Field Arts

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NEW - Field Arts Bootcamp at Ghost Ranch in NM

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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.



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Field Arts tools: A round-up

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As field artists we tend to focus on the tools of paper and ink and color . . . but there are many other tools that enhance our ability to see, study, and record our nature observations. Below is a round-up of my favorite field arts tools. I go into much greater detail on each of these in my book, Master of Field Arts. The Field Arts Discovery Kit includes two of the tools listed below, a Pocket Loupe and a Mini Plant Press.

Pocket Loupe

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In my mind, the well-equipped naturalist and Master of Field Arts will carry two optics tools in his or her kit. The least expensive and also most indispensible is a loupe or pocket loupe. The word may derive from Old French meaning “sapphire lens.”

Use one to inspect the reproductive parts of a flower, the scales on a butterfly wing, or even the edge of your field knife whilst sharpening. What to look for:

- I like 10X power—although you’ll find more powerful loupes, the greater the magnification, the smaller the depth of field (which is hard to use), and with lower-powered magnification, you just can’t see as much detail.

- Glass lenses (rather than plastic).

- Triple lenses, called a “triplet” or “Hastings triplet.”

- A self-cover and a pouch for carrying is a bonus.

The Field Arts Discovery Kit includes a Pocket Loupe; a higher quality option is a $30 Bausch and Lomb Coddington model.

Binocular

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A binocular is the next most important optic. And if you want to be insufferable, insist on saying “binocular” and never “a pair of binoculars.” That’s because a binocular is literally two ocular lenses; a monocular is one ocular lens.

Okay, didacticism aside, let’s get down to why every serious naturalist needs a good binocular instrument for:

- Observing wildlife from a far vantage point without disrupting the animal’s behavior;

- Observing close-but-small subjects such as butterflies and lizards;

- Scanning far landscape features such as geology or plant species;

- Observing very small details (by inverting the oculars).

My favorite binocular is the Swarovski NL 8X32: excellent exit pupil size for great low-light viewing, fantastic field of view, amazingly close focus for the power, and excellent weight for their power. I can wear mine all day and not feel any neck strain, and because of the superb optics, no eye strain. They are, however, very expensive (worth it if this is a tool you use every day, like I do; plus Swarovski’s warranty is excellent and portable with the binocular, so look for them used if you can). An alternative that is the excellent 8x30 CL.

We’ve been Swarovski fans for more than 30 years and remain so to this day. My only minor complaint is their new strap system, which is way too fussy—as you can see, I replaced mine with a simple leather strap, which is far preferable to the vaguely S&M contraption that is stock.

Field Knife

“Back in the day,” as the saying goes, whether hiking, backpacking, canoeing, car-camping, hunting, or doing fieldwork as a biologist, you carried a fixed- blade sheath knife. It was axiomatic that the knife would be your primary tool for dozens of tasks: cutting rope and webbing, field-dressing fish or game, cooking and eating, carving, you name it.

It was also axiomatic that a fixed-blade knife would be the best choice for those tasks, given its superior strength and control over a folding knife, and easy one-hand accessibility right there at your belt.

I favor a knife no longer than 4 inches, with a spear-point blade and a Scandinavian (“Scandi”) grind (the blade holds its thickness from the spine most of the way toward the edge, which has a single bevel extending quite high up each side). These are versatile and very strong. The knife above is my original little LT Wright field knife with a stag handle (no longer made, sadly); today my knife is a 3.5-inch Böker with a leather sheath, made in Argentina.

Mini Plant Press

In the mid-1980s I acquired a 3x5-inch mini plant press from Vince Roth, the director of the Southwest Research Station—he made a few to sell to students and fellow biologists. It’s been with me all over the world, and I love it so much I decided to replicate it and offer through my Field Arts Institute. Press flowers, leaves, and other curiosities to preserve in your field journals.

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Art of Trees Workshop Images

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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!

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.

