Lovely Lady Slippers -Taking Time To Draw What You See.

The Showy Lady Slipper is the Minnesota State flower.  They are a protected and grows in bogs.  I have looked for them in their natural habitat but never found them until last weekend.  It was a wonderful surprise. 

I was walking through the Pine, Oak and birch forest of Pequot Lakes.  There was a gentle breeze blowing and rustling the leaves of the trees and the bog grasses.  The waves of Lake Ossawinnagmakee were lapping at the sandy shore. 

Off in the distance a family of loons called to one another.  A humming bird buzzed by and darted into the tall grasses.  I spied a little slip of white and pink,  as the leaves of a nearby bush were lifted up on the breeze.

There they were, the Showy Lady Slippers I had always wanted to see in their natural habitat, in full bloom.  I stood quietly as a bright, blue sewing needle (dragon fly) landed beside me.  I was so grateful I had my camera.  I snapped pictures and video to help hold the memory.

If you are anything like me you will understand the first thoughts that came to my mind. "I want to draw those!", "I want to share this experience with my preschoolers!"
From those thoughts came the drawings below.

People ask me often how I get young children to draw flowers and other objects.  "I can't draw, so I can't teach others to draw," coworkers have told me.  But if you take the time to break down what you see and help the child break down what they see the drawing becomes less daunting.

I start with the question: What do you see?
flowers, petals, leaves, stems are very common first answers with a flower.

My next question is: What colors do you see?
In this case I was told pink, white, yellow, green and blue.  If you look closely you will see the shadows appear blue in color.

Then I follow it up with: What shapes do you see?
Oval, egg shape, banana shape, lines, triangles and swooshes were some of the answers I got.

Next I discuss how the shapes go together to make the whole picture.  We worked in small groups, and we used washable markers. In this drawing we started from the center and worked out. From the Oval we added the banana shapes for petals, then put our leaves (triangles) and stems on.  I had photos of the lady slippers on the table for them to look at and observe.  We had viewed the short video I had made walking through the forest when finding the lady slippers before our discussion of what we saw when looking at them.

You can find the video here: https://www.facebook.com/FromFingerprintsToMasterpieces/videos/474415726231297/

Showy Lady Slippers On Display

Once we had drawn our flowers I showed them how to use water and carefully brush it onto the drawing.  The colors began to blend and mix.  The hard lines of the markers became soft and gentle lines.  The drawing transformed to a painting.  I then displayed the final works of art with the photos of the lady slippers and information about the Showy Lady Slipper.  Add their own words that i recorded during our discussion to the documentation next week.