about
📘 The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook
For all your adventures with Nature, our greatest teacher.
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.
This journal and 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.
Its 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.
Thoughtfully designed to pair with the Blue Heron Field Course or to stand alone as your personal creative companion, this book is as versatile as it is beautiful.
We’re thrilled to share that the Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook and its companion Field Course are nearly ready to take flight. After months of thoughtful development, this creative offering is coming to life—and we can’t wait to place it in your hands! Rooted in observation, nature, and gentle guidance, it’s designed to support you in building a personal and meaningful creative practice.
🌿 Pre-Order Special: The Blue Heron Field Notes Journal & Sketchbook + Field Course
To celebrate the launch, we’re offering exclusive early pricing for those who pre-order now. Your early support not only reserves your copy—it also helps offset up-front printing costs and brings this creative project to life.
This journal and course are thoughtfully designed 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 learning to notice the shifting light, this set offers space to explore and reconnect.
Early Bird Pre-Order Special — $35 + shipping (U.S. flat rate: $5)
(Ships early August 2025)
Your early bird pre-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 in nature.
Together, they offer a gentle structure for exploring light, observation, journaling, drawing, and painting—whether you’re out in the field or reflecting at home.
(See below for everything that’s included in the course.)
Early Bird Pre-Order Special — $35 + shipping (U.S. flat rate: $5)
(Ships early August 2025)
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, but may 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.
What you’ll learn
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.
Pre-order Now
☆
Pre-order Now ☆
Early Bird Pre-Order Special — $35 + shipping (U.S. flat rate: $5)
(Ships early August 2025)
🌿 Early Bird Pre-Order Special
