NEW - Field Arts Bootcamp at Ghost Ranch in NM

Casa del Sol, our private lodge in the backcountry of the famous Ghost Ranch where Georgia O’Keeffe did much of her work.

Join us October 20-23, 2024 in New Mexico’s legendary Georgia O’Keefe country, at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu for four days and three nights of pure immersion in field arts: nature journaling, field sketching and watercolor, animal tracking, birdwatching, reading the weather, using field optics, found pigments and inks, and much more.

Imagine the luxury of doing nothing but exploring wild nature and journaling in a cohort of like-minded fellow journalers . . . and with customized one-on-one feedback and skills-specific tutoring throughout the whole experience.

The Field Arts Boot Camp is suitable for beginners to advanced journalers, as your Boot Camp experience is tailored to your appropriate level. Nurturing, inquisitive, and expansive.

No excuses. Just pure nature journaling growth and mindset.

What’s included:

• One-on-one attention in areas in which you would like to improve;

• Skills-specific mini-tutorials in field arts such as sketching, watercolor, nature writing, animal tracking, reading the weather, and using optics;

• Accommodations in at the legendary Ghost Ranch in the remote and private Casa del Sol lodge, with four different pricing options;

• Shuttle from Albuquerque, NM, to and from the ranch, departing at 8:00 am October 20 (Sunday) and returning late October 23 (Wednesday)—we will have suggested lodging options in Albuquerque near the airport;

• Wine, beer, and other beverages and snacks happy hour each evening;

• All meals from lunch on Sunday through lunch on Wednesday;

• Use of Swarovski Optics binoculars throughout the Bootcamp.

Pricing from $895 per person for camping option.

Art of Trees Workshop Images

We just wrapped up a perfect Sunday: time spent with 13 enthusiastic tree-lovers in the Bay Area’s Holbrook-Palmer Park (California), learning and practicing tree sketching skills for field journaling.

For this Art of Trees workshop, co-instructor Patricia Larenas and I were bless with wonderful students, a beautiful day, and a plethora of interesting trees from which to choose, from the native stately Coast Live Oaks and mighty Coast Redwoods, to the exotic and odd Monkey Puzzles and Japanese Maples, all putting on a great show. The Atherton Arts Foundation was the perfect host, and we are so grateful for Dorothy and team who make it such a welcoming, perfect venue for art education.

Here are images of our pages and happy students.

Please join my email list to learn about future in-person (and online) field sketching and nature journaling classes!

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This video shows the progression in Kate Rutter’s journal using the field exercises to zero in throughout the day on a final sketch of a wonderful Coast Live Oak. First sketch for scale and notes and ideas . . . she remarked it was a bit “flat” so she spent time with “oak marks” (love that!) and the next 13 thumbnails exploring and getting to know the oak, its shapes, negative shapes, bark, and finally found a perspective she loved and used in a completed final field sketch.

NEW Journaling Jumpstart Class

Have you been struggling to get started journaling, and prefer a more structured format—but also with flex-times so you can work on learning when it’s right for you, and have a healthy check-in every few weeks? My new Journaling Jumpstart class will be perfect for you!

Bonus!: includes workbook and supplies—everything you need to start out (if you already have the workbook and supplies but just need more incentive, there’s an option for just the class, too).

We’ll spend eight weeks getting you going on your journey as a lifelong nature journaler by following the lessons in my book, Nature Journaling for a Wild Life.

Next 8-week class starts: October 30 and will meet for four Sundays (1 pm Arizona time — October 30, November 13, November 27; December 18), with our “graduation” on December 18.

Pricing begins at $60 with different package options. Click below for details and to register!

Wyoming Field Arts Bootcamp report

Jaci E. sketching on Peralta Creek.

As a beginner, I loved all the sessions! I loved the day you taught the “landscapitos” and then we all went out in the meadow to paint. I felt like your one-on-one tutorials in the field were very valuable. You have taught me how I can simplify my journaling which will result in my actually doing more journaling in the future. Thank you for a wonderful experience! – Tammie A., Wyoming Field Arts Bootcamp participant

I’ve just returned to Arizona after a very fun first Field Arts Bootcamp in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains above Sheridan.

Sixteen participants unplugged from the distracting digital world and spent four blissful days plugged into pure nature: learning, sketching, painting, writing, exploring, investigating, and socializing with like-minded “nature nerds” — it was so much fun we didn’t want it to end!

