It's Spring. Get Out and Paint Some More! {An Art-n-Nature Outing}

Last month was so full that we did not get to plan our April Art-n-Nature hike until the very last day of the month.  I did not want the same thing to happen this month, so, last week, when I saw a painting experience sponsored by the Buzzards Bay Coalition at a nature spot that I've been wanting to check out, I decided to invite others from our Art-n-Nature group to join us, making it our May excursion. 

Several families RSVP'd that they could join us at the public event, but between last-minute scheduling conflicts and weather issues, no other Art-n-Nature group friends ended up sharing the experience with us.  Still, my children and I were happy that we were not deterred by the chill that swept in on the wind nor the rain drops that were in the forecast, as the evening turned out to be a good one.

Two gals from Buzzards Bay Coalition who led the event, four local women, and my crew attended the event.

After a short chat inside the visitor center at the Sawmill, we were given canvases and the children helped bring supplies out to an amphitheater made of concrete and granite slabs that had been taken from alongside the riverbed when the area was restored from being an industrial "concrete jungle" to being a beautiful and welcoming more natural habitat.

There, we received a few quick pointers on painting the landscape using acrylics and, then, were offered pencils and paints to get to work.  First, we put our fingers up to pick a view to paint.  Then, we prepared our paint palletes.

 

My oldest got right to work panting a quick picture before asking if he could go back to the center to read his book while my younger two and I explored how to add a layer of color opposite on the color wheel to those we observed in nature in order to give our paintings depth.

As we waited for our "depth" layers to dry, my younger two chatted, leaped about on the grass and stone slabs, and gawked at a wedding party who showed up to get photos done. 

Meanwhile, two of the women who had showed up at the paint experience set up their own easels, supplies, etc. and got to work creating amazingly beautiful and fast landscapes that wowed us.

Then, the weather turned.  Drip drops began to fall, so we all moved inside - and just in time, too, as the drip drops became a bit of a downpour.

Inside, my oldest read...

 
...my youngest explored layering one color over another over another...
 

...over another. on his canvas making "part of a sunset"...

...and my middle child began layering paint for depth...

Chatting, laughing, checking out the art-in-progress by others...

...we continued on until the event ended and we had somewhat finished basis paintings.

We saw no old friends and never did get in an actual hike, but we enjoyed meeting new folks and checking out a new-to-us picturesque place.  We also picked up a new painting tip (the layering colors for depth) and were impressed by local accomplished artists. 

So, all in all, it was a worthwhile outing!

We are thankful to the Buzzards Bay Coalition for hosting it, as well as for the many other great free programs they host and the work they do to preserve and restore natural spots in our state.

If I find time this month, I will plan a second May outing for our Art-n-Nature so friends can join in.  But, if not, there will be June and July outings to enjoy before our year of monthly meet ups comes to a close. 

Check Out Photos, Reports and Plans from Some of Our Other Art-n-Nature Experiences

• Create Your Own Art-n-Nature Hiking Club with Five Easy Steps! 
• Planning and Preparing for our First Art-n-Nature Hike on the Element of Line 
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Art Element of Line Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Shape Hike 
• Our Art-n-Nature Element of Color Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Form Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Space Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Value Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Texture Hike
• When the Art-n-Nature Hiking Club Does No Hiking Nor Art... 
• A Last-Minute Sunset Art-n-Nature Picnic  
• Give a Tree a Face! (Another Art-n-Nature Idea)
• Explore the Principle of Balance with Land Art  {An Art-n-Nature Experience}
• It's Spring.  Get Out and Paint! {An Art-n-Nature Experience} 

I am no artist nor naturalist.  I'm just a mom who likes being outdoors and creating with kids.  Thus, I LOVE when others offer simple art tips to my children and me,  If you've got one, please don't be shy about sharing it.

It's Spring. Get Out and Paint! {An Art-n-Nature Experience}

April flew by so quickly that I did not have a chance to plan and lead our monthly Art-n-Nature excursion until the final day of the month.

Luckily, though, despite my last-minute effort to squeeze an Art-n-Nature hike in, one other family was able to join us. 

We had a fabulous time!

 Outdoor Exploration

Our friends met us at one of our favorite local conservation areas, where we walked a short portion of a trail out and back from a pond. 

By the pond, we enjoyed a picnic dinner before the kids began their self-directed explorations by playing "Pooh sticks" at a small bridge.

{Disclaimer:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them and choose to make any purchase, we may receive small income at no extra cost to you.  Thank you for supporting us in Training Happy Hearts.}

For those not familiar with this Winnie-the-Pooh inspired pastime, the game was first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner and is a simple one:

To play for fun, you drop sticks into the water on the upstream side of a bridge and, then, go to the other side to see when the stick passes through. 

To play competitively, which my children and their friends rarely do, you drop your stick at the same time as another person and wait to see whose stick passes downstream first.  That person is the winner.

For fun or for competition, there is just something about dropping sticks, going to the other side of the bridge, waiting delighting, then going back to the initial side of the bridge to drop more sticks that delights my children and their friends, and, in turn, delights me, too.

