Sketch Class Results June 2012

Thunderstorms raced throughout the night before, leaving this morning’s sketch class pretty warm and steamy. It didn’t bother us a bit. Matter of fact, under the cool shadow of the forest, the most delightful aroma of sweet, wet, earth played with our senses. We all agreed how wonderful it was.

Here we took shelter, hiding from the sun and was serenaded by morning song birds as we painted nature. They make their own classical music.

(Artwork: Katie, mine, Mary Ann)
Our small group finished in record time and made some pretty amazing pieces of art…even though the goal is not the end result, but being apart of the process and communicating with nature. Free therapy and healthy for the soul.

We were done so fast (1hr) in fact, that we had ample time to hike and discover surprises on our trail. Here we found this butterfly on purple cone flower. Looks like this could be a painting one day.

Long John Slough is adorned in white and pink flowering water lilies. A beautiful summer look for a tranquil slough.

This red-wing black bird landed within a few feet of us, proudly displaying his decorated colors.

But the most amazing part of this hike were the tiny frogs that hopped across our trail. Katie stopped and pointed one out. I didn’t have my glasses and though it was a cricket…it was that tiny…but no…to our surprise a 0.5 inch frog!

This little little guy didn’t realize he was going to take a ride on a human! I caught him for a quick picture and then let him go.

It was wonderful to slow down and enjoy this brief trip. I always look forward to the peace it brings.

Here is a close up of my sketch. Another beautiful day at the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center.