Let's Paint Nature!

Kennedy Park Field House watercolor sketch

Posted on May 22, 2012 | 3 Comments

Last Saturday I had the chance to visit my old stomping grounds and have a picnic with a friend at Kennedy Park in Chicago. I always had admired this field house. It is all stone and quality built. They don’t make them like this anymore. Now it is all about cheap materials, cheap labor, and more profit.

With a large blanket and our shoes kicked off, we enjoyed chicken salad sandwich, grapes, sun chips, an oatmeal cookie, and a juice box. Ahhh… we felt like kids again. Was it sucking apple juice from a mini box? Was it laying on the ground? Was it something in the summer-like air? Maybe it was a little of each, but we definitely felt like kids…and it felt so good!

This struck up a very interesting conversation. When did becoming an adult get to be so boring? Too much responsibility and not enough play? Work, work, work, bills, bills, bills. O, yay, you’re an adult now.
Talking at great lengths about the feelings of freedom and not having a care in the world led us to the conclusion to schedule in fun, a mandatory event.

Go (with a big grin on your face) run barefoot. Jump up and down for no reason while flailing your arms. Have a picnic. Lay on the ground. When was the last time you did that? It feels good. And make sure to schedule it in…or dullness will get the best of you. Oh yes, and don’t forget to paint!

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Posted in art, Artwork, Chicago, nature, Nature Sketching, sketchbook, watercolor sketching

Tagged art, Artwork, Chicago, kennedy park, nature, picnic, sketchbook, watercolor

Sketch Class Results April 2012

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 5 Comments

Last Saturday a group of us met for another Little Red Schoolhouse Sketch Class. Because of the recent rains, we knew that if we painted outside our watercolors would take forever to dry, so we decided to start with an indoor sketch of the fox family display.

We went slow…step by step…and boy did they turn out great! Did I ever tell you how difficult still life could be compared to landscape? Yes sir…but the artwork is fantastic.

The end result is not the goal. It’s all about the process! We are documenting our view and our feeling when we experience nature. They are all unique and beautiful in their own way.
One student said that her friend was interested in attending the class but couldn’t gather enough courage. I replied, “There is NO COURAGE REQUIRED for sketch class!” Everyone is welcome even if you’ve never painted before.

Photo by Alanna. (Christine, Theresa, Alanna, and Katie)
After we painted the fox family display, we decided to take our sketchbooks and a micron pens with us on a short hike, to draw the pines along the field at the beginning of the Black Oak Trail.

Here are the pines we wanted to sketch.

Photo by Alanna. (Katie, Alanna, and Theresa)
We sat down and got right to work. Because we were not using color, we focused on lines. Which way are lines going in the pines? What different lines do the pines have that the trees in front do not? Those are some of the questions we asked as we drew our sketches.

It’s hard to see, but here are our simple black micron drawings. Another great sketch by the class!

I went home and added some color from memory. That was fun and relaxing because I didn’t care if my colors matched at all!

And here is a close up of my fox family watercolor sketch.

I hope you enjoyed April’s sketch class results. Maybe you would like to join at the end of May?

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Posted in art, Artwork, Chicago, hiking, nature, Nature Sketching, sketchbook, sketching class, watercolor sketching

Tagged Christine Kane Art, ckane, fox, il sketch class, journal, little red schoolhouse, pines, sketch, sketchbook, sketching nature, watercolor, willow springs

Backyard Garden Sketch

Posted on April 25, 2012 | 10 Comments

Do you remember a few months ago when I failed big time on harvesting black walnuts? My harvest resulted in much work and no payoff. Zip. Nada.
And to tell you the truth years ago that would have been just enough to discourage me from trying again. I would have believed the negative thoughts in my head.

But do we give up when we fail?

NO! N. O.
We never give up. We don’t give up when our harvest fails. We don’t give up when our art fails. And we don’t give up when life seems to fail us as well! We push on with as much force as we can muster and ask God for help and guidance.

So this year, I’ve constructed a few raised beds in my backyard and dove into as many gardening books as I could get my hands on. This sketch shows my layout for the cold garden bed (carrots, lettuce, and spinach). The compost bin is made out of 3 half-size wooden pallets that I cable tied in the corners. Hay is the bottom layer, then kitchen scraps…etc. A plastic tarp covers the compost bin to help keep rain water out and heat in.

