On Monday, the kids spent the morning in the woods of Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver with a sketchbook in hand. I had created a "Scavenger Sketch" for each of them as a jumping off point for things to draw.
Some children found beauty in trees that have died,
I explained that the sketchbook was something just for them to take visual notes and showed them some sketchbooks of several famous artist, including Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso. With pencil, charcoal, and a soft graphite in hand, we took off for a morning of fun in the woods.
With no other plan for the three hours than drawing in their books, it was a very fun and relaxing morning. I am always surprised at how much kids enjoy just being in the woods sketching.
Along with sketching expansive landscape scenes, I also encouraged them to focus in on individual things too. We stopped on one of the bridges for them to sketch a bird's eye view of the canyon waters far down below.
One of the highlights of the hike were the huckleberries that are currently in season. They were consumed ferociously by all the kids as our morning came to an end. They were all quite excited to discover some bushes loaded with berries to eat.
During the week, I will encourage them to use their sketches to create final artworks although they will be more than welcome to the reference files for inspiration too. Although their books are just "notes" for them to use for information, I feel they got some really nice drawings.
There are sketches of treasures found on the forest floor,
of trees that have been strucked by lightening,
or cut for safety reasons.
while others found something beautiful in a simple weed.
And they all took on the challenge of trying some of the stairs built into the mountain side at some of the steeper grades that had the art teacher silently praying to the good Lord above as she climbed them.
It was a wonderful and magical way to start the week with a very nice group of kids and the perfect kick off for a summer full of art camps.
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