heron field notes journal & sketchbook
with accompanying Course
For all your adventures with Nature, our greatest teacher.
The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and its accompanying Field Course is an invitation to observe, wonder, and create. Inspired by the quiet beauty of the natural world, this thoughtfully crafted pairing is your companion for sketching in the field, writing beneath the trees, or simply noticing the world around you with greater presence.
✍️ Silky Writing Pages (64 warm white): Lightweight with a soft, old-world feel—ideal for journaling, field notes, quiet observations, or dreamlike reflections. A pleasure to write on with pencil, pen, or ink.
🎨 Textured Art Pages (48 white): Heavier, slightly textured paper that handles watercolor, ink, acrylic, charcoal, and pastel beautifully—perfect for sketching, painting, and expressive mark-making.
Your order includes both the Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and the accompanying self-guided Field Course—a beautifully paired set designed to support your creative practice with nature.
Connect with Nature & refine
your observation skills … draw, paint, write & dream.
When you purchase, the journal will be shipped directly to your address, and you’ll also receive an email with simple instructions for accessing the online course.
For all your adventures with Nature, our greatest teacher.
Connect with nature & refine your observation skills … draw, paint, write & dream.
“The goal is not to just create art, but rather to be in that wonderful state which makes Art inevitable.” —THE ART SPIRIT
This journal & sketchbook is a unique, dual-purpose book that invites you to both reflect and create. Inside, you'll find two distinct types of paper, each carefully selected to support different aspects of your creative process—
✍️ Silky Writing Pages: Lightweight with a soft, old-world feel—ideal for journaling, field notes, quiet observations, or dreamlike reflections. A pleasure to write on with pencil, pen, or ink.
🎨 Textured Art Pages: Heavier, slightly textured paper that handles watercolor, ink, acrylic, charcoal, and pastel beautifully—perfect for sketching, painting, and expressive mark-making.
Lay-flat spiral binding allows you to work comfortably across both page types—whether you're walking through the woods, sitting by the sea, or noticing the way light moves across a flower picked from your garden, this journal is meant to go with you—offering space for both quiet words and bold strokes.
The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook is an invitation to observe, wonder, and create.
Inspired by the quiet beauty of the natural world, this thoughtfully crafted book is your companion for sketching in the field, writing beneath the trees, or simply noticing the world around you with greater presence.
Together, the Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and the accompanying self-guided Field Course offer a gentle structure for exploring light, observation, journaling, drawing, and painting—whether you’re out in the field or reflecting at home.
Blue Heron field Course
Observe. Listen. Create. A self-guided course that blends foundational lessons in light and observation with creative prompts for journaling, sketching, drawing, watercolor painting and quiet reflection—inviting you to slow down, connect with nature, and nurture your creative voice.
📘 Designed to accompany the Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and be explored with your own materials and creative tools.
This self-guided journey is designed to gently lead you into deeper presence, observation, and creative expression. Through three thoughtfully curated chapters, you’ll explore nature as a teacher, light as a storyteller, and sketching and journaling as a way to deepen your relationship with the world around you —and, through it, your own creative voice.
The present moment is always waiting our arrival.
What you’ll learn
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CHAPTER 1: Cultivating Presence in Nature
This opening chapter sets the tone for the course—inviting you to slow down, attune to your senses, and step into a more intentional relationship with the natural world. Through breath, observation, and simple grounding practices, you'll begin to cultivate presence as the foundation of your creative practice.
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CHAPTER 1: Lesson 1
Nature, Our Greatest Teacher
· The role of wonder, curiosity, and imagination
· Nature as nourishment
· Her cleverness and what it reveals
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CHAPTER 1: Lesson 2
Connecting with the Present
· Slow down, arrive in the moment
· Breath awareness & sensory tuning
· Foundational breath exercises
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CHAPTER 1: LESSON 3
Opening the Senses
· Grounding in physical presence
· Sensory exercises
· Sketching and writing prompts
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CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPALS OF SEEING
This chapter gives practical, foundational knowledge in light, form, and visual expression. Grounded in nature, it explores the fundamentals of visual language. Through Nature’s lens, you’ll learn to observe light more deeply, recognize subtle color and value shifts, and begin translating what you see into form.
