Fiona: Nature Journaler and Naturalist
Fiona has loved art and nature since she was a little girl. In 2016, when she discovered nature journaling and the work of John Muir Laws, she was thrilled to find something that combined these two things she adored, and she has become a passionate nature journaler and naturalist.
Born and raised in the Sierra Foothills near Auburn, California, Fiona spends time daily in the wild lands near her home. She loves to look for mysteries in nature and explore them in the pages of her nature journal. Fiona also loves to draw, paint, craft, act (see her acting resume here), sing, harmonize, play cello, compose music, write stories, and speak German.
An avid birder since 2015, Fiona is a four-time recipient of the Central Valley Birding Club Youth Scholarship, enabling her to attend summer teen birding camps to further develop her skill and passion in birding. She especially enjoys the music of birdsong and she loves to bird by ear. Since Fall 2018, Fiona has been a volunteer intern with Gold Country Avian Studies in Grass Valley, where she has learned how to extract and band birds. Fiona has also volunteered her time as a participant in local Christmas Bird Counts, a co-leader of bird walks for the Sierra Foothills Audubon Society, a leader of bird walks for a local Girl Scout troupe, and she often speaks to groups about her passion for birding and nature journaling (see Presentations below). In February 2019, with the help of some local birding mentors and donors, Fiona installed 20 bluebird boxes in her neighborhood, which is a wildland-urban interface, and she is monitoring them for the California Bluebird Recovery Program.
SAMPLE NATURE JOURNAL PAGES
Scroll to the bottom of this page to see examples from the more than 1,600 nature journal pages that Fiona has created since she began journaling in July 2016. Some of Fiona's artwork is available for purchase as blank greeting cards. See the Artist page for more info.
PRESENTATIONS, TEACHING, AND MORE
In September 2019, Fiona was one of 18 teachers invited to the first-ever Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference in Pacific Grove, CA. This event, attended by 275 students, brought together people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty. Fiona co-taught a class about curiosity in nature journaling with her mentor, John Muir Laws, called Down the Rabbit Hole: Curiosity and Wonder, and she gave a talk during the Saturday keynote evening on curiosity and the joy of asking questions in her nature journal. Video coming soon.
Also in September 2019, Fiona was thrilled to be the first teenager ever invited to present at the Los Altos High School STEAM Week event, in Los Altos, CA. In its 14th year, the event recruits leaders from local business, industry, and academia to speak with and inspire the students. In advance of the event, the school newspaper, The Talon, ran a brief interview with Fiona. At the event, Fiona offered a classroom presentation, Cultivating Curiosity: How I use my nature journal to explore mysteries, see connections, and build curiosity as a skill.
In April 2019, Fiona was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Wake Up to Nature event for the Environmental Volunteers (EV). This annual breakfast event raises funds for EV to send volunteer docents into San Francisco Bay Area area schools to give thousands of children first-hand experiences in nature, with the goal of nurturing the next generation of nature stewards. Fiona spoke to the 200+ assembled crowd about her own nature-rich childhood, her connection with nature through art and nature journaling, and why it is important for all of us to be connected to nature. Click here to watch.
In October 2018, Fiona was honored to be featured as an Artist Explorer in a lecture series at The Foster, a museum in Palo Alto. In her talk, Fiona shared about her love of nature journaling and had an on-stage conversation about art, curiosity, flow states, and self critics with her mentor, John Muir Laws. Click here to watch.
Each November since 2016, Fiona has given a talk at the Central Valley Birding Symposium, an annual gathering of birders from across Northern California. Before the Saturday evening keynote address, Fiona has talked with the 300+ attendees about her experience at birding camps (for which this group has awarded her scholarships), her love of birds, and her nature journaling. Videos available on request.
In March 2017, the Full Option Science System newsletter, known as FOSSconnect, published a story about nature journaling that included some of Fiona's pages and an interview with her.
In 2016, the Sacramento Bee published an article on Fiona and her love of birding.
Click the images below to enlarge. Please respect Fiona's copyright. Thank you.
