Workshops
Meet our presenters
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Valerie Albrecht
Giving nature a voice
This nature writing praxis explores creative strategies to give voice to the more-than-human world. Through guided prompts, you’ll journal imagined dialogues between plants, animals, land, water, and sky—perhaps asking, “What might the river say to the pebble?” You may also enter into conversation with nature yourself, opening space for curiosity, empathy, and deeper connection. The session includes dedicated writing time and an invitation to share.
Valerie draws on her background in medicine, speech pathology, and storytelling to guide thoughtful, accessible practice, encouraging participants to listen deeply and give voice to nature.
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
ValerieAlbrecht
Nature yoga, nature journalling
Begin with gentle nature yoga, where poses inspired by animals, plants, and elements—tree, eagle, lotus, cobra—connect body, breath, and the living world. Grounded in the idea of the spine as a “tree of life,” this session invites you to move, breathe, and reconnect with nature’s rhythms. Yoga flows into a quiet period of written reflection and journalling, with an optional opportunity to share.
Valerie draws on her background in medicine, speech pathology, and storytelling to guide thoughtful, accessible practice, encouraging participants to listen deeply and give voice to nature.
TASMANIA
Tamzin Barber
Drawing Flowers and Understanding Perspective
Learn how to draw flowers from observation, exploring different types, shapes, and perspectives. Beginning with foundational sketching techniques, we'll move into understanding petal structures, foreshortening, and translating 3D forms onto paper. Participants will create a finished flower study in their journal using pencil, ink, and watercolour.
Tamzin blends art and science through natural history illustration, children’s books and scientific publications. Her practice celebrates the beauty of wildlife and encourages conservation and co-existence with the species we share our world with.
TASMANIA
Daniel Bar-Ness
Terrain practical: Maps as inspiration
We’ll use Tasmanian maps that show different elements of the natural world as a springboard for visual inspiration and context for journalling. Together, we’ll explore structures, processes and values, drawing on Daniel’s knowledge of nature from almost three decades of outdoor field ecology and exploration.
Daniel is a forest excursion specialist and geography generalist with a keen interest in recording thoughts, feelings and observations across different media.
TASMANIA
Dr Lisa Cawthen
Hidden voices: Exploring the lives of bats
Step into the night with and discover the hidden lives of Tasmania’s bats. Our evening walk will explore the remarkable adaptations of these often-unseen animals and their essential roles in our ecosystems. As darkness deepens, we’ll tune into their secret world using special bat detectors, transforming ultrasonic calls into a chorus of clicks, chirps, and buzzes: A living soundtrack to the night.
Dr Lisa Cawthen is an ecologist and environmental educator in Lutruwita, Tasmania, with a specialty in bats and ecoacoustics, with a passion for sharing this secretive world with others.
Tasmania
Keith Davis
Sketching and drawing birds for beginners
In this workshop, you will be introduced to basic skills and techniques for sketching and drawing birds by Keith Davis. Whether you're new to sketching birds, or perhaps a bird watcher interested in sketching the birds you observe in your nature journal, there will be something for you in this workshop.
Keith is an accomplished artist, illustrator, author and nature educator. He will share his passion for sustainability with a deep understanding of the region in which we are gathering.
Queensland
Dr Amina Iqbal
Discovering Australian greens
Explore the subtle, shifting greens of the Australian Landscape - the olives, blue greys, yellow green and earth softened tones that characterise local foliage and environment and differ from the bright, ready-made pigments found in most watercolour palettes. This workshop focuses on observation, colour mixing and layering using watercolours.
Amina is a botanical artist who loves working in sketchbooks, documenting what she sees during nature walks or travels, with emphasis on colours and finer details.
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Julia Landford
Explore the world of insects
Explore the world of insects through nature journalling with hands-on activities for a better understanding of insects. Learn how to see the structure of insects, about where to find them and practise with some actual specimens.
Julia is a passionate nature journaller, nature lover and Founding Director of NatureArt Lab. She is also the founder of the Australian Nature Journalling Association and her work aims to promote engagement with nature through creative practices.
queensland
Cerae Mitchell
Cultivating awe: Forest therapy meets nature journalling.
