acrylic paintings drawn from nature

This past week I ran a "Drawing from Nature" camp in both the morning and afternoon at the studio. In total I had 13 students involved in the program. 

13 engaged, talented, and truly lovely children, I was a lucky, lucky teacher even if the number was not.

We spent the first day of camp hiking the trails of Lynn Canyon. 

Each child had a clip board full of paper and a pencil. I told them to be sure to look up, down, and all around for inspiration. I explained that like in school they were taking notes, so they did not need to record everything, just enough information for them to create artwork once we were back in the studio for the rest of the week.

As an adult, this is such a fun day for me. I feel greatly rewarded watching the kids completely immersed in the joy of drawing, exploring, and hiking in the woods.

Ultimately we made our way down to the dry river bed where the students wanted to sit, relax, and draw.

How cute is this 7 year old who made a reclining chair in the rocks? He sat back and sketched until his heart was content.  My heart melted as I watched him get all set up to draw.

Everyone found their special spot and life found a lovely, quiet rhythm for a long while. And when some were finished sketching, they began creating sculptures to leave behind.

Each group spent almost the entire three hours of camp in the woods the first day. We had just enough time to walk back to the studio and eat a snack before their parents arrived to pick them up. By the end of the first day, I had hiked a total of almost six hours. My legs complained the rest of the week but to see the joy the day brought to everyone was well worth it.

The next day, students chose their favorite "note" sketch and began to create an acrylic painting.

We were surrounded by majestic tall trees, so no surprise this ended up as subject matter in several paintings

This tree was fascinating to a group of boys on the hike. It was decayed and split in half, the most stunning color of orange you have ever seen and then out of all this rot was a small tree growing on top. The new root winding its way down the rotted trunk, the dark brown a stunning sculptural color against the bright orange. I'm not surprised to see a child's desire to paint this particular tree.

And after more than one stumble over the large roots on the ground, I can see why another child picked this sketch to paint too.

I'm sure after a glimpse at their sketches, you can see that they were wonderful in their own right. As each child began to turn their sketches into paintings, I talked about the importance of composition and putting their own unique twist on the drawing. 

I pulled down several art history books of Canadian artist who have also been inspired to paint the beautiful landscapes in this country, including the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, and local working artist Dana Irving. (whose work I pulled up from her website)

I also pulled down some books of Monet's work for them to study and as each child looked in the books, their ideas took shape and they began to paint.

6 year old

11 year old

9 year old

9 year old

8 year old

8 year old

10 year old

Then something unusual happened. Sometimes kids will ask me why we only paint animals in a camp themed on animals or in this case, why did they have to paint something from the hike?

I explain that the focus is on this particular subject due to the theme but at the end of the day, I want them to enjoy what they are spending their time painting and so if they want to do something different, they have my full support.

And then this happened....

7 year old

Elephants were balancing on the large rocks we saw down by the river bed on the hike. I sure hope this isn't inspired by me trying to keep my balance on them.....

8 year old

The sculptures created on the river bank during the afternoon hike were painted with a tiger sun.

6 year old

And a bird's nest nestled in a tree trunk became a "tree man".

Another child created a picture for an Aunt in South Africa, who sees something quite different than we do on hikes.

8 year old

And paintings of wishful thinking of things we would of loved to have seen while out on a nature hike.

6 year old

And then there was this moment. This child loves lizards and so although this was a camp that was suppose to be all about drawing from nature collected on our hike, she would not be deterred from taking every available opportunity to paint her very favorite subject, lizards.

10 year old

What you don't see in this painting is that this child refused to give up when things got very, very hard. She did at least 16 different sketches trying to work out the back legs, so it would look like the lizard was sitting on it's tail licking milk out of a cereal bowl.

At least 16 sketches. I was so worried about her frustration level that I gently suggested maybe choosing a different reference picture, but she would not hear of it. Never once did the smile leave her face. Never once did she get discouraged. She just kept trying until suddenly and quite loudly she shouted, "I GOT IT!" There was such victory in her voice and the parent in me silently jumped up and down for the great life lesson she just learned about hard work being life's greatest reward. 

What a moment. To see her "win" the battle with the sketch was as exhilarating as if she had won a gold medal. The entire class stopped and clapped for her as everyone knew how hard she had worked and everyone wanted to share in her accomplishment.

Such a special moment in the studio with such a special group of kids. They all learned a little something greater than creating art in that moment.

I am so looking forward to sharing their projects with you over the next few post. I'm so proud of all the work they created. I know you are going to like it too.