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!

Field Sketching Course at Tumamoc Hill

“We have misfiled the significance of drawing because we see it as a professional skill instead of a personal capacity . . . This essential confusion has stunted our understanding of drawing and kept it from being seen as a tool for learning above all else.” (author and artist D.B. Dowd)

Drawing greatly enhances our enjoyment of and learning about the natural world—and it’s a skill that anyone can acquire with instruction and practice.

Join me and the Tumamoc Art & Science team this spring for our Drawing Skills for Field Notebooks, an 8-week course.

Take all 8 for a discount, or “a la carte” to take one or several for just $80 each. Sessions run from 9 am to noon every Saturday from March 7 through April 25.

During the course you will go behind the scenes of the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill and learn techniques for observing, drawing, and keeping a field notebook with artists Paul Mirocha, Bill Singleton, Barbara Terkanian.

Tumamoc classes are a unique blend of art plus science: sessions will include not only art instruction but also lectures and interactions with research ecologists and naturalists. There is a high student-to-instructor ratio.

The course is suitable for all ability levels: non-artists, artists, scientists, naturalists, and curious lay people—we tailor each class to help everyone learn both drawing skills and the ecology of Tumamoc's denizens and landscape.

$80 per session, or all 8 at a discount—$550. Register now:

Desertlaboratory.eventbrite.com

For more details on each session, visit the Tumamoc website:

Tumamoc.arizona.edu/art-and-science/course

New class registration open—Nature Journaling Feb. 21-23, 2020

If you train your mind to see deeply and with intentional curiosity . . . the world will open before you.” — John Muir Laws 

Keeping a nature journal can deepen your connections to the natural world and help you learn more about it. And the great thing is that 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 February 21–23, 2020, at Tohono Chul Park in northwest Tucson, students will learn to practice “intentional curiosity” as the core of nature journaling: to ask questions, to dig deeper, to focus our minds both intently and intentionally. Hanson will cover the nuts-and-bolts of journal-keeping from paper and ink types and laying out pages to prompts to jump-start observations and advice on researching science questions.

There will be easy tips to enable anyone to get started sketching and painting as you are freed from your inner critic. On one of the days I will be joined by a guest artist who will lead a 2-hour sketching-skills session.

By the end of the weekend you will leave with a new way of seeing the natural world, armed with new skills for recording all that you will experience. Simple supply list will be provided, but all you really need is a notebook, pen and your curiosity! Please bring a brown bag lunch Saturday and Sunday. The workshop meets from 5-7pm on Friday, February 21 and then from 9am-3pm on both Saturday and Sunday, February 22 and 23.

Price is $135 for Tohono Chul members or $150 for the general public and include paints and brushes to borrow. Hope to see you there!

https://tohonochul.org/event/nature-journaling-the-art-of-seeing-and-recording-the-world-around-you/

Fall workshops — Nature Journaling and Nature Writing

Have you ever wanted to start a nature journal, or take the leap into nature writing? I’m offering two workshops on those subjects this fall at the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, just west of downtown Tucson.

Nature Journaling: Learn the art of seeing and recording the world around you

Friday, November 15 – 5 pm to 7 pm in the Tumamoc Library

Saturday, November 16 – 9 am to 3 pm at Tumamoc Hill

Sunday, November 17 – 9 am to 3 pm at Tumamoc Hill

$145 per person

Keeping a nature 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 3-session class will introduce the tools and processes of keeping a nature journal, with instructor Roseann Hanson and guest instructor Paul Mirocha.

“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.

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.

TO FIND OUT MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nature-journaling-tickets-69219225567

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Writing the Lives of the Sonoran Desert: Exploring nature with words

Friday, December 13 – 5 pm to 7 pm in the Tumamoc Library

Saturday, December 14 – 9 am to 3 pm at Tumamoc Hill

Sunday, December 15 – 9 am to 3 pm at Tumamoc Hill

$145 per person

In this class you will learn to explore nature with words, from poetry to fiction to science writing. You will learn to participate in nature fully and honestly, as well as to observe, record, and express nature in writing, without “purple prose.”

Nature writers Jonathan and Roseann Hanson will share with you their “secret” for a daily dose of wildness, along with a simple process of recording what you observe accurately, of researching facts and details, and then potentially producing an article or essay for personal enjoyment or publication.

The class will include:

Prior to the workshop: The Hansons will share a suggested reading list and a few easy assignments to give you content to bring to the first class.

On Friday evening in the beautiful Desert Laboratory library, which resonates with over a century of powerful words about nature (it is the birthplace of the field of ecology and the venerable journal Ecology), Jonathan and Roseann will introduce types of writing and share samples to discuss:

- Nature writing (more poetic writing; examples of writers: Terry Tempest Williams, Gary Snyder)

- Natural history writing (combining science with creative prose; examples of writers: Gary Paul Nabhan, Robert Michael Pyle, Ann Zwinger, Pete Dunne)

- Interpretive writing (careful interpretation of science-based facts into interesting writing for very general use)

- Or a combination of all three, such as Diane Ackerman’s Natural History of the Senses.

On Saturday and Sunday the class will spend time exploring Tumamoc Hill and engaging with its wildness through writing exercises. Bring a lunch each day to enjoy in the Sonoran Plant garden courtyard. Throughout the weekend we’ll share writing, and discuss ways to overcome common challenges such as overly “purple” prose or writer’s block.

By the end of class, you will come away with a new outlook on nature writing, along with new skills. Along the way the Hansons will challenge your perception of nature and your role in it—and spark your creative process.

TO FIND OUT MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-the-lives-of-the-sonoran-desert-tickets-69223668857