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Seeing the Unseen: Cut-a-way Views

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During our recent Sonoran Desert Field Arts Bootcamp in Aravaipa Canyon, I watched artist Patricia Larenas draw a beautiful landscapito in her journal and turn it into an interactive feature by overlaying a door that the viewer opens to reveal the landscape.

Magic! I immediately thought of many other ways to incorporate cut-a-way panels: day sky / night sky; tree trunk / woodpecker hole-nest; creek or ocean surface / underwater life; gopher or ant mount / underground chambers; snow surface / animal tunnels or stream . . . it’s really endless, the only limit your imagination.

The technique and tools are pretty simple, too. In my field bag I keep a plastic-handled scalpel with cover (or search for “bread lame tool”), a small vial of PVA glue (= Elmer’s glue), and a small glue-spreading brush (from the bookmaking arts).

Create your “top” or “visible” view first, keeping in mind any space you need to leave for what you envision for the “underside” or “unseen” view, which you complete on the next page. Eyeball marker points to align the scenes up and pencil them in so you stay within scale and match features.

When finished with both drawings, lightly sketch with pencil the door/s you want to open, and also mark the hinges (the uncut part) so you don’t get over-enthusiastic and cut through them.

Once you triple-check the door placement and cut lines, place a piece of thin cardboard (such as from a cereal box; I keep a 9x6 piece in the back of my journal) between the pages, and use the scalpel to cut your door/s.

Finally, spread a thin layer of PVA glue on the back of the first page and carefully press to the second page, aligning the corners and smoothing everything flat. Let dry. Then I cover the cut-a-way part with a sheet of paper and lightly spritz the back side of the doors with water, close them, and then place my Perspex Palette on top of that, and a weight on top of the palette and let dry. This helps ensure the door lays flat again.

I would love to see your results if you try creating cut-a-ways for the “unseen” views!

Turn on the sound for soothing creek burbling and bird calls.

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Alaska Field Arts Bootcamp – August 19–25, 2023

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Image: Joris Beugels / Unsplash.com

Join me and Jonathan on a unique Arctic journey as we experience the beauty and magic of Alaska’s vast interior, from the Alaska Range to the Brooks Range, crossing the mighty Yukon River and the Arctic Circle in between.

We begin in the legendary gold rush city of Fairbanks on the Chena River, where we’ll get oriented at a local museum and enjoy the Sandhill Crane Festival. The next day the adventure begins when we depart by small planes to a bush airstrip at the Wood River Lodge, where we spend four days and three nights nestled in the huge roadless wilderness of the Alaska Range.

We return to Fairbanks and next day depart for the North by van on our optional Arctic Circle two-day extension. We’ll cross the mighty Yukon River and then the Arctic Circle on our way to the quirky roadhouse camp of Coldfoot, at the base of the Brooks Range.

Photos: Jonathan Hanson

Why August? It’s our favorite time in Alaska: it’s fall in the high north, with willows and alders and birches turning golden and red; blueberries, cranberries, and mushrooms are abundant; snow is often already dusting the dramatic mountains; and best of all, the mosquitoes are pretty much gone.

You will experience a full range of classic interior Alaska habitats and wildlife and seven days 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. No excuses. Just pure nature journaling growth and mindset.

Suitable For:

  • All journalers, from beginners to advanced, as your Bootcamp experience is tailored to your appropriate level: nurturing, inquisitive, and expansive. Not suitable for non-journalers, so please consider carefully if your travel partner is not a journaler, field sketcher, or nature photographer.

  • A moderate level of mobility, fitness, and health. We’ll be walking up to half a mile on flat sidewalks or dirt trails in Fairbanks; the trails around the Lodge can take you as far as you like within your ability; and we’ll be walking on uneven and potentially difficult terrain around the Koyakuk River and at various stops on the Arctic Extension. We will be in very remote locations away from quick emergency medical help; we will have a satellite phone but keep in mind, response and transport could be a significant wait.

    You will be required to secure trip cancellation and medical evacuation insurance. Trust us, it’s worth it, and very affordable.

