Oct 19-21, 2007
The artist-naturalist’s journal is one of the oldest forms for recording observations. Lewis and Clark, Thoreau, and John James Audubon made unforgettable observations and reproductions of nature. Your naturalist’s journal is a way to deepen your curiosity about and conversation with the circle of life around you.
Do you long to become better connected with the land where you live? Rachel Carson believed we can’t save a place until we know it. Learn the birds, insects, plants, trees, reptiles, mammals, and what makes up an "ordinary" ecosystem. Clare Walker Leslie takes people where they are and leads them deeper into their interests and abilities through exploration, identification, writing, mapping, reflection, and drawing.
We’ll laugh about what we’re discovering and learn to play outdoors. We’ll learn the sky and the weather above, the ground and its inhabitants below, the paths and activities of local animals, and deepen our appreciation of the delicate, interwoven relationships between the human and natural worlds. We’ll consider ways the seasons of nature correspond to the seasons within ourselves.
Individual and group instruction and guidance will be available on this glorious October weekend. All are welcome; including experienced artists, naturalists, curious explorers, teachers, homeschoolers, and families with children ten or older, who come at half your fee. When you register, you will get a list of what to bring. You’ll come away with a nature journal full of ways to deepen your connection with where you live and wanting to continue your inspirations, wanderings, and wonderings.
Clare Walker Leslie has taught Nature Drawing and Field Journaling for over thirty years. She's a visiting faculty member at Williams College, Harvard's Landscape Design Program, College of the Atlantic, Antioch/New England, and many Audubon Centers. A trained artist and naturalist, she’s a member of the National Guild of Scientific Illustrators and the author of eight books on drawing and observing the natural world, including: including Nature Drawing, Keeping a Nature Journal, and Drawn to Nature. She regularly illustrates journals and magazines, including the Rowe catalogue, and has had group and solo shows. For more information, go to www.clarewalkerleslie.com.
“Like a pilgrim going to church, I go outdoors for the prayer that drawing and observing nature offer me. Nothing spectacular, everything spectacular. The process of seeing is what counts, not “how good is my drawing?” - Clare Walker Leslie
"To be in love with the world is particularly lucky, as it's everywhere: city, country, and suburb. And luckiest of all is that it's never too late to fall into this particular thrall. All you need to do is begin to look around." Bill McKibben