The Children’s Art School began its 6-week session on Saturday, October 14th by learning about Oaks of Righteousness.  With New England ablaze with beautiful autumn colors, God’s creation provided rich material for this week’s project.  Doing a little nature study and observational drawing with the children, we looked specifically at acorns and oak leaves.

The Old Testament refers many times to the mighty oak tree.  We looked at some Medieval Manuscript and Prayer Book paintings portraying men knocking acorns out of the trees to feed the animals, as well as a lovely drawing done by Leonardo da Vinci of oak leaves and acorns as a study for a painting.

For our oak leaves and acorn paintings we used pan watercolors.  First we drew the images on watercolor paper and then outlined them in oil pastel to provide a barrier for the paint, a method called oil pastel resist.  The children then used the wet-on-wet technique by painting their oak leaves first with just water, then adding various colors to watch the beautiful “blooms” of the pigments blending on their leaves. They then painted their acorns and, observing the lines of an actual acorn, added some shading to make them look more realistic.

Our collage Prayer Card this week was from Isaiah 61:3:  …that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.