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;

  • Orientation day in Fairbanks (museum and Sandhill Crane Festival) and accommodation and meals (lunch and dinner) at the Marriott Springhill Suites on the Chena River (Saturday, August 19);

  • Four days and three nights at Wood River Lodge in the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks (August 20–23);

  • Small-plane flights from Fairbanks to the Lodge and back;

  • Wine and beer happy hour each evening;

  • Use of Swarovski Optics binoculars throughout the Bootcamp;

  • Field kit gift bags;

  • Accommodation and dinner on return to Fairbanks (August 23) at the Marriott Springhill Suites. Fly out on the 24th or join the Arctic Extension, below.

  • OPTIONAL ARCTIC EXTENSION:

    • Van to Coldfoot, driving up the Dalton Highway, crossing the Yukon River and the Arctic Circle (August 24–25).

    • Stopping along the way for sketching and wildlife viewing.

    • Overnight at the classic “haul road” roadhouse Coldfood Camp in the tiny hamlet of Coldfoot (this is the only accommodation on the Dalton, and a true rugged worker’s accommodation, built in the 1970s).

    • Visit to the Koyakuk River and the BLM Interagency Interpretive Center.

    • Return to Fairbanks and stay at Pike’s Landing (or similar) on the Chena River (August 25). Fly out on the 26th.

Pricing:

  • Base cost Aug 19-23 only, one person, sharing room – $3,250

    • Single supplement (4 available) – + $580

  • Optional two-day Arctic Extension Aug 24-25 – +$725

    • Single supplement, Coldfoot Arctic Extension (4 available) – + $580

  • A deposit will be required to secure your space. Final payments will be due in June. See FAQ for refund policy (below).

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Around the World in 80 Trees – Australia [FREE WORKSHOP]

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Inspired by Jonathan Drori’s wonderful books Around the World in 80 Trees and Around the World Plants, we’re going to travel around the globe by region and sketch interesting, weird, iconic, or beautiful trees and tree-like plants.

No. 7: Australia

What you’ll need: a multi-media sketchbook or an accordion booklet (see the versions I did for the other sessions, links below), pen and / or pencil for our base drawings, and then watercolor or colored pencil to quickly bring them to life.

TIP: I used a strip of heavy watercolor paper folded into four squares to create an “accordion” booklet to record my trees (8 total, 4 on each side).

Prepwork: have on hand a simple outline map of Australia (don’t forget Tasmania!) so you can sketch location points for each species.

When: Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 9 am Arizona time (use a time converter to make sure you pick the right time for your time zone: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html )

HOW: Zoom link. This session is free but for security, registration is required. Sign up > > HERE <.

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Saguaro snowy scene 90-second tutorial

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It's fun and easy to make quick "landscapitos" using just a few colors + white gouache. I laid a duo-tone sky / background using Manganese Blue Hue graded into Indanthrone Blue. Spatter with white gouache while damp. Let dry. Add your trees or cactus (I used Indanthrone mixed with Aureolin Yellow to make dark green), making the ones in the distance smaller and fainter. Add smaller shrubs if desired, with a dark color (Indanthrone), for contrast. Add snow with thick white gouache, then a few snow flurries on top, and voilá! A snowy landscapito! [Sound on for cheery holiday music!]

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Stickers now available on-demand!

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Every order from the Field Arts shop comes with a Metadata Reminder bookmark and a Nature Journaling is My Therapy sticker; if you order a Master of Field Arts, we are now also including the custom Master of Field Arts sticker designed by Akshay Mahajan! But if you want to order extras, we’ve just added them to our shop—printed on demand for us by Printful! $4 each. Show your field arts dedication!

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A virtual tour of my England journal pages

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Sketching and painting live at Wasdale Head, Lake District, where I hosted my first virtual field trip in 2020! See the workshop HERE!

My husband, Jonathan, and I spent a month in England recently, covering 1500 miles, from the Edgcumbe peninsula near Plymouth to the Lake District, and from Wales to Norwich!

