"Flowers are not made by singing, "O how beautiful" and sitting in the shade. -Rudyard Kipling
Hard work, hours spent pulling weeds, tending to the soil and pruning away that which is dead... although I do not profess to be any sort of "green thumb", I, well know, that a LOT of work goes in to enjoying a beautiful display in your flower beds. Thankfully, I have a gifted mother in law who, for mother's day, last year spent time and money helping me to make my flower beds presentable. I love her, for that, along with many other reasons.
However, in this situation, Rudyard Kipling's quote would be somewhat inaccurate. This morning as the kids and I ventured outside, the first thing we saw growing along our fence line were these beauties. Perfect!!! What an opportunity for a nature study. Thank you, Lord. No textbook needed, no classroom to be used, other than our own backyard. Add a camera, a little bit of online searching (our Nature study book has yet to arrive) a pencil and paper and we were set.
Whether you are doing your own nature study, or not, I hope you will enjoy what we found today.
This beauty of a wildflower is quite common, in the U.S, specifically the southern regions.
Coreopsis Tinctoria, more commonly known as Tickweed because of the way their small seeds somewhat resemble seed ticks.
Although, at first look, the kids thought it resembled a wild daisy of sorts, we then noticed it had curly edged petals. This will be the perfect detail for the kids to add to their sketches.
When observing God's creations, in order to sketch and journal what we are seeing, we try to notice dominant features that we can make apparent in our drawings. That way, we will easily remember what we observed, as we look back in our notebooks later.
We, Americans, specifically, spend so much money and effort to be rid of weeds, which I understand. But, when taking the time to sit and notice the beauty of these wildflowers, I am reconsidering......maybe I'll just embrace the weeds.
Now, for the fun part... sketching and recording what we saw.
What my children seem to love most about our nature study, is the casual approach we are taking. There really are few rules here. I only ask that they take their time to draw what they find interesting. Somewhat outside of my normal practice, I try to only point out interesting observations, in this case, the ruffled petals. That way, as they record what they see, they can include those distinguishable features.
As you can see, my son began sketching the "action" in this drawing.
I recently heard a lecture by Andrew Pudewa, explaining the differences in how boys and girls will draw or create images. It was quite interesting and will be brought up in a later post.
I recently heard a lecture by Andrew Pudewa, explaining the differences in how boys and girls will draw or create images. It was quite interesting and will be brought up in a later post.
I love the over-emphasis on the size of the Fly's eyes. I also love that my son,when asked what kind of eyes the fly has, responds. . "a bunch of eyes. . . . . 'conpound' eyes"; yes, I know it is spelled compound but ya know, in this case, conpound was more accurate.
As you can see, from this picture, he began his drawing with smooth, rounded petals. At this point, I commented, "You know what I find so pretty? ...the way the petals look curled "; he immediately drew this.
Anyone else smiling now? Maybe, it's just me.
As we were making our observations, we were able to see something really neat. Off to the side of the flower and fly, on the chain link fence, was a small string of spider web with a small egg sac attached.
You can see that he drew this immediately.
He's been very interested in spiders, of late. His favorite book to sit and look at is this one. Recently, he was asking his aunt if she had ever heard of the ant spider, the wheel spider or the marbled orb weaver spider.
As we were making our observations, we were able to see something really neat. Off to the side of the flower and fly, on the chain link fence, was a small string of spider web with a small egg sac attached.
You can see that he drew this immediately.
He's been very interested in spiders, of late. His favorite book to sit and look at is this one. Recently, he was asking his aunt if she had ever heard of the ant spider, the wheel spider or the marbled orb weaver spider.
Here it is, if you look closely, right in front of the chain link fence. See it?
As I left him to finish his sketch, looking back, I saw this. I love it. I love that he is finding enjoyment observing the things our God has made. "This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."
Are you ready? Here is the finished "work of art"! I think he did a wonderful job of capturing what his little eyes saw. Now, to place it in his nature notebook.
