Classical Drawing and Nature

So, another wildlife art hero for me is an American teacher and author;

Clare Walker Leslie. 

Leslie wrote a series of books starting with "Nature Drawing" (1980), promoting nature as a worthy subject for serious artists. With it, she also noted that drawing is an invaluable tool for learning not just about drawing but also about nature.

Of course, drawing nature has to include some drawing outside. So, this book had a chapter focusing on Keeping A Field Sketchbook. Leslie expanded that into another book; "The Art Of Field Sketching" (1984)...

Sketching regularly creates a defacto journal! This book had a chapter on Keeping a Field Journal. So, of course, that also got expanded into another book; "Keeping a Nature Journal" (2000), by Leslie and Charles E. Roth with a foreword by Edward O. Wilslon...

It is by keeping a regular journal, that you can learn the most from nature. To draw makes you look more closely and learn. So, of course, there was a further development for the idea: to use a nature journal to teach children about nature - and help to make that Nature Connection, so important today's Children and Nature Network movement.

The next book; "The Nature Connection; an Outdoor Workbook for Children, Families and Classrooms" (2010), has an endorsement on the front cover from Richard Louv, the author of "Last Child in the Woods" (2005)...

It is really interesting how the target age-group for each book gets younger and younger. 

The first book, Nature Drawing, is as much about getting nature drawing accepted by the formal art world as an acceptable form of classical drawing, (much like life drawing or still life drawing or w.h.y), as it is about using drawing to learn to study nature. 

The next book, The Art of Field Sketching, is appealing to people who already study nature, but who may or may not be artists, but still wish to keep a sketchbook journal. Even a doodle is an acceptable sketch for a journal. Because it is visual and not written, the memory is evoked immediately, where a written journal has to be read first. It really helps over come the fear and expectation of drawing 'artistically'.

The next book, Keeping A Nature Journal, has more of the technical and motivational techniques. It is a 'how to...' book full of tips and tricks and potential excersizes. It even covers aspects of how to teach how to keep a journal to others. 

The last book; "The Nature Connection", is a lot of fun! It is definitly a workbook, full of easy-repeatable exercises and a month-bymonth guide to help keep the whole thing going. Just Brilliant!

The thing is... art for children and art which uses simple materials is where all the creativity is at! While paintng and advanced printmaking and digital photography and darkroom techniques are great, you can't experiment with costly or time-consuming techniques so much. It is the low tech, low-art that lets you experiment and have fun!