We taught classes and gave presentations at the Armchair Adventure Festival, went birding with a friend in North Devon, explored Hereford and Hay on Wye, and then visited our overlanding publishing partner in Hitchin.

To top it off we also attended the initial print proofs for the European versions of my two books, Nature Journaling for a Wild Life and Master of Field Arts! (Both also available in the USA from my own Shop.)

These two books will soon be available in the UK, Europe and beyond—even Australia—through the highly respected natural history book and supplies retailer NHBS.com.

BONUS ALERT! They are taking pre-order now, and the first 15 customers will get FREE attendance at a 2023 Journaling Jumpstart workshop ($65 value).

Below is a video tour of all my journal pages. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them! [Hint: click the “Full Screen” symbol on the video to open larger; it’s the square at the far right, bottom.]

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In Darwin's Footsteps

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In Darwin's footsteps: As part of the opening chapter of Master of Field Arts, I include an image of Charles Darwin's journal where he sketched out his origin of species theory . . . Here I sit overlooking Plymouth from the Mt. Edgcumbe estate, where Mr. Darwin explored the coves whilst awaiting the fitment of the Beagle.

In his journal Darwin wrote:

"I walked on the seashore and returned home through a part of Lord Mt. Edgcumbe's park. The day has been very fine and the view of Plymouth was exceedingly striking. The country is so indented with arms of the sea that there is a very new and different scene from every point of view." 26 November, 1831

Something about sketching the very land where Darwin roamed sets the perfect Field Arts theme for the debut of Master of Field Arts in the UK and Europe, even Australia! (See HERE for ordering information and BONUS for the first 15 customers of each book.)

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Field Arts Books Now Available in UK, Europe, & Australia!

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And here they are—the UK and Europe editions of my books —Nature Journaling for a Wild Life and Master of Field Arts. Swallowtail Print in Norwich has done an absolutely gorgeous job on these, and they are FSC-certified green printing!

In a few weeks, after the final print, cut, and binding, they will be distributed by the highly respected NHBS.com (Natural History Books) in the UK, Europe, and beyond—even Australia!

BONUS: The first fifteen people who purchase the NHBS Nature Journaling for a Wild Life will receive free attendance to a future 8-week live online companion class series that parallels the book’s learning syllabus (a value of $65); and for Master of Field Arts, the first fifteen will receive a 7-week live online companion class in 2023.

NHBS are taking pre-orders now for shipping in November.

https://www.nhbs.com/master-of-field-arts-book

https://www.nhbs.com/nature-journaling-for-a-wild-life-book

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Around the World in 80 Trees series – Part 4, Europe

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Inspired by Jonathan Drori’s wonderful books Around the World in 80 Trees and Around the World Plants, we’ve been traveling around the globe by region and sketch interesting, weird, iconic, or beautiful trees and tree-like plants. We just finished Part 4: Europe! Please visit the Tutorials page to view this session, or parts 1 to 3 (North America, South America, and Africa): https://www.exploringoverland.com/field-arts-tutorials#virtualfield

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NEW Journaling Jumpstart Class

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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 Arts Overland Journey — 3,584 miles and 50 journal pages

From the little cabin along the Yellowstone River, near Greycliff, Montana.

Just home from a month of overland travel teaching my Wyoming Field Arts Bootcamp and at the Northern Rockies Nature Journaling Conference in Montana. It was truly a blessing to spend so much time exploring new habitats, meeting and teaching so many wonderful people, weathering some intense storms (including a tree falling on my camp!), and recording my discoveries in my journal. Fifty pages' worth!

- 7 states

- 3,585.4 miles

- 15 days of camping (in 10 locations, nearly all by rivers!)

- 27 days

- 50 journal pages!

Photo courtesy Mary Jo Watters, Wyoming Field Arts Bootcamp July 2022

Finished demonstrations showing “regular” landscape view and an “imagined” cut-a-way view showing the water and creek bottom (and fish!).

