Thursday, September 11, 2014

A day in the woods

I'm lucky enough to have my studio just a couple of blocks from the beautiful mountain trails of Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver.  Today was quite nice outside and I really wanted to take the students out to sketch in the woods.   I took a couple of large bags for them to also collect things of interest that we might utilize later at the studio in artwork, along with the prerequisite paper and pencils.

As an instructor, I always have hopes for what I'd like the students to get out of a project I introduce and there is something so rewarding when a project actually exceeds my hopes for the students by leaps and bounds.

Today was one of those special days.

I loved watching them start to slow down and really notice everything around them.  So often we "hike" and do not take the time to really look at just how much beauty is around us or how we can find incredible beauty in things we usually do not even register.

Like slug slime glistening in the morning sun on a moss covered log.

Or water trickling out of a pipe.

The clouds overhead peeking through the trees.

Or graffiti on the "wiggly" bridge.



Or 106 stairs that have to be climbed to exit the canyon floor.

Sorry, that was just me and my out of shape thighs that noticed that one.  I'm grateful to be still upright in the photo above taken right after marching up 106 stairs.  And may I mention that the under 10 set motor up the stairs at amazing speed, so I may or may not of been gasping for air at this point also.


We barely made it into the canyon before they all stopped to start sketching.  Here they are at a small trickling brook,  where they were fascinated in how the water moved out of one of the pipes among the greenery.

11 year old

The acrylic painting the student decided to do based off that particular sketch of water coming out of the pipe.  I think she was very happy with the end result, especially the water which she wasn't so confident about doing in the beginning of her painting.  I had some iridescent fluid acrylic that I gave her to add a bit of sparkle to the water here and there too.  I wish it showed up better in the photograph.


I reminded the students to look up, look behind, look down and that it was really OK to focus on the small stuff.  Here are two students hard at work capturing the light coming through the trees in the morning sun.

11 year old

And the artwork created from the sketch.  One of the things I talked to the students about when we got back to the studio and they started going through all their sketches was that they didn't have to draw it the way it looked in the forest.  I went over stylizing their work and showed them several artist who are from the Northwest, in particular local favorite Emily Carr, and how they interpreted the woods of British Columbia.  This student was quite inspired by Emily Carr and she was so thrilled from beginning to end with how her artwork was developing.  It was so exciting to watch her fall in love with her painting while she was creating it.

And then the lowly clover elevated to new heights in paint.  Again, fun to watch a student stop and acknowledge something in their world that most likely they walked by a hundred times before without much thought.    And I love the perspective she chose for the composition all on her own and her creativity with the overall painting.  The original sketch was just the weed itself.

7 year old

My original thought was we would sketch in the woods for an hour or an hour and a half at most.  I could not get them to stop!  We did not even make it down the stairs to the water without having to give students time to take a moment to draw the multitude of things that caught their eye.  Our hike did not complete until two and a half hours later they all got so lost in the sketching....which just makes me so happy.



When we finally made it down to the water,  the students took some time to "just be".  They grow up in a world that is "go, go, go" and full of television, computers, and video games.  For me, it is wonderful to watch them just sit and relax in the world around them.  Enjoying a moment just taking in their surroundings.  


We were at the water for quite awhile, as they sketched and watched a couple cliff jump. They seemed to naturally break off into small groups as they sketched too, enjoying each others company as they worked.  Here's an artwork inspired from this moment.

10 year old

As we were observing the world around us, I kept reminding them that as artist, they got to pick and choose what they sketched on their paper.  And when we got back, I reminded them again that as artist they could now combine their numerous sketches from what they saw any way they pleased and also that they could manipulate the time of day and anything else their heart desired.  

One student choose to paint what I think is probably the harvest moon that has been so gorgeous this week amongst beautiful stylized trees.  And although the students spend a long day with me, they are definitely not at the studio once the sun goes down! So I was pleased to see that she was confident enough to take her sketches and put them together in her painting a way that we did not experience on our hike.

7 year old


As did this student with an amazing limited color palette.  When I first walked by, she had the trees completed and we talked about what wonderful color choices she had made.  I could see the potential for a beautiful work if she continued to limit her palette and asked her to consider continuing on with her tree color choices throughout the painting, including the sun and sky which might seem "weird".  I was thrilled to see her do it and think this artwork came out so nice.   I later heard through my daughter, who helps me in the studio, that this student doesn't like to paint because she doesn't think she is "any good at it".  From the results of this painting, I beg to differ with her.  She is quite a beautiful painter!

8 year old

And then there were the unexpected things students were captivated by during our hike.  Like a slug's slime trail that was sparkling in the sun on a mossy decomposing log with little white mushrooms all around.  Many of the students stopped to sketch this, but only one chose to put it in a painting.

8 year old

I wish the iridescent paint she added for the slime trail showed up better in my photograph.  She worked hard to capture the glistening effect on her artwork.  I really like the way she choose to interpret the mossy log too and the way she changed the perspective from her sketch, which was just straight on, to this composition which creates lots of interest.  Together we talked about a couple of ways she could make the log look more interesting in the painting and in the end, I think she made a great choice.

And while we were looking down at the ground or out into the forest, I reminded the kids to also look up!  There were some really nice clouds in the sky set against an incredible color of blue.  I was quite transfixed by it and obviously wasn't the only one!

6 year old

I just love this painting. So simple but yet so beautiful.  The sky was that blue and I could stare at this painting even longer than I spent staring at the sky on our hike.

And finally, last but not least.  While stopped on the "wiggly" bridge to draw the raging river below us, one artist's eye focused on something completely different.

7 year old

The graffiti left behind by someone on the bridge!!  She looked at me and asked, "Can I draw this?" which made me smile because of course!  draw what pleases your eye.  And obviously it really pleased her eye as this is what she chose to paint out of the many sketches she made that morning.  There is beauty in everything.  This child proves it.

I think they would of stayed out in the woods all day had their stomachs not started complaining for lunch.  I wish I had thought to bring along their lunches to enjoy by the water, but I honestly did not expect us to stay there drawing as long as we did and so we came back to the studio to fill our growling stomachs before starting to paint.

I think they all had a great time, even though I'm sure there were moments that I seemed way too "bossy" and "mean" as I harped on them to stay together and not get too close to the water.  I'm pretty sure their parents expected me to come back to the studio with the nine children I had entered the woods with in tow and it is easy to get lost in the forest.  In fact just last week there was a couple of tourist that inadvertently got lost from their group overnight while on a day hike.  I'm thinking having to call Search and Rescue would not of impressed the student's parents and so I probably had my moments that could of seemed mean and bossy.  

Also I have a heightened fear of running into one of the many black bears that inhabit these woods, just ask my friends that are my usual hiking buddies, and the idea that one of the kids would come nose to nose with a bear while sketching off on their own was enough to throw me into full "helicopter mom" mode as my 20 year old son calls it. 

But hey,  I feel no shame in it.  I got three babies to adulthood in one piece with all their fingers and toes thanks to helicopter parenting and I gave all the students back to their families today in similar fashion.  Great art and kids in one piece, I call that success.

The students spent so much time today hiking around that when it was time to go home, they all remarked that they had only completed TWO pieces of finished work.  I think they too were surprised at how quickly the hours flew by while engrossed in sketching during the morning.

However, I'm planning on utilizing the sketches they created over the last two days of camp in other projects.  So hope is not lost!  They will without doubt create lots more finished work thanks to a morning spent in Lynn Canyon.


















No comments:

Post a Comment