“The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling,” by John Muir Laws, Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 2016.

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Surrounded by beauty as I am in this region, I worry some days that I take it for granted – wash of thin clouds over the hills, burble of bird and quick glimpse of copper feathers, shimmer of icicles on a creek edge. To pay attention, says philosopher Simone Weil, is a kind of prayer.

John Muir Laws’ intentions in this guide are to exhort us to pay close attention, and his favored way of doing this is through keeping a drawing journal. Even if your best work was with a crayon in kindergarten and you haven’t picked up such an implement since, this book is both a useful reminder about how to pay attention as well as a fine primer on drawing and a fun way to break up a hike or divert yourself in the backyard with some drawing.

Laws seems like an intense guy. He cares deeply that you pay attention. He really, really wants you to keep a naturalist’s journal, full of drawings and field notes, and questions. As much as I love nature, love the details of my world, I’m just not going to do this. I feel a little bad about it because he is so careful in his instructions, but I had to leaf past those pages and get into the actual drawing techniques, which were very useful. But teachers will find the naturalist journal sections useful in developing curriculum for students observing in the field.

I have taken to drawing on my iPad, using the Notes function. Opening Notes, I can tap the scribble icon and be given access to three types of pen points, several layers of grayscale, and 15 different colors. I draw with my finger. This does not allow for the kind of detail that Laws discusses, but I can certainly practice the gestures of drawing, capture basic forms, approximate some of the gradations of color and begin to understand composition. Also, the iPad is small enough that I can put it in my backpack for a hike. Others may want to use plain old pens and paper, and Laws provides guidance on what to buy and how to use the various kinds of drawing implements, from pencil to marker to paint.

For technique, he describes approaches to getting structure and shape right by quickly blocking in the basic ovals, circles and angles that capture the shape of whatever you’re drawing, bird or beast, flower or fern. He offers many step-by-step drawings that allow you to follow along with him before you venture off on your own. He details anatomies of flora and fauna, discusses shading and hues. This book is an extraordinary resource.

He reminds that the development of skill takes time. A little drawing on a regular basis can turn your misshapen blob into a nuthatch, your oddly hued lines into a landscape. And in the process, you have paused in the headlong momentum of life and paid attention. A worthy goal. Now if that sparrow would just stay still for a second and give me a nice profile.