Discovering Nature

By Julie Goldstein

This week up in The Studio our CMP artists inspired by the book “Leaf Man”. It is whimsical story about a leaf that explores different landscapes as he floats North, South, East and West. I told the story as if Leaf Man was traveling through The Glenn. The children then went on an adventure in search for Leaf Man. They each filled up small containers with found leaves. Then they placed the leaves onto a mirror from which they used to observe their findings. Each child then drew with pencils, added color with oil pastels and painted with watercolor. Their mixed media nature paintings were full of color, energy and discovery. Try this fun art project at home or in your classroom!

Materials:
Watercolor paper
Pencils
Oil Pastels
Found natural objects
Mirrors

Instructions:

1. Read the book Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert
2. Collect objects in nature
3. Place the objects onto a mirror, this is used for observation
4. Draw the objects with a pencil
5. Add colors with oil pastels
6. Apply watercolor to the entire paper
7. Have fun!