Drawn to Birds A Naturalist's Sketchbook

About this book

Naturalist, watercolourist, and debut author Jenny deFouw Geuder combines her vast knowledge of US birds, wildflowers, and nature with her artistic expertise to create a book like no other. Drawn to Birds presents more than 120 beautiful watercolour paintings, along with Jenny's fascinating insights that add unique appeal to each page.

Drawn to Birds begins with an introduction to bird anatomy, as well as details about nests, eggs, and migration. From there, more than 50 different bird species are showcased, with the watercolours divided into groups like backyard birds, raptors, and wetland birds. As an added bonus, there's a section dedicated to insects and wildflowers.

You'll appreciate Jenny's tips on how to welcome birds to your yard and how to become a naturalist. Being a naturalist is about more than simply stopping to smell the flowers. It's about observation and making a record. Pause and notice the shapes, colors, and patterns around you. Jenny's goal is to inspire you to try your own hand at being a naturalist! She also includes step-by-step guides for drawing, painting, and inking your own pictures. Anyone can be an artist. Be brave, try it out, and keep noticing the marvels around you. Extra pages for journaling and sketching make this book a keepsake to cherish forever.

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Biography

Jenny deFouw Geuder is an artist and educator from Michigan. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Art Education (and she minored in English). She has always loved nature and being outdoors. She especially loves gardening and hiking, and over time, began sketching the objects she discovered outside. She bought a bird feeder, and she was charmed by the many visitors. That one bird feeder grew to two, four, and now about eight – along with multiple bird baths! As she immersed herself in bird watching, she started fine-tuning her garden by introducing native plants that benefited birds and other wildlife.

By day, Jenny has taught art at the middle-school level for 16 years. Each year, she includes an art lesson and project based on the famous prints of John James Audubon. Jenny emulated this work at home, and she began painting her backyard finds, everything from leaves and flowers to birds. This soon became one of her favourite pastimes. She loves observing, and she found herself constantly learning more about the subjects of her paintings. To record those discoveries, she started taking notes about her observations. That process led naturally to this sketchbook, her debut book. She has also continued her own artistic interests in commissioned work and personal topics. She primarily works in watercolour, but she also enjoys oils, ceramics, and graphite.

Artists are professional observers, who tend to see things in a different way, by focusing on colours and shapes, textures or lines. But a person doesn't need to be a professionally trained artist to observe like one, or to make their own art. In fact, if this project has taught Jenny anything, it's that naturalists are a lot like artists in that they look more closely at the world and recognize all of the diversity that nature has to offer.

Jenny lives in the country with her husband, two small boys, a dog, five cats, a hedgehog, chickens, and occasionally two ponies. She spends most of her summers at a rustic log cabin on a lake in northern Michigan, where she hikes, fishes, and enjoys the natural beauty of the area.