Artist Journey to the Cortes Children's Forest Follow Up

The Dream of a Cortes Children's Forest Trust

Sometimes art gives nature the voice it desperately needs.

Beautiful forest light in the Cortes Children`s Forest

Last August my family and I traveled north to lovely Cortes Island for a weekend of creativity, community and nature connection. Along with a group of painters, ceramic artists, a videographer and a weaver we spent three days immersed in the lush beauty of this magical place. There is a struggle beneath the quiet exterior as residents and nature find themselves up against Islands Timberland in a bid to save a beautiful stretch of Carrington Bay from being clear cut.The artist's journey to the children's forest  has shape shifted into a pilgrimage of artists devoted to contributing artworks to see the children's forest preserved in perpetuity.  To learn more and find out how you can help visit www.corteschildrensforest.org

Artist orientation with Sabine Mense Leader and  Christine Robinson

Ruby working on her painting

Ruby`s painting

My inspiration was forest light and shadow

Our favourite spot under the grandmother trees

Shadow play

Painting in the forest

Meanwhile the artists are busy getting ready for an art auction to be held Friday evening November 23rd at Artspring on Salt Spring Island. My piece, inspired by and created directly with the shadows the upper canopy creates on the ground is entitled Light Play and will be up for sale that evening. Please come out and support this very worthy cause.

Light Play 24"x 16`" mixed media on wood

Free webinar- Creative Nature Connection

Join me Wednesday October 24th 2012 at 7:30 (EST) for a FREE webinar on Creative Nature Connection. 

Learn the basics of this simple yet powerful nature-based art practice. 

Co-hosted by Creative by Nature Center and Green Teacher magazine www.greenteacher.com  

Register here

Description 

Sometimes in nature education programming there is a scientific bias that leaves out our most powerful human capacities. If we hope to transform our relationship to nature, we need to open our senses, access our feelings and develop our intuition in addition to carefully observing and asking questions. Ongoing engagement is a practice, a life habit, something we come back to again and again over long periods of time. To meet the need for simple yet powerful educational solutions I have developed Creative Nature Connection- a nature based art practice that harnesses the power of drawing and painting to move us toward full engagement with the living world. This practice draws us in to nature's beauty in fresh ways that create lasting impressions. This webinar will begin with a brief introduction to the concepts underlying nature based art practices, a description of Creative Nature Connection and include a short experiential activity together (have blank paper and pen ready!). An article with resources and references will be available for download. By way of background, visit www.creativenatureconnection.com to read my article “Transformation is in Our Hands” from Green Teacher’s Winter 2011 edition.   Suitability: All formal and non formal youth educators, especially those working with kids of elementary and middle school age. Also great for artists, educators and the creatively curious.