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?

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.

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.

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?

There once was I time when I thought I had things figured out…
“If I just put my mind to it and work really, really, really hard,” I said, “I’ll make ____ successful.”

Whether my “blank” was family, school, career, or finances, I thought I was in control and if it didn’t work out….well…then it’s my own fault.

Then life rolls around and beats you up a little.
Suddenly, I realized I’m not in control at all. Despite your best efforts things happen and you could be on an entirely different path then the one you wanted.

That’s why today’s free download is so comforting.
God said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.” Is. 55: 8 and “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9

Where I come up short, my heavenly Father takes over. I don’t have to be in control. And that is a relief. Do you know the sound a bottle of soda makes when you open it *Pishhhhhhhhh*? That’s how I feel as my stress is relieved when I meditate on this scripture. It was once bottled up, but now is released.

It’s not easy. I have to keep reminding myself this very thing.
I may not want to be where I’m at in life right now, but that’s okay. I will let God be in control and trust in the end result.

I hope this has helped you especially if you find yourself in a difficult situation. You may download this free artwork and use it for yourself or maybe give to a friend.
20120303_free_download_strength
Full resolution 8×5 .PDF file.

Never give up, with God all things are possible.

Help in Troubled Times Free Download Strength by Christine Novak Kane is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Just keeping it real folks.

Remember how excited I was last summer to harvest black walnuts and how I can see myself living off the land, yadda, yadda, yadda, oh boy….

I should have started with something a little bit more easy.
After hours of getting the husk off with my husband’s old boot and staining the garage floor (yeah…he’s not happy) resulted in about 40 walnuts. After soaking them in a pot of water to see which ones sunk (good meat inside) and which ones floated (bad meat inside, maybe has been eaten by some larva) resulted in 12 walnuts.

That’s it….12.

Oh well I thought, I’ll put it in salad at least.

Nope.
After drying for a few months I struggled to open one with A HAMMER BECAUSE IT’S SO DARN HARD TO GET THEM OPEN…..sorry for yelling…and the meat was bad. Shriveled.

Good thing I wasn’t feeding my family or anything! Ha ha haaaaaa. I guess I will just leave the black walnuts to my enemy the tree rat (squirrel). You win this time Mr. Tree Rat…this time.

Last Saturday morning greeted us with a brisk biting wind and a mere 20°F.
Brrrrrrr.

We love nature but we’re not crazy…so we decided to sketch from inside the nature center.

Each of us found a spot we wanted to paint from and got to work.

The hard part is balancing sketchbook, paints, brushes, water, etc, etc…

The group did an amazing job painting the display of mama deer and her baby. We started with the lightest colors first, then medium, lastly darks and then touched up spots with a micron pen. We also used masking fluid for baby’s spots. Still life is much more difficult than landscape, but you couldn’t tell that these artists weren’t pros!

Here is a close up of my baby sketch.

And a close up of mama.

Photo by Alanna. (Michelle, Myself, Alanna, Katie, and Amanda)
We had fun, even though we couldn’t paint outside. That didn’t stop us from taking a hike afterwards though!

Hopefully next month will be warm enough to be outside. Maybe you would like to join us? No experience necessary!

Oh the treasures in nature!
How can I express such joy from my adventures in the woods with simple text? Not possible.

Well, let’s try…

Yesterday I decided to walk the yellow trail from Pioneer Woods. It was a cold but strong sunny day. In the late afternoon light, the bare trees took on a golden glow and at their feet cast long deep shadows.

The sun was warm on my face. I noticed the field along side of the yellow trail had recently had a prescribed burn. It was my opportunity to go off trial and explore.

This particular dead tree caught my interest. Walking closer I noticed bright white on the ground.
A skull!!!!

This coyote skull measured about 5-6 inches long. The one long sagittal crest on the top confirms that this is a coyote and not a fox. The larger the sagittal crest the stronger the bite into prey. The male’s crest is usually higher than the female’s, but without a comparison I do not know if this is from a male or female.

Large clumps of bright green moss was growing from the orbital fossa (eye sockets). In total I found this skull, one rib bone, one vertebrae, and one femur bone. All were left to continue its natural process back into the earth. Not only did this coyote no doubt nourish many other animals, but it did also for the tree as well. The Father’s plan…His work in progress.