This workshop covers art techniques and encourages curiosity, experimentation, and personal expression. Explore how moments of awe in nature can support mental health, regulate the nervous system, and expand our sense of perspective and belonging.
Cerae is an environmental educator, art teacher and forest therapy guide. As a passionate birdwatcher, nature enthusiast and mother, her work is grounded in care for the Earth, community, and the wellbeing of those she teaches.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Wendy Orchard
Eight different ways to nature journal
Nature journaling can take many different forms depending on our focus, the time we have, our location, our emotions and the intention behind our observations. Then there’s all the different media we have with us! Wendy will explain eight different ways she finds useful.
Wendy realised in 2018 that her passion for using words, pictures and numbers to document intertidal marine creatures was called nature journalling. Now she leads and teaches using a range of media and techniques, encouraging students to explore and develop their own unique styles.
New south wales
Wendy Orchard
Using everyday items in nature journalling
Tea bags, coasters and cotton tips may not be the first tools that come to mind when you think of nature journalling, but these everyday items can be surprisingly effective for your sketchbook. In this workshop, Wendy will demonstrate how to use simple objects in creative and versatile ways with your images and text that will add even more interest to your nature journaling pages.
Wendy works with a wide range of media, techniques and journaling styles and encourages others to explore different approaches to develop their own unique style.
Tasmania
Dr Tanya Scharaschkin
Scientific names demystified
There are good reasons for knowing and using scientific names. Dr Tanya Scharaschkin will demystify naming conventions and help you understand why it matters. You will learn to use scientific names with greater confidence in your nature journalling practice.
Tanya is an academic, botanist, artist and educator who aims to inspire others to not only admire plants but to understand their biology. She lives in the region in which we are gathering and brings her specialised knowledge to this workshop.
Tasmania
Dr Tanya Scharaschkin
Understanding floral structure
Flowers are beautiful and hard to ignore, but do you know the different parts and what they do? Tanya will guide us through the steps involved in observing and drawing floral parts, drawing individual parts and labelling with botanical terms. We will dissect and examine a variety of specimens to understand floral structure.
Tanya is an academic, botanist, artist and educator who aims to inspire others to not only admire plants but to understand their biology. She lives in the region in which we are gathering and brings her specialised knowledge to this workshop.
TASMANIA
Dr Tanya Scharaschkin
Is this a leaf?
Unlike flowers, leaves occur on plants for all (or most) of the year. Field guides often start off with having to decide if a specimen has simple/compound leaves or opposite/alternate leaves. If we don’t identify leaves correctly, we could easily head down the wrong track. If you are representing a plant (e.g., as a botanical artist), you could inadvertently include a partial leaf instead of a complete one, and wouldn’t that be frustrating! By the end of this session, you’ll know what is a leaf “botanically speaking” and how to work this out.
Katy Wall
Nature journalling walk with a focus on breathwork
Journey into the heart of nature through mindfulness and breathwork. In this workshop, explore the intricate beauty of the natural world with mindful tools and techniques to cultivate insight, spark curiosity and enhance our journaling practice. This is an opportunity to slow down, notice deeply, and share our experiences in a supportive and welcoming space.
Katy Wall is a graphic designer and meditation facilitator who founded the Sydney Nature Journal Club. bringing together creativity, mindfulness, and connection.
Tasmania
Phil Wise
Tasmanian fauna and conservation
This talk on wildlife and habitat conservation focuses on the iconic Tasmanian Devil and other wildlife species. Phil will show us how to look deeply into an area and connect to all aspects of nature as a means to better understand conservation practices. We will even see some taxidermied animals.
Phil has dedicated years to protecting Devils from the facial tumor disease and working in parks jointly managed with traditional owners in the Northern Territory and he is a proud Land for Wildlife member.
QUEENSLAND
Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances
Isobel Tello, Finding miracles in the every day
Using whatever tools we have, we’ll head outside to find something that sparks our interest—a little miracle in nature. It might be a leaf, markings on a tree, the sound of a bird, or a colour we’re drawn to, and we’ll put that moment onto paper. When we look back, we’ll have a record that is evocative of our experience to keep and share.
Isobel is an ecologist and environmental scientist whose lifelong awe of the natural world inspires her approach. She encourages slowing down, letting go of ego, and immersing in nature’s quiet miracles.