Art Journaling class inspired by nature

Saturday was a sunny, mild autumn day and I wasn't sure who would show up for my Nature Journaling class at the Sachem Library.  It reminded me a little of the scene in the "Bishop's Wife" with Cary Grant, where the choir hasn't shown up, then at the last minute, they begin to arrive and fill the room.  Okay, the room wasn't filled but six wonderfully talented kids did come to my class.  

I provided all the supplies and after days of planning, I was well prepared.  I started off showing them the basics of shapes, composition and contour drawing.   They sketched their hands,  pressed leaves, and I provided an assortment of seashells and rocks for a small still life for each of them.  I pointed out the importance of lines, soft and hard edges, using mats to frame a subject and painting the negative space.  

They used sketching pencils,  Crayola watercolor pencils and water brushes.

We moved from sketching paper to watercolor on small folded Fabriano cards that I found online from Dick Blick.  They practiced brush strokes, washes and blending using Prang watercolor paint sets.   Then they painted covers for the small accordion books I had made for  each of them.  Most of them choose to use my bird photos.

After nearly two hours, I still had the five girls, my only boy had left early.  I brought out the blank bookmarks to finish the class.  They did a lot in one class and I'm so proud of my Sachem library students!