We’re sorry, this class is now sold out. You can sign up for our waiting list below.

Welcome to our Nature Sketchbook Series! This collection of classes will help you sharpen — or develop — your art skills so you can enjoy capturing the outdoors on paper. These classes are great for beginners and people in the "I draw stick figures" camp, and also more advanced artists that don't have a lot of experience in the class topic. Your instructor will be Carolyn Byers, Madison Audubon’s education director and artist behind Green Sparrow Arts.

You can register for each class individually, or register for all 5 and receive a packaged discount. Classes are limited to 20 participants. Get a preview of the class experience in a Facebook live event on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 8pm CST!

Each class will be held via Zoom at 8:00-9:00 p.m. on the Tuesdays listed below. These will be virtual classes: you’ll need an internet connection and a device to watch the class on. Having a microphone and video camera will help you participate in the class, but is not necessary.

Class Dates (scroll down for class details):

Jan 12 (optional) — Live sketchbook painting - Sketchings from Carolyn’s trip to Utah (landscape, bird, plant, with pencil, ink & paint). This will be hosted on Madison Audubon’s Facebook page at 8pm.

Feb 16 - Botanical Illustration

Mar 30 - Sketching Birds

Apr 13 - Mixing Natural Colors from Primaries - Greens & Browns

May 4 - Sketching Landscapes

May 25 - Putting It All Together - page layout

February 16: Botanical Illustration

*Spiderwort, by a first time art student (Brenna) in Carolyn’s class, June 2018.*

Plants are a wonderful place to begin your sketchbook journey. They’re beautiful, you can draw them simply or in great detail, and they (generally!) don’t move. In this class, Carolyn will teach you simple drawing skills (accurate perspective, breaking down the objecting into basic shapes, building detail, composition), how to experiment with the amount of details you add to your drawing, and how to notice details you might not have seen before.

You’ll need: paper and a pencil or your favorite art supplies. Please also gather 3-5 dried plants or other natural objects (and please return them to nature when the class is finished!) We recommend flower seed heads, dried leaves, sticks, or nuts.

March 30: Sketching Birds

Birds are fantastically fun to draw. They’re everywhere, there are SO many kinds of birds, and drawing them really helps you become a better birder — you see all kinds of details you would miss if you weren’t drawing them. In this class, Carolyn will teach you basic drawing skills (accurate perspective, breaking down the objecting into basic shapes, building detail, composition), how to experiment with the amount of details you add to your drawing, and how to notice details you might not have seen before. We’ll mostly practice drawing from reference photos, but you’ll learn tips for drawing moving birds too.

You’ll need: paper and a pencil or your favorite art supplies. Please also gather 3-5 bird images that you’d like to draw (we’ll provide some too).

Apr 13: Mixing Natural Colors from Primaries — Greens & Browns

Learning to mix your own greens and browns will help you grow your art practice — and it’s fun! Whether you use a limited palette (primaries only) because you’re frugal-minded or to limit what you carry in the field, this class is for you. By mixing everything from scratch, you can be much more precise with your color matching and it will force you to really look at the colors you’re seeing. In this class, Carolyn will teach you the basics of color theory, and then focus on mixing greens and browns. You’ll fill out your own mixing charts, learn tips for mixing browns and greens, and practice color matching from reference photos.

You’ll need: Your favorite paints and their supporting supplies (ie: watercolor and paper, acrylics and canvas or canvas paper, brushes). Carolyn will be working in watercolors and acrylic, but the skills will be applicable to other types of paints. Please also gather 3-5 images that you’d like to use for color mixing and matching. These images should include a variety of browns and/or greens. These could be landscapes, birds, plants - whatever you like! You’ll also need a small piece of paper with a small hole in it. A 1” x 1” piece of paper will work if you poke a pencil through it. You can get fancier with this if you like!

May 4: Sketching Landscapes

Do you ever stop on a trail, take in the view, and think that your camera can’t do it justice? Putting it in your sketchbook can help! When you draw a landscape, you can help solidify details in your memory and you get to choose which parts are important enough to include. The babbling brook is calling to you but the power lines aren’t? You know which to add to your sketch! In this class, Carolyn will teach you basic landscape drawing skills (accurate perspective, how to choose and create a focal point, building detail, composition). We’ll practice adding color at the end of the class.

You’ll need: paper and a pencil or your favorite art supplies. If you would like to work in color, bring supplies for that too. Carolyn will have some watercolors on hand. Please also gather 3-5 landscape images that you’d like to draw (we’ll provide some too).

May 25: Putting It All Together

A sketchbook is a place to explore, to practice, and to chart your progress. There should never be pressure to make beautiful art in a sketchbook, but it can be a great place to improve your composition and layout skills! In this class, Carolyn will teach you how to take the drawing skills you already have and use them to weave beautiful sketchbook pages. You’ll learn how to layer drawings to make them more interesting, how to choose and create a focal piece on the page, and how to incorporate field notes in a visually pleasing way.

You’ll need: paper and a pencil or your favorite art supplies. You could use a sketchbook if you like too! Please gather several related images: take photos while you’re on a hike, or gather images that you could see on your favorite hike. You could also find images from a place you’ve never been — Yellowstone or the Everglades! We recommend 1 or 2 landscapes, 2 or 3 birds, and 2 or 3 plants. You can also include mammals, insects, rocks, or trees. We’ll use these images to create our composition.

Nature Sketchbook Waiting List

Registration for this 2021 course has passed. Check out our upcoming course offerings here!

Nature Sketchbook Series (5 classes, Feb 16-May 25)