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Wyoming Field Arts Bootcamp report

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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.

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:

 

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:

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

Scenes from around the ranch (by Mary Jo Watters)

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Chroma Sonorensis: Making ink from mesquite tree sap

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Huge old mesquite tree on the Verde River in Arizona; from the US Forest Service publication Riparian Research and Management - Past present and future Volume 2

Drawing and painting in your journal with locally foraged wild pigments is deeply satisfying—true place-based art.

As part of my Chroma Sonorensis project, I began experimenting with making ink from mesquite tree sap—and I’m really pleased with the results. The mesquite (Prosopis velutina) is endemic to North America and an iconic tree in the Southwestern United States (though it’s now an invasive species plaguing nearly every continent). I grew up with mesquites, and especially love the huge old trees that are the remnants of the once-great bosques (Spanish for forest) that lined our now-dry rivers a hundred-plus years ago.

I gathered strips of bark from a tree in my back yard, where a lot of dark brown sap had leaked after a pruning cut last year. I soaked the bark in distilled water in a glass bowl, and then simmered it over a pan of barely boiling water for about four hours, until the liquid was very, very dark. I filtered the pigment solution through a paper coffee filter (several times, using clean filters each time). I then put the solution into the stainless steel pot and reduced it by at least four times by slow simmering, until only about half a cup of liquid was left—being very careful not to let it get to a rolling boil or burn. Finally, I cooled the liquid and added a very few drops of vinegar, and then decanted into small vials and a glass jar, adding a clove to each container (to help prevent mold).

The ink is a beautiful, rich brown that flows perfectly and adheres easily to the paper. Normally when making plant-based inks you must add a “binder” such as gum arabic (just a little) so the color adheres to the paper. But because this ink is made from sap it has a “built in” binder in the form of the slightly sticky sugars that occur in phloem (one of the heartwood tissue components in trees).

You can try making your own ink from lots of different sources. Berries can produce lovely inks though their color may fade or change color entirely over time. Dark-brown and black inks were historically made from plant-based sources of tannin, or tannic acid. Experiment! Try any tree sap that shows color, walnut hulls (not the nuts but the green fuzzy outer covering of the hard nut), and oak galls, which are not tree fruit but a nodule created by the tree in response to a little wasp (there are many species that do this) that lays its eggs in the oak leaf tissue and the tree actually forms the hard shell in response to the invasion. The baby wasps actually develop inside the round gall. You can read more about iron gall ink here, along with a good description of the ancient recipes for ink, including why vinegar is used.

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Field notes, a historical perspective

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Field notes in the Americas by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, ca. 1820s.

Explorers have been keeping hand-written field notes—with or without sketches—for hundreds of years, if not many millennia (on observing many rock art sites, I’ve been struck by the possibility that early humans were using rock and pigment to record their travels and nature information for hunting and gathering, and sharing their findings with others . . . such as at the large complex at the Neolithic Tweifelfontein in Namibia, which includes a large slab map showing water holes and game; see my field notes from this site at the bottom of this post).

A spread from my book Master of Field Arts showcasing the journals of Charles Darwin, Meriwether Lewis, and Thomas Orde-Lees—as well as a page from my humble journal during a weeklong biological survey of the Sierra los Locos, Sonora, Mexico in 2019. [Click to enlarge.]

Browsing the field notes of science explorers such as Charles Darwin (1809–1882), Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Edgar Mearns (1856-1916), and Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783-1840) gives us an incalculable wealth of knowledge of the lands they explored and the human cultures and nature they observed. Darwin’s branching tree of evolution (right) with the scribble “I think . . .” never fails to give me the chills.

From the journals of geographer-explorers such as Thomas Orde-Lees, a member of Shackelton’s Endurance crew on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1916, and Meriwether Lewis (1774-1805) and William Clark (1770-1838) from their Corps of Discovery, we discover new lands and learn first-hand the astonishing courage and skill needed to push the limits of human exploration.

