Review by Emma Coxon
Last year I had the pleasure of training as a Green Sketching Ambassador with Dr Ali Foxon. Ali is nurturing a growing network of ambassadors across the UK – kindred spirits who carry the practice of green sketching into their own communities. It’s a gentle movement, rooted in noticing, slowing down and reconnecting with the living world through pen and paper.
Her beautiful book has been an important companion along this journey into a regular practice of green sketching and I wanted to share this with you all as I think it’s a wonderful way to re-connect with nature and ourselves.
If you’re the kind of person who slows down to watch leaves quiver in the wind, or wants to feel a little more rooted in the everyday magic of the outdoors, this book is for you.
Dr Ali Foxon isn’t just someone who picked up a sketchbook; she comes from a background in geography, environmental science, and nature-conservation. She’s worked as a climate researcher, scientific editor, and with organisations including the IUCN and UN Environment. She is also a TEDx speaker. But her sketching journey began in a different place: in times when she felt disconnected, when life felt too busy, or when just being outside felt like the best remedy. She discovered that sketching in nature is more than drawing-it’s noticing, breathing, grounding.
She’s built “green sketching” into something more than a hobby: workshops, community, small sketch challenges. Her aim? To make this practice something any of us can dip into, without needing fancy gear or perfect technique.
What the Book Feels Like
Reading The Green Sketching Handbook is like having a gentle coach sitting beside you outdoors, nudging you to look more closely:
There’s a warm, encouraging voice. Ali often reassures you that your sketch doesn’t have to be perfect-or even “good” in the usual sense. It just has to be yours, and to help you see something anew.
The focus is on tools that are simple. A sketchbook, a pencil, maybe something small for colour-but nothing daunting.
You get small exercises, little experiments. Maybe blind contour drawing, maybe sketching details of leaves or bark, watching light shift. These invite you to slow down and really notice.
There’s also help building a habit: turning sketching into something you return to, not something you do once and tuck away.
Why It Hits Home
This book works especially well for people who want more than technical drawing. For those who:
Want to reconnect with nature, even in small everyday ways.
Feel stressed, overwhelmed, craving grounding and presence.
Love the idea of creative practice as a way to pause, tune in, reset.
Want an entry-point into sketching without pressure: no worries about “am I any good?”, more: “did I see something new? Did I feel calm or more tuned in?”
If you read it, open your sketchbook, try one of the prompts, you might find yourself noticing new patterns in trees you walk past every day, or catching the way light plays on moss, or feeling unexpectedly soothed by just pausing to draw.
The Magic Inside
Here are a few bits that really stood out for me:
Seeing deeply: Ali invites you to draw not what you think you see, but what’s there: textures, edges, light, shadows. Often we walk past so much without registering it. These exercises help bring that back.
Mind + nature + art = boost: The mix of sketching with mindfulness (being present), and being outdoors turns into more than its parts. It’s calming. It helps you feel connected.
Gentleness with yourself: There’s permission here-to be messy, to make “bad” sketches, to take time. That removes a lot of the barriers of self-criticism.
Small wins matter: A sketch a week, noticing small things, using simple tools-all of that builds confidence and connection over time.
In Summary
This book opens a doorway into a quieter, more attentive way of being outdoors. Rather than focusing on artistic skill, the book encourages playful curiosity-picking up a pencil as a way to tune into textures, patterns, and moments that usually slip by. It’s less about the drawing on the page and more about the shift in perspective: sketching as a practice of presence, gratitude, and gentle discovery. What emerges is an invitation to weave creativity into daily life, one small sketch at a time, and to find joy in the overlooked details of the natural world.
Ali also offers Creative Resilience Training™ which is designed for people working in the environmental field and others who carry the weight of caring deeply about nature. It offers practical, evidence-based ways to ease burnout and emotional fatigue by using creativity, observation, and time in nature to shift perspective. Delivered one-to-one or in groups, the training helps participants reconnect with hope and joy, build emotional strength, and find renewed energy to continue their work with clarity and resilience.
To find out more about Ali’s work, take a look at her website here and her TEDx talk ‘Drawn to love nature’ here.
