Welcome to the next level for nature journalers and field sketchers – a deep-dive into becoming a dedicated master naturalist and field artist. A Master of Field Arts.
Chapters are organized to build your skills and introduce you to new tools and methods, including:
- Field Arts Méthode
- Tools for Field Arts
- Session 1 – Pencil: Humble Sketching Tool
- Session 2 – Ink: Elegant Linework
- Session 3 – Cartography: Visualize Your World
- Session 4 – Vintage Tint: Ochres & Natural Pigments
- Session 5 – Weather: Read, Record, & Predict
- Session 6 – Animal Sign: Read & Record Clues of Passage
- Session 7 – Word Pictures: Natural History Writing
- Bonus Workshop: Make Your Own Ink & Dip Pen
- Projects, Templates, & Tools
- Fieldwork Studies
- Removable Charts, Tips, & Reminders
The book has a spiral binding to facilitate workshop learning. This is a perfect sequel to Nature Journaling for a Wild Life as you grow in your nature journaling practice, as well as for field researchers and expedition leaders who want to ensure their field notes are meaningful, accessible, and useful for their work.
Return to the Fields: A Manifesto 7
Tools for Field Arts 11
Field Arts Méthode 27
Session 1 - Pencil: Humble Sketching Tool 41
Session 2 - Ink: Elegant Linework 53
Session 3 - Cartography: Visualize Your World 65
Session 4 - Vintage Tint: Ochres & Natural Pigments 81
Session 5 - Weather: Read, Record & Predict 97
Session 6 - Animal Sign: Read & Record Clues of Passage 113
Session 7 - Word Pictures: Natural History Writing 133
Bonus Workshop: Make Your Own Ink & Dip Pen 147
End Notes 159
Index 172
Projects, Templates & Tools
Fieldwork Studies 155
Removable Charts, Tips & Reminders 173-176
Acknowledgments 177
Roseann Beggy Hanson is a native of southern Arizona, and grew up in the rural Tanque Verde Valley east of Tucson. She studied journalism and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, and has worked in the American Southwest, Mexico, and East Africa as a conservationist, naturalist, and writer for non-profits for over 30 years.
With her husband, Jonathan, she has authored over a dozen natural history and outdoor books, including the Southern Arizona Nature Almanac and San Pedro River: A Discovery Guide. Their Ragged Mountain Guide to Outdoor Sports won the 1997 Outdoor Book Award and their 50 Common Reptiles and Amphibians of the Southwest was cited for Interpretive Excellence by the National Park Service in 1997.
Roseann began ConserVentures LLC as a consultancy to assist small non-profits with development and communications. Clients included the African Conservation Fund, South Rift Association of Land Owners, Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Biosphere Expeditions, and several other businesses and conservation efforts.
In 2009 ConserVentures expanded to include the hugely successful adventure travel event Overland Expo, with a mission that strongly emphasizes the connection between exploration and conservation of the world’s natural and cultural resources. Proceeds from Overland Expo, held each May in northern Arizona and October-November in the Eastern US, support in part ConserVentures Charitable Organization, which was founded by the Hansons and a small group of like-minded friends.
Roseann is an associate with the University of Arizona School of Science, working as art and science program coordinator at the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill, and was named a Fellow of both the Explorers Club in the U.S. and the Royal Geographical Society in Great Britain for her conservation and expedition work.
"Master of Field Arts is a welcome companion to Roseann Hanson's 2020 book, Nature Journaling for a Wild Life. In this second book in her Wild Life series, Hanson gives us an accessible and practical guide to advanced naturalist and field journaling skills. The lessons provide the structure and details to enable you to think and see like a naturalist, and take your observation and ability to investigate nature mysteries to the next level.
These methods connect you with old traditions of exploration and promote learning from experience. You will learn fundamental skills for journaling and recording, and ways to make your own art materials, a process that more deeply connects you to place. You will also dive deeply into reading the sky and tracks in the dust. As a bonus, Hanson gives us templates and field tools she uses in her own work. This book will help you take your nature discovery, inquiry, and journaling to mastery."
– John Muir Laws, author of The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling (Heyday Books)