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CHAPTER 2: LESSON 1
The Nature of Light
· The visible
· Remember, it’s all vibrating
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CHAPTER 2: LESSON 2
Definitions
· Color, value & edge
· Relationships & value planes
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CHAPTER 2: LESSON 3
The Art of the Soft Gaze
· Seeing in terms of shapes & masses
· Motif & Composition
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CHAPTER 3 : FIELD NOTES PLAY
“The goal is not to just create art, but rather to be in that wonderful state which makes Art inevitable.” —THE ART SPIRIT
In this final chapter, you’ll apply what you’ve learned through guided prompts and open-ended exploration. These practices are invitations to deepen your dialogue with the natural world and your own creative intuition.
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CHAPTER 3: LESSON 1
· Journaling Prompts for Presence & Curiosity
· Writing as sketching, sketching as writing
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CHAPTER 3: LESSON 2
Drawing & Painting Invitations
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CHAPTER 3: LESSON 3
Tending the Creative Flame
Rooted in observation, nature, and gentle guidance, the Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and its accompanying Field Course are designed to support you in building a personal and meaningful creative practice.
Through lessons and prompts in light, observation, journaling, drawing, and painting, the course offers inspiration and structure — while the journal gives you the space to record it all in your own words, sketches, and reflections.
Together, they are thoughtfully crafted to encourage deeper seeing, slower moments, and a creative rhythm rooted in nature. Whether you’re sketching in the field, writing at a sunlit table, or simply pausing to notice the shifting light, this set offers a place to explore and reconnect.
🌿Order The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook + Field Course today
View in shop or add directly to cart below:
For all your adventures with Nature, our greatest teacher.
Meet the Artist & Author
Katie Swatland
“The intention of Art is far more than purely aesthetic pleasures. It offers a way to explore the Infinite . . . a way to connect to the very essence of life . . . the very thing that makes us curious and sparks our imagination.” —Swatland
Katie is an accomplished fine artist and author living in New England. Her early training in the sciences as a mechanical engineer, as well as a variety of physical disciplines focusing on the breath, greatly influence her way of painting and writing today. She approaches the canvas in a meditative way, stating that: “Every work of art is built one brushstroke at a time, and one breath at a time. To honor the creative spirit is to be mindful and gracious toward the journey of the process.”
Her first instructional book, Alla Prima II: Companion, is a comprehensive guide that delves deeply into the techniques of direct painting, with a special emphasis on the alchemical nature of light and color. She followed this with The Eternal Student, a book that explores the ongoing nature of learning and growth in art. Katie’s works extend beyond these, with titles like Endless Summer and Summer's Luminance, reflecting both her personal and artistic journey.
To learn more about Katie’s path and explore her full range of work, click here.
📘 A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
The idea for The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and its companion course first took root last summer while I was painting a series of ocean-inspired works for my Summer’s Luminance exhibit. Those paintings carried me outdoors again and again, reminding me how much nature teaches us when we take the time to notice.
Over the past year, I’ve been shaping that experience into something I could share—a self-guided course paired with a journal that invites you to build your own dialogue with nature. Much of this spring and summer has been spent writing lessons, refining prompts, and going back and forth with the printing press to bring the journal itself to life. From selecting the papers, to testing layouts, to finalizing the binding … every detail has been chosen with care.
As I wrote, I found myself returning to the wisdom of some of my favorite art books—gathering thoughts and quotes from the greats like Edgar Payne, John F. Carlson, and Robert Henri. Their words reminded me that the practice of art has always been about seeing more deeply, noticing more fully, and carrying those impressions into our work. Many days I brought those books with me out by the ocean, sketching, writing, and letting their voices join me in the process of shaping this course.
The result is a set designed to accompany you—whether you are sketching in the field, pausing to write at a sunlit table, or simply noticing the shifting play of light. My hope is that these tools become a gentle companion for you, encouraging presence, curiosity, and creativity … one page at a time, one breath at a time.
With joy,
Katie Swatland
