Lesson Plan: Story of a Tree

Begin the lesson by talking about the life cycle of a tree. Take your students outside and gather around the base of a tree (size doesn’t matter). Begin reading an excerpt from the writings of John Muir. He often will tell stories about his observations–speculating about what a tree, plant, animal, or other element of nature may of seen or experienced. After reading the excerpt, ask your students to think about the life of this tree they are observing–How did it get here? What types of difficulties might it have experienced as it was growing up? Are their any clues that have been left behind on the trunk, branches, or leaves of the tree that would further illustrate it’s life? Have the students write and/or draw a story about their tree. Ideally, they might incorporate both text and images into their stories.

(If you want to take this project a step further, you might want to first have a paper or book-making lesson using recycled paper and materials. The students could then rewrite their books onto this paper.)

Nature Sketch Challenge: DAY SIX!

We’re only one day away from one continuous week of Nature Sketching! Yesterday’s sketch once again posed a challenge for me, as I was not only sick, but also had trouble finding the time to actually be able to go outside to sketch. I guess everyone has days like that..And that’s part of what this challenge is about–working to MAKE a little bit of time for small, artful explorations in nature.

And now for the challenge of the day:

Getting to know a tree

For this exercise, choose a tree–big or small–that you’d like to get to know a little better. To begin with, draw 2 blind contour drawings of your tree (see day one for instructions). Next, examine your tree closely. Feel the bark of the tree and sketch the texture. Draw a tree branch and/or a leaf in detail. You can put as much time into this exercise as you’d like–eventually drawing the entire tree, or only focusing on parts of the tree. The choice is yours. Either way, you will come away from the experience knowing your tree a little better than you did before.

Happy Sketching! I will post my sketch later this evening.

Today’s Sketch:

Here’s my sketch for the day! While in the midst of getting to know my tree friend, I was bombarded with Texas rain (for which I rejoiced!). However, the rain DID cut my sketching session short. I still managed a few sketches…

Here’s a close-up of my bark examination:

Nature Sketch Challenge- DAY FOUR!

Wow! Yesterday’s sketch was much harder for me than I had thought it would be. However, I definitely learned a lot about my flower! For instance, just from an initial glance, I would not have noticed that the petals were actually striped, with a lighter yellow stripe running down the middle. I also would’ve never seen the underside of the petals, with have some dark green on the edges! What a great opportunity to really get to know one of the little, overlooked gems in nature.

Onto today’s sketch suggestion:

Sketch a sound!

For this lesson, locate a nice place to sit or stand and spend about a minute or so just listening to the sounds around you. After about a minute of listening, choose one sound to track down. Once you locate the source of the sound, draw it, as well as some of the environment surrounding it.

I will post my sketch later today. Happy Sketching!

Today’s Sketch: 

Nature Sketch Challenge- DAY THREE!

Onto the third day of my nature sketch challenge! If you didn’t get a change to try drawing flowers with only ONE type of mark, give it a try sometime! I found it to be incredibly frustrating and difficult, as I naturally wanted to use more than one type of mark in order to better record my observations. That being said, today’s challenge is what I was begging for yesterday!

Drawing a Flower From 5 Different Perspectives

Select a flower, or some other type of LIVING plant to be your subject. This time, draw your subject from at least 5 different PERSPECTIVES (side view, bottom, top, etc). You may use several different types of marks for these drawings.

The goal of this exercise is to study the shapes and forms that you observe in your subject and to learn how to effectively use combinations of mark making techniques.

Happy Sketching! I will post my sketch later this evening!

Today’s Sketch:

Nature Sketch Challenge: DAY ONE!

Beginning today, October 3rd, through Monday, October 10th, I will be posting daily sketch inspirations, along with a picture of my daily nature sketch. One whole week of nature journaling–and it’s off to a great start with an absolutely beautiful day!

For those of you with limited drawing/art experience, my sketch idea for today will be a great way to loosen you up and get your creative juices flowing!

Inspiration: BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING

A great way to get warmed up is with a blind contour drawing, which is drawing something without looking at the page or lifting your pencil/pen from the paper.

Activity: Find a flower or leaf to draw. Look at the flower closely, following the outlines of the petals/edges of leaf. Do not lift your pencil until you are done with all of the details of your subject (flower/leaf).

Complete several contour drawings, exploring your subject from different angles and perspectives. Do not turn the page. Complete all blind contour drawings on one page.

As you look at your subject, concentrate on understanding, seeing, and recording all of the details you observe. The goal with this exercise is to sharpen your observations skills, not to create a finished masterpiece. By the end of this exercise, if done right, your paper will look like a page of nothing but lines and marks. (If you’d like, you can write your thoughts, descriptions, or anything else you’d like to your sketches when your page is complete).

Enjoy the PROCESS, not the product. And enjoy getting to know your chosen subject a little better

Happy drawing! I will add my day’s sketch to this post this evening. Looking forward to the process!

Today’s sketch: