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How to Draw Autumn Trees

Green background with tree with fall leaves and cartoonish pencil. Text overlay: How to Draw Fall Trees. See the Light Shine.

Well, it’s the middle of summer, but we’re going to think about fall today. Fall colors provide us with wonderful subject matter for drawing and painting. One of my favorite things about fall foliage is that it gives me freedom to play with color in an otherwise realistic painting. With that in mind, I’ve done some Internet searching, and here are some resources on how to draw/paint fall leaves and trees. So get out those art supplies and let’s have some fun!

1. FREE PRINTABLE COLORING PAGES

Your younger children may not be ready to draw leaves, but they’ll love the free printable coloring pages that are featured on the following website:

http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/fall-autumn-leaves

2. HOW TO DRAW A MAPLE LEAF

Next, from Wikihow.com, are two simple tutorials about how to draw a maple leaf. Once you’ve drawn the outline, try using some watercolor, markers or crayons to give the leaf a beautiful fall color.

http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Maple-Leaf

3. PINTEREST PAGE: KID ART – FALL LEAVES

This Pinterest page doesn’t have tutorials. What it does have are lots of samples of children’s fall foliage artwork. You’ll find a lot of great ideas as you look through these pages.

http://www.pinterest.com/ms_art/kid-art-trees-leaves-fall/

4. VIDEO

Finally, here’s an easy to follow demonstration of how to draw an autumn tree. You may need to pause the video a few times to catch up, but it’s a fun project.

Green background with tree with fall leaves and cartoonish pencil. Text overlay: How to Draw Fall Trees. See the Light Shine.

What Does it Mean to Be a Pilgrim?

What does it mean to be a pilgrim? (Title slide)
photo credit: Santiago - Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala-7 via photopin (license - see below)

Do you know what it feels like to be a pilgrim?

It was the summer of 1975. I was nineteen years old, and I had signed on to a program called Practical Missionary Training (PMT). Co-sponsored by CAM International and Wycliffe Bible Translators, PMT was an eight-week missionary life “sampler” for people who wanted to explore whether God was calling them to the mission field.

Rather than being a simple mission trip, PMT was structured to give a broad exposure to different aspects of missionary life. Even though it was a sampler, each participant’s experience was individualized to a certain degree.

Because at that time I was interested in teaching in a seminary or Bible college, during my eight weeks as a member of PMT I stayed with a missionary family in Guatemala City. My host was a professor at the Central American Theological Seminary. I also lived for two weeks at a Bible institute. The rest of the eight weeks was punctuated with missionary adventures such as two weeks of rustic living at Wycliffe Bible Translators’ jungle camp in southern Mexico, spending a night in a Tzeltal Indian village, and much, much more.

PMT was influential in helping me determine that my ministry call was not to the mission field. It was a great time and it opened my eyes to many things, but after eight weeks in Mexico and Guatemala, I knew that my ministry would be along another path. However, although I concluded that I was not called to missions, PMT taught me something priceless.

It taught me a little of what it feels like to be a pilgrim.

I had taken four years of high school Spanish, but retained little of it. So as we traveled the entire length of Mexico–by bus!–then rolled (in a smaller bus) into Guatemala, I felt more and more estranged from my surroundings. I could speak enough Spanish to find the bathroom and order a “Coca” (Coca-Cola), but that was about it. All around me, people were speaking a language I didn’t understand. Billboards and stores had signs that I couldn’t read.

I couldn’t even watch TV.

It was several weeks into my trip when I realized just how “English-starved” I was.

The missionary couple I stayed with in Guatemala City took me out one evening to a local theatre group’s production of Agatha Christie’s play, Mousetrap. The production was in English, and I was like someone who had crossed a desert and just come upon an oasis. For two to three hours, I soaked it in as the actors performed. I’m a fan of mysteries, but I wouldn’t have cared what the story was about—just as long as I could understand it.

They were speaking my language.

My strongest memory from that entire trip is when I was on a bus and we had just crossed the border back into the United States.

I read every billboard, every street sign, every business sign, you name it. If it was in English, I read it.

I was home. I was back in my native country.

Part of living like a pilgrim is that there is a natural and ongoing homesickness. Even if things are going well, home is always in the back of your mind.

That’s part of what it means for a Christian to live as a pilgrim on this earth. We live in this world, but readily understand and admit that we can never be truly at home here. The world speaks a different language, has a different culture, values different things.

Are you a pilgrim?

I hope so.

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own” (Hebrews 11:13b-14, NIV).

photo credit: Santiago – Lago de Atitlan – Guatemala-7 (image cropped and resized) via photopin (license)

Take your art to the next level with See the Light videos:

And don’t miss these free resources from our blog:

Learning Composition, pt. 2: The Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio

How do you create an artistic composition that is pleasing to the eye? Many artists use a mathematical concept called the golden ratio, (also known as the golden mean, golden rectangle and golden section). This is a close relative to another compositional principle called “the rule of thirds.” In today’s exercise, I’ve included a couple short videos explaining how the golden ratio works. 

I’ve also added links to three paintings: one by Claude Monet and two by Russian artist, Pavel Filonov. After you watch the videos, look at each of the paintings and see if you can figure out how the artist used the golden mean or rule of thirds in his compositions.

After you’ve watched the videos, take a look at the following three paintings and see if you can figure out how (or if) the artists implemented the golden mean or rule of thirds in their compositions:

Painting #1: Claude Monet. Shipyard near Honfleur. 1864. Oil on canvas.

