert botanical artist, educates you about the tools and materials traditionally used in botanical illustration, including pencils, colored pencils, watercolor, gouache, and pastels. This thorough yet easily digestible guide includes overviews of key illustration techniques and basic color theory and mixing, and it's loaded with exercises designed to help you learn to see shape, value, and form. By learning tounderstand plant life and anatomy, you can craft elegant flowers, leaves, trees, and much more in no time! To bring it all together, The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration includes step-by-step demonstrations to follow along with as you practice taking sketches and transforming them into fully rendered, colorful pieces of fine art.

Artist Tim Pond's lively and engaging book fuses science with art, providing the reader with the skills, techniques and knowledge they need to create sketches of animals filled with life and movement.There are some very good books written on life drawing, yet when it comes to drawing wildlife, illustrators and artists often revert to working solely from photographs, which can leave the artwork looking lifeless and flat. In this inspirational book, artist Tim Pond shows you how to observe and draw animals in zoos, farms, wildlife parks and aquariums, teaching you some fascinating facts about the animals along the way and ultimately bringing you closer to nature. One of the challenges with sketching wildlife is that animals are constantly moving. However by having some basic understanding of the biology of an animal, such as knowing that a duck has a cheek or that a cheetah can't retract its claws, can influence how you might sketch them, and results in a lively drawing that captures the form, movement and ultimately the spirit of the animal in question. Combining scientific knowledge with expert practical guidance is key to creating successful drawings of animals, and Tim's ability to convey this in a way that is both accessible and engaging makes this a unique and inspiring guide suitable for artists of all levels. Tim's book takes you on a journey of discovery that will enable you to develop the skills, techniques and knowledge you need to sketch a broad range of wildlife, encompassing mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and insects. It includes quick, gestural sketches as well as linear and tonal studies, in a variety of media - pencil, pen and ink, and watercolour. There are numerous studies comprising how to represent the different patterns of animals' coats, how to capture the plumage of an exotic bird in watercolour, and how to sketch a hippo's hooves, as well as guidance on tools, materials and basic techniques. The result is a treasure chest of fascinating facts, studies, sketches and annotated drawings that will not fail to ignite your enthusiasm for drawing animals from life.

Pioneering a new niche in the study of plants and animals in their natural habitat, Field Notes on Science and Nature allows readers to peer over the shoulders and into the notebooks of a dozen eminent field workers, to study firsthand their observational methods, materials, and fleeting impressions.

Reveling in the wonders of nature doesnÕt have to be reserved for vacation. By simply taking a few minutes to look up and observe the hawks hovering over their nest at the top of a city building, or to look down and note the variety of weeds growing in a small patch of earth, or just to glance through the window and appreciate the shapes of the clouds moving by, anyone can connect with natureÑanywhere, anytime. Clare Walker Leslie, author of the bestselling book Keeping a Nature Journal, has spent 25 years teaching and showing people how simple and rewarding it is to notice and record local nature. Nothing is more inspiring than the pages of her nature journals, which feature her daily recordings of small, but amazing natural events sheÕs seen while walking the dog, sitting in a park with her children, or driving around city streets. Drawn to Nature features a selection of LeslieÕs journal pages, arranged to inspire the reader to do as she does: look up, look down, look out and around, bring bits of nature indoors to observe and study, or take your eyes for a walk around the neighborhood. Using a combination of quick, impressionistic watercolors with more detailed pen and pencil drawings, along with the written word, Leslie invites readers to share in the pleasure of her nature watching, and to experience the joy of seeing and connecting with nature wherever they live, amidst the whirl of daily life. For journal keepers, nature lovers, birdwatchers, artists, and anyone interested in using nature as a source for self-reflection or meditation, this book will be a welcome companion and source of inspiration.

With dozens of simple prompts and exercises, best-selling author, naturalist, and artist Clare Walker Leslie invites you to step outside for just a few minutes a day, reignite your sense of wonder about the natural world, and discover the peace and grounding that come from connecting with nature. Using stunning photography as well as the author's own original illustrations, The Curious Nature Guide will inspire you to use all of your senses to notice the colors, sounds, smells, and textures of the trees, plants, animals, birds, insects, clouds, and other features that can be seen right outside your home, no matter where you live. Sketch or write about one exceptional nature image each day; learn to identify cloud types and the weather they bring; or create a record of what you see each day as you walk your dog. Easy, enjoyable, and enlightening, these simple exercises will transform your view of the world and your place within it.

A Wrinkle in Time is the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal. It was a dark and stormy night—Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract." A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

This comprehensive and authoritative handbook is for all those who want to portray plants and flowers with botanical accuracy. In it the author gives detailed advice on working in pencil, pen, scraper board, watercolour, acrylics and gouache; on building up a painting or drawing by stages; on taking measurements and understanding plant structure; on collecting, handling and preserving plant material.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE—The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 15 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.” For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Become a more attentive observer and deepen your appreciation for the natural world. The unique five-year calendar format of The Naturalist’s Notebook helps you create a long-term record and point of comparison for memorable events, such as the first songbird you hear in spring, your first monarch butterfly sighting of summer, or the appearance of the northern lights. Biologist Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and best-selling author Bernd Heinrich teach nature lovers of all ages what to look for outdoors no matter where you live, using Heinrich’s classic illustrations as inspiration. As you jot down one observation a day, year after year, your collected field notes will serve as a valuable record of your piece of the planet. This deluxe book, with a three-piece case, gilt edges, a burgundy ribbon bookmark, and a belly band with gold foil stamping, is a perfect gift for all nature lovers.