Their meticulously detailed and illustrated field journals are priceless to humanity, as I mentioned, for their wealth of data, but also as roadmaps of human learning through exploration. Our boundless curiosity coupled with our ability to record what we see is one of the critical attributes that sets apart humans from other species.

Alexander von Humboldt’s journals from his Americas explorations ca. 1799–1800. (from https://humboldt.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/work/?lang=en)

List of bird species observed by Edgar Mearns (1856-1916) at Fort Verde, Arizona, in 1884.

The Importance of Field Notes Today

Field notes are still critical tools for field scientists and explorers, and yet the practice is waning with the advent of computers and pocket devices with 12-mexapixel cameras. You could say that I have been on a mission for the last several years to not only help save the tradition of venerable classic field notes but to also spread the love of recording nature to everyone—from kids to grandparents. John Muir Laws (The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling) says it best: “Keeping a journal of your observations, questions, and reflections will enrich your experiences and develop gratitude, reverence, and the skills of a naturalist.”

In these digitally cacophonous times that are robbing us of the ability to focus intently on one thing for very long, connecting with nature through careful observation and note-taking is more important today than ever in the past. Keeping a field journal may be the key to healing our digitally fractured minds.

I’ve been keeping field journals for almost 50 years, since I was eight years old and my Dad built me a Stevenson screen stocked with an array of weather instruments—every day at 4 pm I would head out with my notebook to record the daily weather and make notes and field observations. That—along with rockhounding expeditions with Dad and wildflower safaris with my Mom—cemented my lifelong love of nature observation, scientific discovery, and exploration (not to mention I’m still a weather nerd).

Grinnell’s narrative journal page from a 1910 field expedition to Pilot Knob. I followed his method starting in college—and still do, albeit with more drawings and color. I keep a small field notebook for jotting quick notes when I’m traveling or moving quickly, in addition to my larger narrative journal (see below).

When I started studying ecology and evolutionary biology in college, my field notes became serious records of natural history data using the Grinnell Method of scientific note-taking (a thorough documentation style, which included four components: a field notebook, a field journal, a species account, and a catalog of specimens; see right).

“Our field-records will be perhaps the most valuable of all our results. …any and all (as many as you have time to record) items are liable to be just what will provide the information wanted. You can’t tell in advance which observations will prove valuable. Do record them all!”

– Joseph Grinnell, 1908

About eight years ago I started adding sketches and watercolor to my field notes, adopting a more “journaling” style and yet still always including the critical metadata and nature data.

Sketches and data from my journals have been used in several books written by me and my husband, Jonathan Hanson. In 2020 I published Nature Journaling for a Wild Life, to encourage anyone who wants to begin keeping a field or “nature” journal, and in 2022 Master of Field Arts, a sort of “master’s degree” for the next level to becoming a lifelong naturalist and explorer.

Obviously we can’t all be Charles Darwins or Alexander von Humboldts, but we can explore the world around us and make observations and fall in love with the process of discovery.

Time and again I return to one of my favorite published journals of discovery, the superbly readable The Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research by longtime friends John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts. Published in 1941, it is the full and shared vision of their scientific collecting expedition aboard the Western Flyer sailing out of Monterey. The book is part travel journal, part philosophical essay, as well as a nature journal and a catalogue of species Grinnell would highly approve of. Steinbeck described the purpose of the journey was

“to stir curiosity”

. . . but my favorite line from the book perfectly captures the larger context of exploration and observation (and recording those observations in our journals):

“It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars, and then back to the tide pool again.”

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Field notes page from our crossing of Botswana in 2019.

Above and below: Studying and documenting a large (and probably 1,000+ year-old) Welwitschia mirabilis in the Ugab River region of Namibia, 2019.

 

I love that my field journal—made for me by my husband over 25 years ago (and my companion on tens of thousands of miles of exploration and field work on five continents) so closely resembles the journal of Meriwether Lewis (right).