I love the warm colors. With each passing hour, more oranges seem to emerge.

In the field I notice a bird house. Naturalists must have put this up years ago, as the paint has weathered off. There was a nest inside but no activity. Too early in the year perhaps…maybe a spring resident will clean the nest and create a new home.

I hope you enjoyed this hike on the yellow trail from Pioneer Woods. It was my pleasure bringing you along! Try to get out and hike for yourself. Bring a piece of paper and pencil with you to record what you hear, smell, and see. A camera helps too, but your words will really bring you back in memory.

If you can’t get out because of health reasons, that’s OK you can always come back to this site and take a virtual hike with me and explore in the woods. It’s soooooooo much fun!

Being a hectic weekend, I couldn’t get out, so these sketches are from photos of last weekend at St. Francis Woods.

St. Francis Woods is a peaceful place which holds a retirement building for nuns. A highlight of the grounds is a wooded lot which runs along Hickory Creek. This is where I found a tiny plot of pines and the owl pellets.

They have many programs and even cottages for a secluded retreat (must check into that!). They also have an 1876 chapel, stations of the cross, and a labyrinth to visit.

Yes, I spelled labyrinth wrong on my sketch! Isn’t the first, wont be the last…hahahaha!

Despite my spelling this structure is very intriguing. There is only one path to the center. Walking this path with no short-cuts reminded me of life. Sometimes you don’t get very far, but are repeatedly turned around very quickly. Other times you gain great distances and time. This is how life is. Sometimes life throws you around and you do not see the end path or the purpose. And then other times you seem to accomplish a lot and feel good. Neither are bad, neither are good, they are all on purpose from the Creator of your path and you must just go through it, trusting that the Creator has a purpose and a lesson for us to learn.

Here are some photos from my visit:

The Labyrinth took about 15 minutes to complete…no cheating! In the center you are suppose to say 6 prayers, then exit on the same path.

Here is Hickory Creek. It was flowing pretty fast and had a lovely trickle sound.

Here is one pine of a group which the owl pellets were found. This picture will be a painting one day.

I love dilapidated statues. The ones which are weathered and worn have such character.

This is tiny and cute Heritage Chapel, which was dedicated in 1876. It’s charming and is in working order.

A view from inside.

A view out the window.

And finally, one of the stations of the cross which you can visit along a paved path and revisit Jesus’ death and resurrection.

St. Francis Woods is a very neat nature and spiritual place to visit. Highly recommended!

I hope you enjoyed this hike at St. Francis Woods and I would like to thank my friend, Alanna, who introduced me to this neck of the woods!

Finally!!!!
I FOUND them!!!
Owl pellets.

After years of knowing what to look for and searching diligently, I got them! Whoooo Hoooooo! Yessssssss.

Owl pellets are regurgitated fur and bones. Owls cannot digest them. It’s really not gross at all. If you have a cat, it’s just like a hair ball.

I collected 2.5 pellets. When I started to dissect them with tweezers, there was a definite smell, just like rotting fruit. I don’t know why this is, but it was there. Over the period of 2 hours I carefully separated several bones and was in nature heaven!

How To Look For Owl Pellets:

Owls LOVE pines trees on the edge of a field. When you see this inspect the pines. This picture is white wash not sap. White wash is owl poop. Many people assume this is sap because it is on a pine. When you see this on a tree, inspect the ground around the tree. That is where you will find the pellets.

Here is a pellet. It looks like poop but it is not. Sometimes you can even see the bones sticking out of the pellet. This one was very dark and about 2 inches long. That information is important because it can tell you what type of owl it was. I don’t have that information but in the future I may try to find out.

Here are some of the bones I cleaned off. I did not even save them all. WOW. Let’s just say W O W!
Can you find one single tooth, it has a root on it…how cool. I’ll give you a clue….near the top left corner. I cleaned 6 skulls in 2.5 pellets. I believe I have 2 rat skulls and 4 mice skulls, but not sure.

Now that you know how to find owl pellets, keep your eyes open when hiking. You too can have this much fun in nature!!!