It doesn't matter how you draw, but how you observe. Join us as we explore the beauty of Pepperwood while learning how to improve observation skills, ask relevant scientific questions, and explore the natural world through journaling. Learn from naturalist, artist, and author John Muir (Jack) Laws (California Academy of Sciences) how to best observe the natural world and record your observations in your own nature journal. Subjects will include plant close ups, animals that move and mastering the five minute landscape.  Bring lunch and water and wear layered apparel and sturdy hiking boots.

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It doesn’t matter how you draw, but how you observe! Join us as we explore the beauty of Pepperwood while learning how to improve observation skills and ask relevant scientifi c questions. Learn how to best observe the natural world and record your observations in your own nature journal. Subjects will include plant close ups, animals that move and mastering the “five-minute” landscape. Ages 14 and up welcome. Make a reservation.

How can you draw birds that move or even fly away? With a combination of understanding bird structure, knowing where to look when you see the bird, and a simple shorthand to get down the basics, anyone can quickly create accurate bird sketches in the field. Come learn the secrets first hand in the grand classroom of the Sierra Nevada. With a combination of indoor illustrated lessons and fieldwork, learn the basics of bird anatomy and how clumps of feathers ruffle, pile and unfold. Learn the basic shapes and methods for capturing the form and movement of songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and raptors. We will look closely at birds in flight and foreshortening wings. and tricks to quickly draw birds in the field and avoid anatomical pitfalls that creep into many bird drawings. Understand which critical details to check when you see a bird and master the one minute gesture sketch. Learn techniques for detailed drawings of heads, wings, and feet even after the bird has flown. We will explore techniques with pencil, colored pencil and watercolor for fast field work and studio drawing. Register

Learn techniques to quickly and accurately sketch wildlife from life. Drawing is a useful tool to augment your field notes and help you observe wildlife more carefully. In this outdoor workshop, we will learn how to quickly draw waterfowl and other animals at the Lake Merritt Rotary Nature Center. With a combination of demonstrations, technique lectures, and time to practice you will refine your ability to draw what you see, capture behavior and posture, correct anatomical details, deal with moving subjects, and learn how artists simplify complex subjects to help you get it down on paper with speed and accuracy. Register.

Join us for a week of sketching, art instruction and nature study to jump start you in keeping your own nature/travel journal or re-inspire you to pick up your sketchbook again. We will examine different ways of keeping journals and develop habits to keep you actively sketching. The week will also include mini workshops on illustrating landscapes, plants, (including wildflowers!) and using watercolor or colored pencils in the field. Jack will also give technique lecture and demonstration on drawing birds and mammals. Learn how to paint a five minute landscape and an animal on the move! You will hike and explore throughout the Sierra Buttes and come away with a journal full of recorded experiences and inspiration and motivation to continue on your own. Register