Resources for exploring historical and modern field notes:

Start with the Smithsonian Institution’s Field Book Project (scroll to the bottom of the page to access the archives links) at https://siarchives.si.edu/about/field-book-project

The goal of the Field Book Project is to promote awareness of and access to thousands of scientific field notes in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, and holdings at the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Libraries. It began in 2010 as an effort to bring to light these hidden collections with a goal to catalog 5,000 field books and provide online access to those records, a goal graciously funded by the Center for Libraries and Information Resources (CLIR). At this point, the Project has cataloged over 9,500 field books and digitized over 4,000.

Another rabbit hole to explore is the UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology’s Archives Field Notes collection: https://mvz.berkeley.edu/mvzarchives/

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This post is an update to my 2019 post, “The art of seeing instead of looking: reasons to keep a nature journal”.

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Toolkit tips: Power of observation

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The power of observation is one of the most important tools in your field arts “toolkit.” Sharpen it regularly!

Here’s an example, which I could have missed had I been just looking and not seeing what was happening:

I noticed recently that when pruning a little scraggly mesquite tree (Prosopis velutina) in our yard that the next month it had sprouted HUGE thorns.

I have to ponder: Do plants have genetic memory?

Prosopis species evolved with Pleistocene megafauna. Are the mammoth thorns in response to predation by mammoths? (Even if in this case the predation was by shears, not megafauna!)

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Introducing Chroma Sonorensis project

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In March this year I embarked on a yearlong project exploring the chroma—colors, from Greek khrōma for “surface of the body, skin, color of the skin”—of the Sonoran Desert by creating paint and ink from 10 plants and soil types of our region.

Some of the colors will be relatively easy to capture—ink from the magenta fruit of the prickly pear cactus—while others will involve expedition-level travel—using scientific survey reports to track down the elusive Mayo indigo plant, popular throughout the Americas as a treasured blue paint and dye.

Each color tells a story of culture and nature: purple ochre, a hematite (iron oxide) pigment formed through the fires of volcanic upheaval, was popular amongst the southwestern Trincheras Culture (A.D. 700-1100) and traded widely, where did it originate? My research has found one of the sources, in Tucson, near Tumamoc Hill, site of a Trincheras outpost (see below).

Tucson Mts. purple ochre (aka hematite)

Examples of Trincheras pottery from northern Sonora, Mexico (Douglas R. Mitchell, Jonathan B. Mabry, Natalia Martínez Tagüeña, Gary Huckleberry, Richard C. Brusca & M. Steven Shackley (2020) Prehistoric Adaptation, Identity, and Interaction Along the Northern Gulf of California, California Archaeology, 12:2, 163-195, DOI: 10.1080/1947461X.2020.1818938 )

For each color I will create an ink or a paint, and works of art as well as written stories of nature and culture—“the chroma, or skin of the place”—which will be compiled in a finished work, a book, and gallery show: Chroma Sonorensis. 

CHROMA 1: the jaguar and the Ochres

Iron (Fe) is the fourth most abundant element, by mass, in the Earth’s crust. As it ages in the soil, the iron oxidizes (a process in which a substance morphs because of the addition of oxygen—think rust) and changes colors. There are yellow, brown, red, purple, and even green iron oxides, also known as “ochres.” The differences in their hues are a matter of what the base mineral or minerals are and how much moisture was involved in their formation. For example yellow ochre is FeO(OH)·nH2O, a hydrated iron (limonite), while red ochre is Fe2O3 and gains its red from the mineral hematite, which is an anhydrous (un-hydrated) iron oxide. Purple ochre is the same formula as red but comprises different particle-size and light-diffraction properties.

Humans have been using ochres to paint cave walls, adorn their bodies, and decorate objects for more than 200,000 years. Archaeologist Tammy Hodgskiss wrote:

“People may say ochre is the earliest form of art and symbolism, but there’s more to it. Ochre shows how our brains were developing, and that we were using our environment. It bridges the divide between art and science.”

Ochres are still used today, as pottery slips and in paint: yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw umber, vivianite, and many others.