Each day began with an early bird-and-animal-tracks walk, then a delicious breakfast prepared by the chef, Abi Hedrick (who was so attentive, talented, and lovely, we all wanted to adopt her!). An optional morning tutorial was then followed by free time to work on journal entries. Another delicious lunch, followed by an afternoon tutorial (also optional) and more free time.

Jari creating a "landscapito" of the Cloud Peak Wilderness.

Field sketching "landscapitos."

Capturing animal tracks.

Anisha getting down to business!

Everyone enjoyed the loaner Swarovski 8x32CL binoculars.

Working on our journals.

The meals were amazing.

Tutorial subjects included:

• Using Field Optics (we provided a loaner 8x32 CL Swarovski binocular for every participant!)

• Getting Over the Fear of the Blank Page

• Philosophies of Page Layout

• Landscapito Drawing Tips and Using Grids for Easy Proportions

• Watercolors Made Easy: Mixing Colors with a Triad

• Animal Tracking Basics plus Tracing Tracks and Make Plaster Casts

• Making a Cyanometer

• And a “bring it all together” session by the creek to create quick sketches

measuring, photographing, sketching, and making paster casts of animal tracks:

Marcia Lynn prepping the plaster for an animal track cast.

Using grids to sketch tracks with proper proportions.

Putting it all together: creating a “landscapito” of peralta creek (aka “little giggling creek”)

We all sketched the same creek, and it’s fun to see all the different visions and styles:

Roseann's demo "landscapitos" showing different views.

In addition, everyone got a specially made 14-card “Bootcamp Calisthenics” set (laminated and with a ring binder) for self-guided journaling “workouts” along with an animal track tip card and fun goodies to play with.

By happy hour we were all ready to gather and enjoy wine or sparkling water and share our journals and a cheerful fire in the great room. Dinner was always delicious, and we often went on further explorations afterwards, since dark was not until after 9 pm.

happy hours and journal shares:

We’ll definitely be returning to the Spear-O Wigwam ranch in the Bighorn Mountains next summer (around the third week of June 2023). I’m also booking new venues for later 2022 and into 2023 and 2024: northern New Mexico (Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu), Arizona, and Alaska, as well as the Midwest and Eastern U.S. and in England.

Bootcamp participants as well as those on my Bootcamp Interest List will get first dibs on slots opening up! Please visit the Bootcamp page here: https://www.exploringoverland.com/field-arts-bootcamps

Jaci E.

Jaci E.

Jaci E.

Jaci E.

Jaci E.

Jaci E.

Esther

Esther

Esther

Jari

Jari

Jari

Jari

Jari

Scenes from around the ranch (by Mary Jo Watters)

Field Arts Workshop: Making Lake Pigments from Plants

Lake pigments are the holy grail for natural pigment hunters: how to take an ephemeral thing such as a flower, leaf, or fruit, and turn it into a pigment that can become a paint that lasts nearly indefinitely?

Join me on this fascinating journey into science and art, where we make liquid dye from leaves or berries, and then extract the dye by binding the color to salt that we can then grind to a powder and mull with gum arabic to create watercolor.

This is a challenging skill and we’ll dive deeply into all the science behind it so we come away with the knowledge and confidence to do more experimentation and create truly “feral watercolors.”

I offer an optional lake pigment kit if you want to “lake” along.

Length: 2.5 hours

Start time: 10 am Mountain time / 9 am Pacific time / GMT - 7

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link)

Cost: $45 Includes unlimited access to workshop recording and resources page.

Access: Registration and payment required. Please use this link HERE.

Art and Science Spring Workshops at Desert Laboratory

Join me February 12 – May 7 at the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill as we ring in the spring with the science and art of color in the desert: Red Tubular Flowers, Purple Iridescence in Hummingbirds, Yellow Palo Verde Blossoms, and Ochre Earth. Sign up for all four for a discount, or choose individual workshops (online via Zoom; by March we may be able to add in-person options). All workshops are on a Saturday from 10 am to noon Arizona time. I will be hosting all the workshops, as Art and Science Program Coordinator for the Desert Lab; and I will be teaching the art components for March 19th’s Purple Flashdance: Iridescence in Hummingbirds, and May 7th’s Ochre: Earth Makes Art.

