This week for Prairie Tuesday, we talked about making art. I doubt that many prairie girls could run over to A.C. Moore and get a set of paints and brushes, but I bet they knew how to decorate things with what they had available.
We didn’t adhere purely to our Prairie Tuesday protocol this week as I let Miss Priss ride my bicycle and wear clothes appropriate for riding, but I think learning has to include some fun. (And she asked so sweetly!) 
A bicycle basket full of herbs, and maybe you noticed that in the wagon was a bowl full of mulberries. Our paint!
We decided that we would create some artwork using berries for our paint and a cut-up brown grocery bag as our canvas. I can’t imagine that anything as useful as brown wrapping paper would have been thrown out back then, so we pretended we had packaging paper that Ma had saved.
As an aside, we noticed a plant with berries that I cannot identify. Something about it strikes a chord in my memory, and I think I should recognize it, but I don’t at the moment. Any takers?
Michaela gets busy grinding up berries with our mortar and pestle.
We made sure we gathered many flowers and leaves, varied in textures and size, for dipping in our paint and using as stamps. The narrowleaf plantain’s bloom made a great paintbrush!
We covered the entire paper with leaf designs, painted-on words and flower shapes, all by using our mulberry paint and our natural paintbrushes and stamps.
The two bags we used looked to me like they’d make a great notebook to hold the nature “plates” we’ve been working on. I folded one in half piece long-ways and ”wrapped” it underneath the bottom of the other piece (also long-ways).
I strategically glued it in place at the edges and at two points in the middle, on each side, to make a tri-fold notebook with six pockets — three on one side, three on the other.
Michaela truly enjoyed this, though she was a bit slow to be enthusiastic about another nature walk at first, especially in the heat we’ve been having.
Last night I spent some time gluing my folder together, applying a layer of mod-podge for durability, and then gluing some fabric strips in place so that we could tie it closed.
We have about a dozen nature plates so far.
As Michaela pointed out, the pockets on the outside will hold our gathered specimens until we get home. She suggested taking the notebook with us when we go out.
It was a successful Prairie Tuesday!
Lynn
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
lynn.. what a fantastic idea this painting was! i really love the process and the product is wonderful… i wish we could do nature portfolios like that. sadly, my children’s mama is rather deficient in her knowledge of anything plant-y:(
love your prairie tuesdays posts♥
Dear Lynn,
Oh, how fun! The nature plates look so pretty; the notebook reminds me of Beatrix Potter’s in the movie “Miss Potter.”
Thanks for the great ideas!
Love,
Marqueta
Beautiful idea!!
Wow! The process was fun to watch.
Diane, you can do it! There is so much I DON’T know — way more than I DO know, in fact. Nature is fun. I am learning a little at a time and Michaela, hopefully, will know more than I do when she’s my age.
Marqueta, I LOVE that notebook in Beatrix Potter. I just love it. I’ve always intended to make one from heavy board and fabric, for Michaela’s drawings, but I have not done it yet.
Thanks, Diane! I’m glad you left a commment.
Lynn
Are those choke cherries by chance? Seems to me that’s what I remember they look like.
Mulberries? I’d be tempted to eat them. lol I haven’t had one since I was a child and I can still remember their tart goodness.
Laura, we love to eat the mulberries! We’ve harvested a lot of them lately and I have a couple of large bags in the freezer. This time we just painted with them.
Thank you for the suggestion of choke cherries. I checked some of my books and that’s not it, though very good guess. The fruit looks very similar. The leaves on my specimen have smooth edges and are soft. Choke cherry is described as having leaves with numerous sharp teeth along the margin. I’ll keep looking! Thank you!
Lynn
Lynn, I nominated you for a blog award because I enjoy reading your posts and I think others will as well. Here is the link:
http://savedbygrace721.blogspot.com/2009/06/honest-scrap-award.html
Oh Lynn, this looks like so much fun!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful day with us
blessings dear friend,
lady m
Shawntele, thanks so much! I really appreciate that. I’ll be over to check it out.
LadyM, thank you!
Lynn
I need to go back and look at this mystery plant again next year. I am wondering now if it was honeysuckle.
Lynn
Oh so fun my fellow gardening friend. We’re so busy with nature right now – it is overwhelming! Thanks so much for sharing.
Laura, so wonderful to hear from you, and I’m honored. One of these days I want to see your garden! Lynn