The Sierra Club Guide To Sketching In Nature

This lavishly illustrated sketching and watercolor primer reveals how creating art can enhance any wilderness experience. Featuring simple, step-by-step instructions and 280 examples of the author's own work, "Sketching in Nature" covers tools and equipment; choosing a subject; understanding color and using a color wheel; depicting clouds and weather patterns; and more. 55 color illustrations.

A guide to the pleasures and practicalities of painting outdoors covers choosing materials, adapting to weather conditions, and capturing the ever-changing light.

"With dozens of examples of her own work, along with 15 complete step-by-step demonstrations, [the author] shows you how to capture a range of environments."--Page 4 of cover.

Featuring simple step-by-step instructions and hundreds of illustrations, this sketching and watercolor primer reveals how creating art can enhance any outdoor experience.In this inspirational guide, Cathy Johnson, a nationally recognized artist, naturalist and teacher, offers personal anecdotes, exercises and useful tips that are perfect for every amateur artist. This book covers a wide range of subjects, including:·Tools and equipment·Mixing paints and washes·Selecting a subject to sketch or paint·Capturing the illusion of light·Sketching clouds, flowers, trees, plants and animals·Using field sketches as studies for future paintings·Understanding color and using a color wheel·A source list for art suppliesWith more than 280 of Johnson's own illustrations - both in color and black and white - this book will inspire you to appreciate every detail of the natural world.

A visually stunning exploration of the artistic process by an award-winning nature artist Drawing Nature presents the creative process of an acclaimed nature artist, guiding readers from field sketches to finished art and demonstrating how science and the close observation of nature can be integrated into the artist’s work to create dynamic, meaningful images. With chapters that flow from drawing basics to more advanced methods and concepts, this beautifully illustrated book is like a look inside the artist’s sketchbooks to discover their secrets. Linda Miller Feltner demonstrates how observation and recording are sparks to creativity. Her journey from loose sketches and drawings to a completed work begins with observing a natural process, object, or interaction between organisms. Her curiosity generates scientific inquiry that, when researched, helps her to answer a question or make broad, often surprising connections. Blending examples of her stunning artwork with invaluable insights into time-honored art techniques, Feltner illustrates how sketching, developing an image, and scientific accuracy are essential to her art and encourages each of us to cultivate our own powers of observation and discover anew the world around us. Drawing Nature enables us to look at nature through an artist’s eyes, draw inspiration from a place or a moment, and give expression to its beauty.

Grab your pen and seize the day! Make art a part of your everyday life, and everyday life a part of your art. Vast opportunities and great joy await you as you learn sketching "on the spot"--be it in your own backyard, amid the bustle of a busy market, on a hike or wherever you happen to find yourself. Cathy Johnson leads you on this thrilling expedition as you explore ways to turn everyday sights and experiences into a cache of visual memories. She and other artists have opened their sketchbooks to share their favorite subjects, ranging from nature's paraphernalia to aging buildings, crashing waves and beloved pets. You will travel the world through sketches and stories, through deserts and deep woods, cities and small towns. Along the way, you'll pick up helpful tips and clever, on-location improvisations for making your sketching sessions pleasurable, safe and productive. • Chapters focus on sketching subjects close to home, on travels, in nature, in urban settings and from everyday life. • 10+ artists share favorite sketches, tips and techniques. • 15+ demos reveal on-the-spot sketches as they come together. • Includes expert advice on getting the best results from a range of mediums, including graphite, ink, colored pencil, watercolor and gouache. The Artist's Sketchbook is pure delight, full of passion and possibility, ideas and inspirations. You'll learn ways to be prepared, simplify, still your inner critic, embrace the here and now, and in doing so, discover wonders you never thought to look for.

In straightforward text complemented by step-by-step illustrations, dozens of exercises lead the hand and mind through creating accurate reproductions of plants and animals as well as landscapes, skies, and more. Laws provides clear, practical advice for every step of the process for artists at every level, from the basics of choosing supplies to advanced techniques.