For details and to purchase tickets for all four sessions, click here

Three Field Arts offerings this fall

Virtual Field Trip: Explore the Alaskan Arctic with Roseann [FREE with registration]

Fearless Watercolor for Field Sketching, a Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill workshop with Roseann

Introduction to Digital Nature Sketching on iPad with Procreate App, a Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill workshop with artist Bill Singleton

Are you ready for some great skills workshops and a virtual field trip?

• Saturday, October 16 at 9 am Pacific: VIRTUAL FIEL TRIP: EXPLORE THE ALASKAN ARCTIC with Roseann. I just returned from two weeks exploring this amazing landscape; I’ll take you there virtually! See my field journal pages and narrative, here. For more details and to sign up (required, free), click here: https://arizona.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqdeCvqjkrGt2LJyrjXViL0Ztj-B1UlpQU

• Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24, starting 9 am Pacific: FEARLESS WATERCOLOR FOR FIELD SKETCHING, a Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill workshop with Roseann. This is an expanded version of a workshop I offered earlier this year, with the addition of more teaching time and a 2-hour live in-person session at the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill; if you aren’t in Tucson, you can dial in on Sunday remotely for consultation from your own field location! For more details and to sign up ($75 fee, with optional supplies to be mailed; you can also opt out of either day for a lower fee), click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fearless-watercolor-for-field-sketching-tickets-181232299687

• Saturday, November 20 at 9 am Pacific: INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL NATURE SKETCHING ON IPAD WITH PROCREATE APP, a Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill workshop with artist Bill Singleton. This is a rare opportunity for a live, online class with one of the masters of field sketching, either traditionally or on an iPad. For more details and to sign up ($55 fee, with optional supplies to download), click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-digital-nature-sketching-procreate-and-ipad-tickets-181333873497

Virtual Field Trip: Let's Explore Mars! (Free Field Arts Workshop)

This workshop is over, but you can watch the recording on my Tutorials page, here:

https://www.exploringoverland.com/field-arts-tutorials-list/2021/4/17/virtual-field-trip-lets-explore-mars

Join me on a truly out of this world virtual field trip sketching the Martian landscape!

Let’s see how many different reds we can use to depict the Red Planet as we explore the astrobiology of Mars aboard the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance Rovers. We’ll also dive into the natural history of the dunes and weather, and learn about space travel . . . all from the comfort of your Earth studio!

Sketch along or just observe, I’ll narrate as I go to demonstrate why I choose to focus on what subjects and how to quickly capture them in your field notebooks and nature journals.

If you’re shy, don’t worry—we don’t require anyone to share their work and you can remain completely anonymous and worry-free!

Length: 1.5 hours (although it might go a little over)

Start time: 10:00 am Arizona (Phoenix) / GMT - 7 

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link)

Cost: free

Access: To protect your privacy and security online and for us to find out how many students will be attending, registration is required. Please use this link HERE.

Cartography 101: Adding maps to your nature journals (Free Field Arts Workshop)

Let’s explore cartography for your nature journals and field sketchbooks. Adding maps is fun and although they can be challenging and even intimidating, they will greatly enhance not only your journals but your understanding of a place.

• Traditional maps with features such as contours and shading to show relief

• Linear maps that unfold or scroll from point-to-point on an exploration of a place or region

• Picture-highlight maps of a place, including non-scale ideas for quick mapping

• Behavior maps depicting such things as an animal foraging or defending a territory

This is going to be fun!

If you’re shy, don’t worry—we don’t require anyone to share their work and you can remain completely anonymous and worry-free!

Length: 2 hours

Start time: 10:00 am Arizona (Phoenix) / GMT - 7 

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link)

Cost: free

Access: To protect your privacy and security online and for us to find out how many students will be attending, registration is required. Please use this link HERE.

Feral Watercolor: Making paint from your own found pigments April 24, 2021

Let’s play in the dirt!

This two-and-half-hour live and interactive online workshop hosted by the Natural History Institute in Prescott, Arizona, will introduce you to the magical world of true place-based art by teaching you how to:

• find rocks and soil from which to create paint;

• how to process them into watercolor paint (also applicable to oil or other media)

Optional kit can be purchased and mailed to you in advance, containing:

• sample pigment

• binder agent

• a list of household items you can use to process the paint without a lot of expensive tools
  

Length: 2.5 hours

When: April 24, 2021

Start Time: 9:30 am Arizona / PDT / (12:30 pm EDT / GMT - 7 )

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link)

Cost: $58

To sign up: Please register with Natural History Institute at https://naturalhistoryinstitute.org/feral-watercolor-workshop-registration/

Order the optional pigment kit separately at left (from me directly)

New free Field Arts classes and virtual field trip!