And let’s not forget that human bodies—as with many animals—contain iron, 70% of which is carried in our blood via hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from lungs, gills, or other respiratory organs to peripheral tissues that need the oxygen for metabolism. When the hemes pick up oxygen molecules, the interaction (oxidation) turns the blood red.

I knew I wanted to include an ochre chapter in Chroma Sonorensis, and immediately thought of the similarities between the beautiful red and orange ochre cliffs so common in the desert Southwest with the colors of a jaguar’s pelt. Southern Arizona and northern Mexico are home to a handful of the northernmost jaguars on the planet. And there is no more famous jaguar in the Sonoran Desert than the male called Macho B, who was was snared in 2009 in a leg-hold trap by Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists so they could radio-collar him. The capture was ill-conceived (it was clandestine not to mention illegal to handle an endangered species and stupid to do so to a 14+ year old big cat) and poorly executed (he was given too much tranquilizer) and led to the death of this magnificent creature.

And so I decided to honor Macho B by making a pilgrimage to the tree where he was snared, hopefully collect pigments from the site, and paint his portrait with the wild paint gathered from where his own iron-rich blood was spilled—telling his story, keeping it alive so we may prevent this from happening again.

Heading into the yellow-ochre walls of Peñasco Canyon near the Mexico border.

In late April my husband Jonathan Hanson and I followed a rough four-wheel-drive track into the rugged canyon country of southern Arizona's borderlands, west of Nogales. The yellow-ochre hoodoo-spires of Peñasco Canyon greeted us as we hiked to the snare tree site.

This pilgrimage and project are very personal for me and Jonathan because we heard Macho B roaring in Brown Canyon in the Baboquivari Mountains in 1997, just weeks after he was first photographed on the ridge to the north of our house. I have the field note in my nature journal about it.

The tragedy of the snare is that not only was capturing and radio collaring not necessary—by 2009 he'd been non-invasively studied by trail cameras and scat studies for nearly a decade, and leg-hold snares are notoriously dangerous (two jaguars had already died in Sonora, Mexico, in these insidious traps ostensibly for “science”)—but after the Game and Fish researchers tranquilized him and put on the collar, a few days later he stopped moving. They found him in very bad health, airlifted him to Phoenix, and euthanized him.

The snare tree 12 years after Macho B’s death.

I sketched the tree, which has three very distinct claw marks and the diagonal slash of the snare wire. He fought and fought and fought the snare, ruining his foot, breaking a tooth.

It was very emotional to sit there knowing what happened. The entire story is told in Janay Brun’s excellent book Cloak and Jaguar: Following a Cat from Desert to Courtroom.” Janay, one of the contractors working for the researchers who set up the study, became a vocal whistle-blower about the ethics and illegality of the project. She was even prosecuted for being accessory to illegally taking an endangered species. None of the state and federal agency staff ultimately responsible for the project were charged or reprimanded. (You can also read much more detail on Janay’s blog: https://whistlingforthejaguar.wordpress.com)

I collected red and yellow iron-oxide (ochre) rocks from under the tree, and orange ochre rocks from upstream, from which to make paint to complete a formal painting for Chroma Sonorensis. My field sketch study-concept sits at the top of this article.

I'm calling the pigments "Onça Ochres" — orange for Macho B's pelt, red for his blood that coated the tree and soil where he tore his paw and fought for his life, and yellow for the canyon walls that look over his spirit.

“Onça” is Brazilian-Portuguese for jaguar, and the scientific name for jaguar is Panthera onza, North America’s only roaring cat.

Yesterday I completed initial processing of these wild pigments, crushing the rocks, grinding them, and sifting to 200 microns so I can mull them into paints with gum arabic. Curious about the volume of rocks I collected, I weighed them: 2.7 kilograms! No wonder I was tired after our long hike out—but the results were worth it. I love the three colors, they will make a perfect Macho B portrait.

Below is a gallery of images from the canyon, including of the small shrine where Macho B is remembered. I left a small piece of red ochre.