A few weeks ago, we spent the day at a beach near our friends’ home.
Our friends had been to the same site a few weeks earlier and seen millions of these guys. They ID’d them as the oil beetle.
The Mommies: Adele and her friend E.
Amazingly, Everett was content to play with “Za-Za” in the stroller all afternoon (despite missing his nap). When he started fussing, it was time to head home.
It was unseasonably warm – altogether an exceptionally fun day!
I’ve burst into tears for no good reason three separate times today. Seriously, everything is fine, but my emotions are cray-cray. As I pondered why I might be feeling so low, I remembered that Everett has been extremely fussy the several days and taking super-short or no naps at all. I think when he fusses, I feel like it’s because I’m not doing a good job or that I’m a failure so that might be contributing to some sadness. Anywho, in the past, I’ve noticed that I feel better after painting, so I decided to give it a go this afternoon – while Everett was not napping. And, I think it worked! I do feel better.
We found some of the strangest fuzziest spotted worms in our mulberry tree. At first I thought they were silkworms because they were ensconced in a web-like covering, but I looked up silkworms and these looked nothing like that. So, after looking at an insect ID site, I think we have Fall Webworm Moth, Hyphantria cunea. Here are some pics from the ID site:
Here are my pics from our yard:
Pretty cool, huh?
Here are a few of my favorite nature study images from THIS awesome website. I could seriously get lost looking at this blog. I especially like to look at the range of styles used by the many talented artists who contribute.
Do you keep a nature study notebook? If not, you should! It’s an amazing way to see more of God – through His creation (since you have to really “see” in order to draw or paint!). And how can we even appreciate God’s gifts to us if we don’t truly see them? I always feel refreshed and ready to take on whatever comes my way after a brief painting session.
Adele and I had teatime on Saturday and she suggested we look at our new nature book on the Galapagos Islands and find something to paint. I thought that sounded great, so we did! And so I started selecting something to paint and Adele lost interest. Daddy came home and took her to the park for another bicycle-riding lesson.
Adele worked on some figure-eights on the bicycle and she rocked the monkey bars!
Meanwhile, this is what I painted:
It’s a male Blue-footed Booby, doing his mating dance – which is just exaggerated lifting of his feet. I see LOTS of areas that I should work on to make it more realistic, but I don’t have a lot of time for “hobbies” so I’m calling it good. It’s just fun.
And it was from this gorgeous book I picked up a few days ago at the library sale:
Here is a nature study notebook painting that Adele made a few weeks ago. Pretty awesome, huh? Watercolor has such a magical quality to it, IMHO. And I really love the bright colors she chose.
My ever-evolving painting set-up 
I picked up a few new brushes because I wanted some super-small ones for details. I also found some cups for water to clip on to my book – so great to not have to put it on the ground or in my hand.
I don’t think that a virtual commonplace book can serve the same purpose as a tangible one, but since I don’t have one yet – this entry will live on the blog.
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
From The Valley of Vision ed. Arthur Bennett
Guess what, Charlotte Mason’s methods totally work! The other day Adele pointed to this book cover . . .
and said, “Look, a damselfly!” And I said, “No, sweetie, that’s a bumblebee. Remember you have some on your nature shelf?”
She pointed closer to this . . .
She said, “See, it’s a damselfly because the eye is on the side of the head.” She had learned about dragonflies and damselflies from one day a week or so ago when we found a few damselflies outside while Everett was having therapy. We looked it up online to find out what it was and now she knows it cold! Here’s my nature study journal entry from that day. This is what I mean about seeing things that were there all the time, but you never noticed. Once you really learn about it (and it’s self-directed study) you will always know it. 
UPDATE 8/6/13: I have a new favorite paint. It’s Reeves (I got this set). I found that the Loew Cornell paints got too hard, but the Reeves paints seem to stay a bit more workable in my palette – and there are more pre-mixed paints in that set. I found that I just couldn’t mix the right blue for my damselfly, so I started searching for a few new blues and ended up buying a whole new set. I thought I was taught that you can mix any color from just the main primary colors, but I found that was NOT the case. I also have a new favorite palette. Even though I really liked the one with the circles (shown below), I wanted more area for mixing. Now I’m using a plastic lid from a “to go” container (from a restaurant – no idea which one) shown HERE. I bought a palette with a lid on Amazon, but I just really like this lid because it fits in my plastic case where I keep my brushes and other stuff. I also purchased a clip-on cup (pictured HERE), which is an improvement over holding my cup in my lap, but still not ideal because my book isn’t always flat and if it moved or gets bumped then water spills on my book. If you paint “en plein air” please share what works for you in the comments!
