The PElican-- Nature Journaling in the Wetlands

By Jennifer Jay

​     2024 marks the 29th annual Artown Festival, a summer celebration in Reno where we come together with friends and family to enjoy more than 500 multi-disciplinary events in over 100 locations celebrating the arts and community. Lahontan Audubon is participating in the Artown Festival with "Nature Journaling in the Wetlands" at Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation's Rosewood Nature Study Area led by Lahontan Audubon volunteer and artist Jennifer Jay. This program started on July 9 and held for three consecutive weeks to allow participants to build a practice of observation

     For the first meeting, on July 9, Jennifer gave a brief history of scientific illustration, and the practice of nature journaling with examples from her journals. The seventeen attendees warmed up with some page breaker exercises before sketching the taxidermy mounts in Rosewood's Nature Center.  Many participants returned for the second meeting on July 16 where we started out sketching in the pollinator garden before taking a stroll on the wetland habitat trails to sketch birds, insects, plants, and the landscape. 

        Overall, this program ran from July 9 to July 24 for three consecutive weeks to allow participants to build a practice of observation.  Participants enjoyed the workshops with feedback that they would like to have a once a month recurring gathering for journaling field trips and sessions focusing on improving drawing technique. Stay tuned for more!