painted turtle art club: the finer details

What an amazing time we had at our first Painted Turtle Art Club! The weather was beautiful. 

Here we are - off an our first art adventure - sketch books in hand (or on head!). 

We stopped by the side of the pond and listened to Shauna read Ish by Peter H. Reynolds, a book that encouraged us to experiment with our artwork - to make mistakes, to think in "ish-ly" ways, and not worry about getting it perfect, or about what the final product would look like. It's about the process, and the response that our artwork generates - in ourselves, or in others. 

We learned a bit about Georgia O'Keeffe, and looked at some of her close-up paintings of flowers and leaves. Here's a site that tells a bit about her, and shows some of her most famous paintings.

Then we were off to do our own sketching, spending time looking at the intricacies of the things in front of us.

What a calming thing to do... to study the fine details of a flower, a leaf, or a frog's eye. :) I found that when I was sketching, there was a part of my brain that wanted to hurry, and there was another part that told me to SLOW DOWN. A great skill to learn, even for (maybe especially for) us adults!

We also reflected on how each leaf and individual flower is different, and has its own beauty and imperfections. 

Just like us.

We even had a painted turtle keeping watch over us while we sketched. Do you see it peeking through the reeds?