I want to be clear up front that I am not an artist or an expert. I made my very first nature study painting at the Charlotte Mason Conference less than one month ago. So, this is advice from a true newbie, for whatever that’s worth =) I am writing this post because I bought a very nice watercolor kit that seemed like it would be perfect for our nature study walks, but I ended up liking my homemade kit a lot better. So, I thought you might like to see what I am using in case you are purchasing supplies to get ready for some awesome summer nature walks.
Here’s the kit I bought and didn’t love as much as I thought I would. It’s called Field Plus.
It has a little water bottle and two water cups that clip on to the side. So cute and perfect for painting outside. But, and this is true for all the little travel kits I’ve come across, the paints are separate from the mixing trays. That means you have to get your wet brush and massage it into the paint and then transfer some paint over to your mixing tray. I found this painfully slow and just frustrating. Maybe there’s a trick to it, but I like my original setup a lot better. Never fear, all is not lost, I gave this set to Adele for her very own and she’s thrilled! She’s four, so her favorite part is the pouring into the little cups. =) And she does love to paint, so it gives me a chance to do some painting of my own. Also, the little bottle leaks! So, do you want to see what I like better?
A few years ago, we went on a cruise with my Mom (Mimi), my grandmother (Mammaw), and Kent’s parents (Grammy and Grandy). My Mom and I took a watercolor class on the cruise and this is the paint kit that came with that class. I have no idea if these paints are good quality or not, but they seem to work fine for me. And they must be pretty inexpensive because I bought them in a class kit with a few brushes and a plastic palette and the whole thing was about $15. I’ve seen just one small tube of watercolor paint for more than $20. The white tube is missing, but I’ll explain that later.
I leave this box with the tubes at home, but I just wanted to show the brand and the little tubes.
This is the little tote box I bring along with a bottle of water (which doesn’t leak – yay!) and one or two tiny little plastic cups (from yogurt I think) for water along with my notebook (or you could just bring some loose watercolor paper). The plastic case is something extra I had lying around in the craft room (extra components from my thread storage setup) – it’s called Snapware and it comes with a few more pieces that all click together.
My favorite thing (and the reason for this post) about my paint “kit” is the plastic palette with the circles in it. I think it came with the paints from the class on the cruise. I like to put my paint (which will harden and need to be pushed with a wet brush to use for mixing or painting) on the upper edge of the circle. Then, I can get paint with a wet brush or if I want to mix, I can put some water in the bottom of the circle and swirl my brush around to get the paint. And, when I’m done nothing is wasted because once it dries it’s still paint. I use the other little plastic “palette” (I think it’s a lid from something) for making a wash (lots of water) or just some auxiliary mixing. I also put in a little jar of water with an eyedropper in the lid. If I’m adding a lot of water, I like to be able to add it with the dropper – it’s a lot easier than using a brush (IMHO).
Here’s my setup all together. Ignore that blue pen – I have no idea why that’s there. I like to bring the white tube (which I recently learned isn’t watercolor at all, but gouache) to use for detail at the end. I know, you are supposed to leave white areas with no paint, but I’m not that good! Eyes need that teensy little sparkle of white or they don’t look real. I’m all about the mixed media!
I bought a few things to add to my kit that I am happy with. The first thing I bought was that Cotman brush; it was less than $4 and it’s very nice. I had a few brush sets in the craft room, but I didn’t have a brush that was thin with longish bristles like that; it’s my main brush for nature study now. I also bought the set of Micron pens. They are waterproof (i.e. the ink won’t run if it gets wet); I like to use them for writing and adding fine detail. The fat brush came with my watercolor class on the cruise, but I read that you shouldn’t give kids doing nature study any fat brushes like that. They do really well with teeny tiny brushes only. They will automatically go to a big brush first, and then their work won’t look as nice. But, this is my box and Adele has her own, so it’s OK (and I haven’t used it yet anyway).
