Today I joined the Girl Scouts for a hike in the Bear Mountain area. The group set out to enjoy the scenery and learn some painting techniques. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day!

This was my fist time instructing this age group, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My main goal was to try to encourage the girls to sketch lightly and block in the layout, but this proved to be a challenge. The girls who started drawing one specific detail instead of the overall layout were very set in this approach. This is a photo of my daughter’s initial sketch.

I asked her to tell me about her experience, and she explained:
“The first tree I made wasn’t that good because I had to make the color brown which was difficult. I didn’t know the combination of colors to make brown, and the color I made was too dark. Then, my mom told me to not to spend too much time on it, to paint lightly, and to add more yellow. When it was done, I could have put more detail in it. I also made the ground darker than it really looked, since it had more colors from the leaves. I learned that you can’t spend too much time working on the same tree with water color because when it gets overworked the colors look muddy.”

This is her final painting.

All in all, a lot of great painting was done. At a young age, it is most important to learn to enjoy painting. Many skills are developed when you get involved in a painting; you develop your ability to focus, to view things abstractly, and to resolve problems. Each girl should be proud of her work today.