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What is your favorite art medium? Pencil? Pen? Crayon? Charcoal? Watercolor?

The art of "nature drawing" is a wonderful way to learn about the world around you. When you take a pencil or brush in hand and a close-up view of one little tidbit of nature ... you discover that miracles surround us in every square inch of the living web around us.

Here are a few tips to help you enjoy drawing for the sake of learning about nature.

The tools that are most helpful aren't tools at all...but personal traits. Spend the time, develop curiosity, and take the initiative to observe. Put those attributes together with a simple sketch book and your favorite -- and simple -- art tools, and you will have a most delightful adventure.

Favorite subjects for new nature artists are usually things that "hold still"! Natural neighbors such as trees, a leaf, a very slow turtle, a flower, or even a couple blades of grass.

Part of learning about natural history is to observe and learn about behaviors of plants and animals. By observing a chosen subject at different times (of the day, season or year), and under different conditions (such as drought and flood, youth and old age) you learn more about the life cycle and role of the specimen in the natural ecosystem surrounding it.

Adding notes, descriptive phrases, color indicators, behaviors as well as description of the time of day, location and surrounding life will make a simple sketch a rich learning experience for you, and for those who you show your sketches to.

If any of you take the plunge and start drawing, I hope you will show me some of your work. You can put it up on your Web page, send me a photo copy of it, or fax it to me...I would love to share in your creativity. I'll even put a sampling of your work up on the BackyardNature.com web site for our readers to see, if you give me permission to do so.

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