I had a clipboard lying around, so I threw that in the nature study bag too. Here’s my practice rabbit. I don’t think you are supposed to do pencil first (I read that is a PNEU article I think), but I really like my nature notebook and I wanted to make sure that I could make something that sort of resembled a rabbit before I put it in my fancy notebook. 
Here are the field guides we bring along to identify species and also to look at for details in painting (for example if the bird already flew away).
Our sweet friends from church gave Adele this lovely zippered set for Everett’s birthday (I know! she is so loved!) and she likes to have this as another option if she doesn’t feel like painting).
And these little notebooks with the elastic band are great for pressing leaves and flowers!
Want to see what I’ve been working on with all this gear? It’s not finished yet – I’d still like to add the kitten, but I just love doing nature study!!!!
Now that I’ve had some time to digest, I’d like to share my thoughts from the amazing Charlotte Mason Conference. First of all, I am sooo glad that I went. If anyone reading this has the chance to go to a conference like this – Do it! You won’t be sorry!! The purpose of the conference was to “explicate, equip, and nourish.” Mission Accomplished!
I attended a pre-conference immersion class. This was a morning of experiencing the Charlotte Mason method as a student, followed by an afternoon of discussion, with Nancy Kelly as the teacher/homeschooling mother. She wrote a blog post about the class HERE (with a picture!).Nancy Kelly has a CM conference in Minnesota that was sold out when I tried to sign up this year, but I hope that I can go next year!!! Nancy Kelly was such a great teacher.
This class was the main reason I went to the conference and it was soooo worth it! I learned so much. The biggest thing I learned is that Charlotte Mason is FUN! I am so excited to do this for myself! Our morning looked like this:
Nancy Kelly also shared a big picture schedule from her home:
So, one distinctive of the CM philosophy of education is that we see children as persons. This class talked about seeing mothers as persons. As such, we need to take time to feed our souls. Just like our children need ideas, we need to eat too! The most important thing I learned was that when moms feel overwhelmed we focus inward (me, me, me) or we try to escape, like by shopping (retail therapy), watching TV (zoning out), etc., but none of these things feed our soul. Alternatively, God’s gifts to us: art, music, nature, etc. do feed our soul, by pointing us outward and upward. One quote that stood out to me was in the context of Mom being in trouble (depression, etc.), “only rarely can she be helped from the outside.” I know for me personally, it has been a real struggle to accept our new reality with a special needs child. There have been a lot of days that I just wanted everything to end (Maranatha, Lord come quickly!). And I think the things that we talked about in the class are really good for all mothers to practice as a way of staying emotionally healthy.
So, based on what I learned from this class, I have started reading some great books I have gathered in preparation for homeschooling. I have started reading Miracle at Philadelphia and I ordered a book by Wendel Barry. I have also started my own Nature Journal (I’ve posted a few entries on the blog) and it really does feed my soul. I am no artist, but I do enjoy the practice of looking so carefully. I see things now everyday that I never noticed before I started really looking as part of my Nature Journal. I’ve also started my own Picture Study Notebook with prints of each picture I’ve made my personal friend.
Another thing I am implementing in my own life from this class is a Charlotte Mason reading group. We haven’t started yet, but I met a few other moms at the conference who live in Maryland and Virgina. We are going to start with a Nature Walk at Roosevelt Island in a few weeks and we will start the book club after that, reading through Charlotte’s six volumes on education.
I actually missed the first half of this class because I was putting Everett down for his nap. In fact, I almost didn’t go at all because I felt bad about going in late. Somehow, I just decided to go, and I’m oh so glad that I did. It’s silly, but it never occurred to me that I needed Charlotte Mason for myself. I really feel like the things I learned in this class are helping me to be a person who plants herself in a wide room, who cares deeply about many things.
This is my first attempt at dry brush watercolor at the Dry Brush demo at the conference. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to buy my very own Nature Journal!
I have lots to share from a few other talks at the conference, but I think I’ll wait a bit. If I forget and you are interested – let me know and I’ll type up my remaining notes. I promise!
