Seeing Nature Verses Being In Nature
This morning I took the kids outside with their paints and some paper and thought we would try a little Plein Air. Trey found a great leaf on the ground so we all tried to paint it in our own way.
Evan wanted to paint a perfect leaf with no brown or scrapes.
Trey’s was very much his own. He loves colors, so his leaf had to have a colorful background.
And yes, even mommy got into the act and tried to paint a leaf. I don’t think I’m going to be selling any masterpieces any time soon.
Painting didn’t last long, and then they were off running around. A nasty storm rolled through last night and toppled a big tree in the backyard. There was lots of exploring and climbing and discovering to be done. Bugs were crawling out from cracks and holes, an empty bird’s nest was hiding under some leaves, and a couple disgruntled squirrels were running nearby. My carefully designed plans to paint nature were bunk compared to getting hands on with it.
I love kids’ take on their world. It sure makes me slow down a bit.
They are so cute! I love the paintings!
[...] week especially for drawing or painting something from nature. We already did that a little when we painted leaves outside and the boys liked it. I’m going to use the book to teach them a little bit about whatever [...]
What a wonderful adventure. The fallen tree play reminds me of a book we just read together. It’s called Hurricane by David Wiesner. The boys enjoy playing in and around a tree that has fallen during a hurricane.
I’ve found that doing the projects (painting, sketching, whatever) alongside my daughter helps with her attention and motivation. I mean, if Mom is doing it, it must be valuable.
Bravo to you for trying and for posting your sketch here. I though it looked really good.