Four weeks ago I started the cold crops from seed and today I have little baby sprouts….awe so cute!

Garden bed #1 (8′x4′).
24″ chicken wire all around to keep the rabbits from eating everything. Marigold plants do not work…they eat those too! This bed will contain beans and tomatoes later on.

Tiny Scarlet Nantes (carrots) starting to grow.

And here we have Bibb Lettuce which has a nice dark green color in comparison to the Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce I planted which is a yellow-green right now. These will have to be thinned out soon.

There are many battles up ahead, I know. With God’s help, we can overcome. Every challenge makes us a little stronger if we don’t give up.

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Posted in art, Artwork, garden, nature, Nature Sketching, sketchbook

Tagged baby sprouts, backyard, bibb, black seeded simpson, Christine Kane Art, ckane, garden, garden journal, garden sketch, garden watercolor, lettuce, plants, scarlet nantes, sketch, sketchbook, sketching the garden, spinach, watercolor

Sketch Class Results March 2012

Posted on April 3, 2012 | 12 Comments

A little cold and a little gray….but that didn’t stop our fun at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center Sketch Class!

I saw a notification on the Illinois Bird List website that a pair of Osprey were building a nest on the platform in Long John Slough, so I was very excited to tell the group and see it for ourselves. We did spot the Osprey and nest with binoculars. We also observed one flying above the Slough. Oh YES! Birding excitement in the morning!

We decided to face south and sketch the new nature center building from across the slough. Each one of us found a comfortable spot and got to work. Alanna has found a bench that serves as a table too! Good idea!

Michelle’s mini tripod chair is light weight and can be carried anywhere. Got to get me one of these!

Katie and I choose the cold wet ground where we can spread our art table all over the place. Dirt is fun. Way fun.

Ce Ce and Sue made wonderful sketches but had to leave early. It was so nice to have them along!

Photo by Alanna.
The rest of us painted as much as we could. There was a lot of moisture in the air and our watercolors were not drying. We decided to finish at home.

Here is our work in progress.

This is my finished sketch. Spring is about one month early in my area. I love the redbuds, however I am concerned how early everything is developing.

No class is complete without a short hike (optional). The redbuds are beautiful but are the insects ready? This is my way too early spring concern.

We also found some Dutchman’s Breeches which are also out about one month early.
Beautiful!

That was the theme of the day, cold but beautiful! The next class is Saturday, April 28th. Hopefully it will be a tad warmer.

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Posted in art, Artwork, Chicago, hiking, nature, Nature Sketching, sketchbook, sketchbook in the field, sketching class, watercolor sketching

Tagged art, art class, Artwork, Chicago, Christine Kane Art, ckane, IL, little red schoolhouse, long john slough, painting, sketch class, sketchbook, sketching and hiking, sketching nature, spring, watercolor nature, watercolor sketching, willow springs

Waterfall Glen Sketch

Posted on March 12, 2012 | 12 Comments

Waterfall Glen is a small gem tucked away in the DuPage County Forest Preserves. It is near a 9 mile trail (that I did not walk) which surrounds Argonne Lab.

Chicago is experiencing a very hot winter. Yes, hot. Believe it or not this week we will hit 70°F at least 4 times. Very strange. Anyway, it was gorgeous last Saturday for a long leisurely sit by the waterfall.

I love to close my eyes and listen to the thunder of the water crashing down. There is so much energy and force in that water.

I decided to take my time and bring my fold-up chair with me to hold the water well and brushes. It worked out terrific! My mom accompanied me on this nature adventure and commented how the waterfall looked as if it had silver ribbons. The way the sun light was touching the falls, it really did look like silver ribbons! I couldn’t have said it better myself!

As we walked out of the preserve, we noticed a plot of pines. Saturday was an extremely windy day and the skinny trunked pines were tossed by the wind.

I looked up at the top-heavy pines and wrote this poem:

The wind rushes with a mighty force.
A pine plot sways with much excitement, scraping a bright blue sky.
The roar of the wind sounds and the creaking pines answer.

I hope you enjoyed this quick hike at Waterfall Glen and enjoyed the poem.
Can you hear the creaking pines?

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Posted in art, Artwork, Chicago, hiking, nature, Nature Sketching, poetry, sketchbook, sketchbook in the field, watercolor sketching, weather