Our Art-n-Nature Element of Color "Hike"

Beginning to Explore the Color Wheel

Our fourth Art-n-Nature hiking club experience contained no hiking, little art, but a whole lot of fun with two other families!

With Some of Our New Friends

Because it is traditional for my children and I to visit a local zoo around Halloween, and because there was not enough time in our schedule to pencil in both a visit to the zoo and an Art-n-Nature hike, we decided to combine the two experiences.

Preparing for Our Element of Color "Hike"

Nina's Color Wheel Exploration

 
In preparation for our Art-n-Nature Element of Color experience, I wrote up an announcement as usual (shared here for anyone who would like to borrow verbage for their own local club) and posted an event invitation on our Art-n-Nature Hikes Facebook page.  Then, I put together a supply bag with:

• watercolor paint tubes
• normal, recycled plastic lids (for the paint)
• normal, recycled plastic containers (for the water)
• paintbrushes
• Q-tips
• paper
• warm Colored Pencil Sticks
• cool Colored Pencil Sticks
• colored pencils
• paint shirts
• water (to drink and to use for watercolors)
• lunch
• a hand towel
• a phone
• a camera

This bag had all the materials we would need to make color wheels, sketch animals and plants and do guided drawings colored in warm or cool pallets.

Jack's Color Mixing Exploration

I also jotted down vocabulary I wanted to include in the day:

• hue - the name of a color
• primary colors - red, yellow and blue
• secondary colors - orange, green and violet
• tertiary colors -  red-orange, yellow-green, blue-violet, etc.
• color wheel - a circle of colors that shows the relationships between colors
• cool colors - blue, violet, green
• warm colors - orange, yellow, red
• value - lightness or darkness of color (maybe
• intensity - quality of brightness (maybe)
• and perhaps, complementary colors and analogous colors.  

Luke's Explorations

Our Color Stroll Experience

Two new friends begin their color wheels.

As planned, we met other families at the zoo for a picnic.

Then, we circled up and reviewed some basics about Line, Shape and Form orally before including some Line and Shape vocabulary in order to begin creating our color wheel (using hand drawn curved lines make circles at the points of an imagined triangle.  Then, three straight lines to make triangles between these.  And, finally, four straight lines to make rectangles between all the triangles and circles.).

A Shape and Color Wheel In-Progress

Shapes drawn, we passed around the primary colored paints, yellow, red and orange to fill in the circles.  Then, we explored these to create secondary colors in the triangles and talked a little bit about which colors are "cool" and which are "warm".  Finally, some of us tried mixing further to create tertiary colors.  Through doing all this, we explored the color wheel.

 

Nina and Jack decided to explore painting sticks, too!

Then, since we had a young crowd, who was ready to move and see the zoo, that is exactly what we did!  We enjoyed one another's company while exploring all the zoo exhibits.  

Luke and a new pal chatting about the animals.

I had intended to do a color spotting walk while exploring the exhibits and/or to do sketches and guided drawings of some of the animals that we could then color with cool or warm palettes.  However, as I watched the children chatting and observing animals and climbing on rocks and noted the temperatures dropping to levels that may have been a bit too brisk for us to sit still again to create art, I decided to nix such plans.  So, little visual art was explored, yet the arts of conversation with new friends and marveling at God's wonderful natural creations were enjoyed!

Climbing Boulders with New Friends

Once we had strolled about the entire zoo, one of the families went home (for naps!) while the other went to a playground right outside the zoo.  Luke, Nina and Jack opted to stay behind in the zoo for a few minutes more to enjoy a carousel ride, made picturesque by the parade of trees bedecked in colorful autumn splendor that went by as we went round and round.

Beautiful Colors All Around

After the ride, we joined the other family out at the playground. 

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a report on our fifth Art-n-Nature experience on Texture, which we we enjoyed last week, and, if the weather continues to cooperate, our final two hikes in our Elements of Art series.

Meanwhile, if you missed the first part of this series, feel free to check them out:

• 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 Form Hike

What are your favorite Element of Art projects?  Do you have fabulous ideas for value or space?

Ideas and inspiration for Art-n-Nature Hikes can be found on our growing Pinterest page.  Please leave links to your favorite Elements of Art projects and Nature adventures in the comments on this post.  That way, I can pin them to share with others as time allows.  Thanks!