What delights me, less, however, is causing trouble along the waterway, which is almost what my oldest son did.

Yes, at one point, I looked over to discover that my son had found a rather large branch and was hoisting if up to the bridge edge to see if it might float under the little bridge as his "Pooh stick". Although I am all for experiments, I quickly surmised that this one could be ill-fated, causing an issue under the bridge.  So, I quickly interceded with my son to stop his experiment.

I did not, however, dissuade other exploration and experimentation among the children. This meant that during our excursion, skunk weed did not just grow vibrantly from the woodland floor to decorate the edges of the riverbed.  Nope.  Not with our curious crew. Instead, a few skunk weed leaves were plucked by one of my children to demonstrate to others just how the plant gets is name.  Then, the same strong-smelling leaves were made into boats to float on the river.

An impromptu bridge was also constructed by the children. 

I was impressed with their teamwork as they built and with how relatively quickly they built a bridge so that they could easily cross the river, since it was too chilly out to simply wade across.

Of course, bridge or no bridge, when there's water, there is bound to be a wet child.  That evening the wet child was my youngest.  He slipped into the water, but was such a good sport about it and just carried on playing with his siblings and buddies.

They played in the woods and also in the field by the parking lot. 

There, while the boys played knight battle games with their Warfare by Duct Tape weapons, my daughter and her little friend ran laughing with a blanket, playing dragons.

What About the Art?

Of course, our Art-n-Nature excursions typically include art as well as outdoor play.  So, for this one, I brought watercolors, brushes, cups, paper, and hard boards for the big kids and Kwik Stix quick-dry tempera paint sticks for our youngest friend. 

I offered the children a quick review chat on some of the elements and principles of art and design and, then, suggested they focus on color, among other things, as they painted landscapes inspired by the scene in front of us.  The "big kids" quickly got to work creating their own watercolor paintings.

Meanwhile, our youngest friend explored the color of our Kwik Stix with the help of her mom. She was so cute painting her paper canvas and herself.

As everyone else painted this time, I did, too.  Instead of doing a landscape, though, I chose to try my not-so-skilled hand at observational nature journal-like artwork, capturing what I could of a clump of grass, a young bit of skunk weed, and a blanket of moss under a tree.

Obviously, I may love nature and enjoy creating art, but I am no naturalist and even less of an artist. 

But, that's okay with me.  In fact, it's one of the reasons why I enjoy hosting Art-n-Nature excursions each month: I can learn, experiment, and explore alongside my children. 

Being in the woods with buddies, taking time to pause life to observe the beauty around us, creating artwork (and memories!), and keeping a commitment to myself and our Art-n-Nature group all proved, once again, to be a fantastic way to spend time.  I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy art and nature with friends, young and older.  I encourage you to give it a try, too! 

You never know what adventures await when you tromp just past that tree...

Check Out Pics, Reports and Plans from Some of Our Other Art-n-Nature Experiences

• Create Your Own Art-n-Nature Hiking Club with Five Easy Steps! 
• Planning and Preparing for our First Art-n-Nature Hike on the Element of Line 
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Art Element of Line Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Shape Hike 
• Our Art-n-Nature Element of Color Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Form Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Space Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Value Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Texture Hike
• When the Art-n-Nature Hiking Club Does No Hiking Nor Art... 
• A Last-Minute Sunset Art-n-Nature Picnic  
• Give a Tree a Face! (Another Art-n-Nature Idea)
• Explore the Principle of Balance with Land Art  {An Art-n-Nature Experience}

When I have some extra moments, I plan to catch up with reporting on fall excursions I have yet to share, as well as on our May excursion.  I will also be planing, enjoying and reporting on our final three outings for this "school year". So, as always, I would appreciate YOUR suggestions for Spring and Summer art projects that can be enjoyed outdoors.  I'd also love to hear about what adventures you've been on that we may have inspired.  Please leave links and ideas in a comment or at the Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.  Thank you!

Explore the Principle of Balance with Land Art {An Art-n-Nature Experience}

The other day when I posted about our last Art-n-Nature club hike, I  realized that I have yet to report about our late fall Art-n-Nature experiences.  So, today, I am flashing back to November to tell you about the beautiful day we enjoyed with friends while focusing on the principle of balance.

Just one other family was able to make our balance hike, but, lucky for us, they are a fellow Catholic family, so we were able to meet for Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette before heading to the nearby Attleboro Springs Wildlife Sanctuary for our hike.

The Plan

Once at Attleboro Springs, we headed out on the Reflection Trail and began our Art-n-Nature experience, which was aimed to focus on reviewing:

• line (a series of points drawn all together - straight, jagged, curvy, etc.),

• color (particularly warm colors, primary colors, and the making of the secondary color orange and the tertiary color brown),

• and shape (a closed line).

This review was layered into an introduction of the principle of balance, and, in particular of asymmetric, symmetric or radial balance.

Our projects were a free exploration of color mixing with different art media, Tri-Color Lead Symmetry, and Colored Leaf Land Art.


