Do you feel overwhelmed by the digital landscape? Here’s your sign to put your screens to sleep and reawaken your senses in the natural world. Pack your favorite sketching supplies and your sense of wonder for weekly nature journaling excursions with award-winning illustrator Kate Garchinsky. In these casual sketch meetups, Kate will provide step-by-step strategies for effective and rewarding nature journaling in the field. Part art class, part scientific process and part mindfulness practice, you’ll learn journaling prompts, fine-tune your observation skills, and ground yourself in the present moment. Discover a visual language to create poetry and stories. No prior art experience or skills are required—just a sense of curiosity about wild plants and animals. There are hardly any straight lines to draw in nature!
Kate Garchinsky is a professional illustrator and painter with roots in the tidal marshes of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. She is the illustrator of seven children’s books and an Eckelberry Fellow at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia.
For seven years, she illustrated the award-winning The Secret Life series of narrative nonfiction picture books, written by Laurence Pringle (Boyds Mills Press, Astra Books for Young Readers, 2017-2023) and Belle’s Journey: An Osprey Takes Flight, written by Dr. Rob Bierregaard (Charlesbridge, 2018). Her atmospheric, realistic depictions of mammals in these books have received recognition from the National Science Teachers Association, the California and New Jersey reading associations, School Library Journal, and the Animal Behavior Society, among others.
When she’s not teaching, birding, or making art, Kate enjoys live music, native gardening, hiking, and traveling with her husband and best friend, Brian. Together, they live with their two indoor kitties, Julia and Spenser, and their rescue pittie mix, Ruby Roo, in a little blue house in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. Visit her website at kategarchinsky.com, and find her on social media as @kategarchinsky.
Note—First class meets at the Delaware Art Museum education wing. Subsequent classes may meet in outdoor locations such as Brandywine Park, Wilmington Waterfront, or Brandywine Creek State Park, weather permitting.