With a skillful blend of inspiration and instruction, artist and naturalist Cathy Johnson offers personal anecdotes, exercises, and helpful tips to guide even first-time artists in using sketching and painting to deepen their understanding of the natural world.Featuring simple, step-by-step instructions and 280 examples of the author's own work—in color and black-and-white—The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature covers a broad range of subjects, including tools and equipment; mixing paints and washes; understanding color and using a color wheel; capturing the illusion of light; sketching clouds, flowers, trees, plants, and animals; and using field sketches as studies for future paintings. The book also includes source lists for art supplies (including mail order), lists of national workshops for sketching and painting, and a bibliography.

    Dozens of examples are illustrated, including parallel, angular, and oblique perspectives, as well as ascending and descending planes. Other images show how to create a “cone of rays,” and add depth and realism to curved objects. The techniques can be used for laying out a garden, predicting the shadow effects of a tall building, and accurately capturing the interplay of angles, light, and shadow.

    From very quick sketches to more detailed, full-tonal studies. Each animal requires a different approach, and for each sketch, Ambrus explains his techniques. He also offers sound advice for drawing animals in the proper proportion and other key principles that make the challenge of drawing animals easier.