Author Archives: letspaintnature

My Fern Has Spots Sketch

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No, it doesn’t have a disease.
Yes, “EWWW” was my first response when I looked underneath the frond and realized I was touching the spots. :)

Actually, my fern is fertile. Yay!
The spots under the fronds are called sori (plural). Each sorus (singular) is filled with spores. When there is enough moisture, the spores will release and do their thing in the soil (fertilize itself; each spore contains male and female parts). Hopefully next year I will have more ferns.

Ferns do not produce seed, flower, nor fruit. They, like mushrooms, reproduce by spore. Isn’t that neat! This has been your daily dose of biology class. ;)

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Here is a close up photo of the sori.

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From on top, you would never know what’s going on underneath. This is my first year growing ferns, I hope to fill the shady spots along my fence will baby ferns.

What do you have growing in your yard?

Sketch Class Sat 05-26-12 Cancelled

To students in the Chicago area:

Unfortunately due to illness, I am going to have to cancel tomorrow’s (05-26-12) sketch class. I don’t have a horrible illness, just sore throat, chills, fatigue…I’m sure a few days of rest will be what I need.
Bummer…a holiday weekend too.

I plan to resume class on Saturday, June 30th at the Little Red Schoolhouse.

Until then, keep on practicing your sketches!
:D

Kennedy Park Field House watercolor sketch

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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.

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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!
:)

Sketch Class Results April 2012

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Here are the pines we wanted to sketch.

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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.

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

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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!

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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?

Backyard Garden Sketch

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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.

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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!

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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.

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Tiny Scarlet Nantes (carrots) starting to grow.

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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.