Our Supplies

 
{Disclaimer:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them and make a purchase, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you.  Thank you for supporting the homeschooling endeavors we share with you.)

In addition to our usual nature walk and picnic supplies, for this excursion we also brought:

• recycled plastic shopping bags for leaf collecting
• paper
• tape or glue for affixing leaves
• scissors
• pencils
• Sharpies
• coloring media in red, yellow and blue that could blend, such as oil pastels, soft pastels, watercolor crayons (and a brush and water cups to use with that)

Discovering Balance

To fuel up for our fun at Attleboro Springs we sat down for a shared picnic, during which we reviewed the elements of line, color, and shape.  Then, each child chose a color of leaf to collect while we walked the trail.

As we walked the trail, the children collected fallen leaves.  We also enjoyed a portion of the walk with our eyes closed, using the rope meant for blind hikers to guide us so we could experience the walk in a new way...

And, of course, we paused to note different natural points of interest along the trail...

...including spotting some enormous tadpoles!

 Once we had arrived a favorite pudding stone boulder...

 ... and had scaled it...

...we all sat down to explore color mixing using oil pastels, soft pastels, and watercolor crayons. 

Our goal was to create shades of the secondary color orange and the tertiary color brown.
 

The children mixed and mixed colors, trying to figure out which ones made the best browns.

The results were interesting and beautiful in their own way.

Our first air exploration over, we got sidetracked with some off-trail play and exploration when the children noticed a tree that reminded them of a catapult as we went over to explore where an old foundation had been taken back by nature.

There, silly me rose to a challenge.

Skirt, rainboots (for puddles that did not end up being there) and all, I scaled a tree.

I had recently turned 45, but, I was still able to climb (or shimmy?) up a tree.  Yep, I was feeling a bit old, but very much alive!

A few laughs later, we were back on the trail, collecting colored leaves and enjoying the natural beauty of the spot.

When we came to a field, the kids ran off to play a bit of hide-and-seek while I laid down blankets and got materials out for our Tri-Color Leaf Symmetry project.

After a bit, we called all the children to the blanket, and while Daddy took an overdue snooze earned by rallying to hike with us after a long work shift, I chatted with the children about the principle of balance, discussing the words asymmetric, symmetric, and radial with the help of collected leaves.  

Once I was confident that the children held a basic understanding of these concepts, each child chose an asymmetric leaf to cut in half and, then, affixed it to paper.  Their challenge was then to draw a symmetric side to each leaf and, then, to use only two warm colors to fill in their drawn halves of each leaf.

Some of the children got more into this project than others, and some changed the parameters of the project a bit. 

As they worked, I suggested that, when they got home, they cut out their 1/2 real - 1/2 drawn leaves and affix them to cool colored paper so their artwork would really pop.  In the meantime, the children worked away, creating their own symmetric leaves.

Some of the children spontaneously explored how to use oil pastels and watercolor crayons to make leaves.

And some played around with creating symmetric shapes in different colors.

Then, when the children finished their Symmetry projects, some of them helped me make some land art using their collected leaves.  It was a bit breezy, though, so creating our Colored Leaf Land Art was not as easy or as engaging as I had hoped it would be.  Still, we were able to manage one piece of autumn beauty art which my friend told me our art actually stayed mostly in place for at least another week.

In Summary

On the nature side of things, we:

• talked about frogs
• spotted huge tadpoles
• noticed foundation rocks being taken over by nature again
• observed (and climbed on!) pudding stone
• noticed the colors of leaves
• chatted about vernal pools

...and more.

For art, we:

• collected color families of leaves in bags
• spent some time exploring warm colors and color mixing using different media (oil pastels, soft pastels, water color crayons, water color pencils)
• experimented with how to make brown from primary colors
• made warm-palette Colored Leaf Symmetry works which we later mount on cool colored backgrounds
• worked on some landart, using radial balance

...and took note of the beauty created for us by God.

For extra fun, the children also:

• played around with sticks
• enjoyed a game hide-n-seek in a meadow
• and chatted along the trails.

The weather was perfect; the company was fabulous; and the memories of our Balance-Focused excursion are warm ones!

Check Out Pics, Reports and Plans from Some of Our Other Art-n-Nature Experiences 

• Create Your Own Art-n-Nature Hiking Club with Five Easy Steps! 
• Planning and Preparing for our First Art-n-Nature Hike on the Element of Line 
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Art Element of Line Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Shape Hike 
• Our Art-n-Nature Element of Color Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Form Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Space Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Value Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Texture Hike
• When the Art-n-Nature Hiking Club Does No Hiking Nor Art... 
• A Last-Minute Sunset Art-n-Nature Picnic  
• Give a Tree a Face! (Another Art-n-Nature Idea) 

I plan to catch up with reporting on other fall excursions from or renewed Art-n-Nature initiative as I can, as well as to plan, enjoy, and report on four final excursions for this year. As always, I would love YOUR suggestions for Spring and Summer art projects that can be enjoyed outdoors ad well as to hear about what adventures you've been on that we may have inspired.  Please leave links and ideas in a comment or at the Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.  Thank you!