July’s sketch class was a success. We had such a wonderful artistic fellowship while discovering nature. After a short walk from the nature center, we settled in by the slough to take in the amazing view.
The dead trees across the slough caught my eye, so some of us decided to paint this scene.
Here is Alanna’s artwork. Great job! I love the pink dots of swamp rose mallow growing across the slough.
Kathy decided to sketch the geese in the slough. These geese kept us company for a long time. What a beautiful reminder of this day.
Sometimes it is hard to sketch summer because it seems that everywhere you look it is green. If you can include different variations of green (yellow-green, blue-green, sap green, ochre green) it helps to ease the green frustration.
After our sketch, we decided to take a hike on the Black Oak Trail.
We found little treasures on our trail. This is Two-colored Bolete mushroom (I believe). During the summer when everything is green, this red and yellow mushroom pops out!
This is a male Ruby Meadowhawk. He just happened to stop on a blade of grass right next to me. I was glad to meet him. We also spotted a male scarlet tanager in the woods, but did not get a picture.
We stopped at this swamp rose mallow hibiscus and commented on its imperfection (several holes). We discussed how lovely imperfections are and what character it brings. We agreed that none of us wanted perfectionism and the holes in this flower and in our own lives are perfect the way they are.
I’m glad you joined us on our sketch class and I hope you are able to get out and try some nature sketching for yourselves!
Let's Paint Nature! 
Wow! Saturday was such a learning experience for me and so much fun! Thank you Cathy for all of the wonderful information you gave us about all the plants you pointed out – next time I’m going to bring a notepad and make notes. Christine, I made a small sketch and this time I used masking fluid. I’m planning on doing another larger sketch – same reference picture – later this week. Thank you all for such an enjoyable Saturday morning – hope to see you all August 27th! Blessings!!
Alanna: It was a lot of fun and Kathy was a wealth of information, wasn’t she?!? Thank you to all who showed up! Alanna, I cheated a bit and scratched out the white when I got home. I can’t wait to see your other sketches on this subject.