How are you doing with your New Year’s resolution to improve your nature journaling and field sketching skills?

Here is my lineup of free workshops and field trips in the next few months, I hope you can join me!

• JAN. 23 – DRAWING WITH GRIDS - 3D Cube Landscapes & More (FREE, online): How to draw “3-D” landscape cubes — in which you envision taking a giant cutter and pulling a cube out of a landscape, showing the sliced edges and details such as soil and creeks and roots. They are challenging—but with a fun new tool ( the new clear Perspex Palette-Easel ) I will show you how to easily capture a very fun view of a landscape. Make your own (I’ll include instructions), or order one from my shop ($13 with a dry-erase marker or $12 without). For information and to sign up click >HERE<

• FEB. 06 – VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP – WINTER WONDERLANDS (FREE, online): Join me on a virtual field trip sketching winter wonderlands around the world! Experiment with different ways to represent snow and ice . . . from the comfort of your warm studio! We’ll explore using blue for shadows, how to represent animal tracks, and sketch some icicles. For information and to sign up click >HERE<

• FEB. 20 – Nature Journaling Best Practices – Check-in for beginners (or anyone) ( FREE, online): The hardest part of nature journaling isn’t the sketching and painting—it’s maintaining your practice.

  If you are. new to nature journaling, or struggling with an ongoing practice, join us for a check-in session to share our experiences and frustrations making nature journaling a regular part of our lives.

  The aim of this hour-long session will be to talk about success or struggles, and our community will help find solutions and suggestions.

  For information and to sign up click >HERE<

Simplify! Learn to paint with three primary colors – January 9, 2021

Adding watercolor to your field notebooks and nature journals need not be an elaborate exercise in juggling dozens of colors and six different brushes!

I will introduce you to the simple technique of mixing any color you need from a triad — three primary colors (a cyan, a magenta, and a yellow) plus my own preferred “bonus” colors of burnt sienna and a dark blue.

It’s not hard, and it’s fast, simple, and fun!

Use your own paints (I’ll send you recommendations) or order my Minimalist Paint Kit or one of my paint tins with sample paints and paint along.

Length: 2 hours

Start time: 2:00 pm Arizona time (Phoenix) / GMT - 7 

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link)

Cost: NOTE: free shipping has ended as of 1-4-2021; in order to receive paint kits, please also add Priority Mail shipping when you order.

• $45 without any paint kits

• $65 with mini paint tin and 5 paint samples

• $82 with small paint tin and 5 paint samples

• $90 with Minimalist Paint Kit with mini paint tin and 5 paint samples, water brush, micro-fibre rag, pen, Clear Perspex Palette-Easel with Magnet Strip and dry-erase marker

Access: You will receive log-in instructions after purchasing the class.

SIGN UP HERE: https://www.exploringoverland.com/shop/feral-watercolor-workshop-3356h

Intermediate Journaling - Expanding your views & improving observational skills

This unique hybrid class with naturalist and field notes artist Roseann Hanson focuses on skills improvement for intermediate journalers, particularly those who took her spring workshop.

Hanson begins with a Zoom lecture on Friday evening reviewing and honing techniques, and then Saturday morning the class moves onsite at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson practicing these deeper skills.

Can’t join us in person, or are a little nervous still about COVID? There will be the option of an interactive 360-degree virtual tour of Tohono Chul Park so you can visit and take part as well!

• Honing observational skills through memory journaling

• Practicing sketching little landscapes or animals by focusing on shapes

• Using viewfinders and grids to isolate subjects and draw them quickly

• Page layout and design — how to use an organic approach to complete attractive pages

• Improving your journaling practice — how to make your journaling a lasting habit

A simple supply list will be provided and plan to bring a brown bag lunch for journal sharing time on Saturday.

Length: 5 hours total, over 2 days

Start time: All times are Arizona (Phoenix) –Friday, December 11, 5-7pm via Zoom

AND Saturday, December 12, 9am-1pm onsite at Tohono Chul or access and join via our unique virtual tour of Tohono Chul (you can then join in live via computer when students are out in the field and when Roseann is facilitating our journal sharing time).

(Having trouble figuring out time zones?Use this calculator: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)

Format: Hybrid — Friday is online via Zoom (you will receive a log-in link) and Saturday you join us in person (outdoors, staying socially distanced, with masks) at Tohono Chul OR join us online via our interactive virtual tour and live Zoom link)

Cost: $65 for Tohono Chul Park members or $75 for non-members

To sign up: Please do so on the Tohono Chul Park website

Online class – Nature Journaling – Learn the art of seeing and recording the world around you

Announcing anytime access to my introduction to nature journaling class!

You can join my class any time on Vimeo, and work at your own pace.

• Rent the series for $35

• Buy and stream or download to keep always for $95

To view the trailer and three free bonus lessons go to learnjournaling.exploringoverland.com

[You can also access on at Learn the Art of Nature Journaling ]

Ask questions directly on the video page, or join our private Nature Journaling for a Wild Life Facebook group, where you can post your assignments.

* * *

Keeping a nature journal or field notebook can both deepen your connections to the natural world and help you learn more about it. Neither science education nor art training is needed—you will develop the skills of a naturalist and a field sketch-artist along the way. 

In this class we will learn how to practice “intentional curiosity” as the core of nature journaling: to ask questions, to dig deeper, to focus our minds both intently and intentionally, as artist and naturalist John Muir Laws says. 

Instructor Roseann Hanson, who has been keeping field notebooks and nature journals for more than 30 years, will be your guide on the journey to becoming a naturalist, nature journalist, and artist. 

This class—the first in a series for beginners—will include:

• Simple tools to get started (you really only need a pen and a notebook!):

  • types of journals

  • paper and ink suggestions

  • archival systems

• The basics of nature journal entries:

  • types of data to record

  • ways to record nature data

  • prompts for sparking curiosity

  • honing observational skills

  • how to make entries that you can refer to later

  • how to get over the fear of the blank page

• You will learn how intense observation of nature is a kind of meditation that results in new insights, deeper understanding, and even reverence and gratitude—true mindfulness.

Registration opens for nature journaling workshop with the Natural History Institute - July 31-Aug 2, 2020

Join me and the Natural History Institute for a multi-day workshop exploring nature through field journals—all live online, including unique virtual field trips and your own field experiences.

Friday, July 31 – 5:30 pm to 7 pm

Saturday, August 1 – 9 am to 2:30 pm

Sunday, August 2 – 1 pm to 3 pm

Saturday, August 8 – 10am to 11 am check-in

$110 USD

Keeping a nature journal or field journal can both deepen your connections to the natural world and help you learn more about it. Neither science education nor art training is needed—you will develop the skills of a naturalist and a field sketch-artist along the way.

This 4-session class will introduce the tools and processes of keeping a nature journal, with instructor Roseann Hanson. There will be an optional 1-hour check-in the following Saturday as well. Sessions will be recorded, for review and if you miss a day.

“Your observations, questions, and reflections will enrich your experiences and develop gratitude, reverence, and the skills of a naturalist . . . If you train your mind to see deeply and with intentional curiosity . . . the world will open before you.” - John Muir Laws, artist, naturalist, and author

In this class we will learn how to practice “intentional curiosity” as the core of nature journaling: to ask questions, to dig deeper, to focus our minds both intently and intentionally.

The class will include:

• The nuts-and-bolts of journal-keeping (paper and ink types, archival systems, how to make entries that you can refer to later, laying out pages, prompts to jump-start observations, and tips on researching science questions sparked by your observations).

• Easy tips that enable anyone to get started sketching and painting. Roseann will help free you from your inner critic and start sketching and painting. Art in a nature journal is not only lovely to see, but an important component of your skillset because the very act of drawing and painting something from life involves incredibly intense observation. Your brain is wholly occupied by only that thing you are observing and drawing—it is a kind of meditation that results in new insights, deeper understanding, and even reverence and gratitude.

• Optional supplies package and book add-ons, mailed to you in advance, see below.

Instructor Roseann Hanson, who has been keeping a nature journal for more than 30 years, will be your guide on the journey to becoming a naturalist, nature journalist, and artist.

Optional supplies: Students may purchase my book, Nature Journaling for a Wild Life , which includes blank journaling pages, and Minimalist Paint Kit and other supplies prior to the class.

TO REGISTER:

Call or email the Natural History Institute 

(928) 863-3232, info@naturalhistoryinstitute.org