Painting #2: Pavel Filonov. Landscape. Wind. 1907. Oil on cardboard.

Painting #3: Pavel Filonov. Self-Portrait. 1925

EXTRA EXERCISE: Once you’ve looked at these paintings, check out some other paintings or drawings and see if you can identify whether the artist used the golden ratio. Then try doing a drawing of your own and using the golden ratio as your composition tool. 

Take your art to the next level with See the Light videos:

And don’t miss these free resources from our blog:

Learn Composition from Rembrandt

Learn Composition from Rembrandt

The best way to begin studying composition in art is by studying great works of art. Today, I’ve included a 2-minute YouTube video that gives a quick survey of what to look for when viewing a painting or drawing. I’ve also included links to three paintings by Rembrandt.

Here’s how to do the exercise:

1. Look at all three Rembrandt paintings first. (Links will open in a new tab.)

Painting #1: Parable of the Rich Man

Painting #2: An Artist in His Studio

Painting #3: Landscape with a Castle

2. Watch the video below. (Video produced by Howcast.com.)

3. Look at the paintings again and see how many of the compositional elements described in the video that you can identify in each painting. Watch the video again if you need to.

Take your art to the next level with See the Light videos:

And don’t miss these free resources from our blog:

The Most Famous Pieta

The Most Famous Pieta

Guest post by Pat Knepley

The most famous Pieta is the large sculpture in white Carrara marble by Michelangelo.  This masterpiece is magnificent for several reasons – its size, skill of execution, triangular composition, and beauty. But there are many interesting facts about this sculpture that make it even more compelling.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a young man of 21 when he came to Rome from Florence in order to secure commissions. He had already had some commissions as a young master in his hometown of Florence but left there when there was political upheaval and no longer had the patrons to support him and his art. When Michelangelo arrived in Rome, he found favor with a French cardinal who was a representative to the Vatican. This cardinal commissioned Michelangelo to build a statue to decorate his tomb in St. Peters. Michelangelo was only 24 years old when he completed his masterwork of The Pieta[1] bringing incredible humanity and beauty out of the cold marble that he selected from the quarry himself.

This pieta was different from others that had been created before it. The Virgin Mary is depicted as younger than what her age would have been at the time of Jesus’ death. When asked about this Michelangelo explained that Mary’s sinless nature (a common Catholic belief) would have meant that her body and beauty would not fade with time. The look on Mary’s face is not grief, but peace, as if she is accepting this outcome of her dead son in order to fulfill God’s divine plan. Mary’s left arm is outstretched, as if inviting us to join in her sorrow with her.

The body of Christ is lean and muscular in the classical style, but not overly so, thereby blending the classical with the natural. His limp lifeless body is stretched across Mary’s lap as she cradles him one last time. Mary’s torso is covered in the many folds of her dress so that we see only her face, hands and feet. Thereby our attention is drawn to the figure of Christ and her serene face as she looks upon Him.

The marble is highly polished, creating a supernatural glow to the figures. And the pieta is the only sculpture signed by Michelangelo. The story has it that the Pieta was on display in the Basilica, and Michelangelo was listening to admirers. When a visitor attributed the work to another competing artist of the time, this enraged Michelangelo. At a later time, he set about to carve his signature into the sash across Mary’s chest. Inscribed are the words: “Angelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat” or “This was made by Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti.”[2]

El Greco's Pieta
El Greco's Pieta

The Greek artist, El Greco, who lived and worked in Spain in the 16th century, also painted the Pieta in 1592. He was influenced by the Michelangelo Pieta when he saw his works in Rome when El Greco lived there from 1570 to 1577.  The classical approach to the human figure, the attention to anatomy, the careful placement of the figures in a triangular composition, and the emotion it evokes all hearken back to the characteristics of Michelangelo’s Pieta.

Though all the same subject matter, each artist that depicts the poignant scene of the dead Savior in the arms of His mother has captured a unique approach and thus response. We cannot help but be drawn into the story and share in the agony of the loss this woman feels, as she remembers her infant son she cradled when he came into the world, and years later this broken body she embraces as he leaves it. This is the essence, and beauty, of the Pieta.

If you’d like to learn more, check out the following short (6 min) video about Michelangelo’s pieta:

Take your art to the next level with See the Light videos:

And don’t miss these free resources from our blog:

What is a Pieta?

What is a Pieta?

Guest post by Pat Knepley

Pieta (pronounced Pee-yeh-ta) is the word for the theme in Christian art of the mourning Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of her son, the crucified Jesus.  One of the most important themes in Christian Art, the pieta is usually a sculpture in wood or stone, but sometimes is a painting.  All through the ages, this theme of the mourning mother of God has evoked powerful emotions.

The Pieta (Italian for pity) was an idea in art that came about in Germany in the 1300s and was called Vesperbild. In other European countries, it was known by the Latin term Mater Dolorosa, or Sorrowful Mother.  The Lamentation of Christ – the portrayal of those close to Jesus mourning Him after his body was taken down from the cross – had been a part of religious rites in the church for quite some time, but specifically the idea of Mary as the mourning mother  had only reached Italy in 1400, and soon became a staple of religious art.

Röttgen Pietà
Röttgen Pietà

The Röttgen Pietà, an early fourteenth-century sculpture is made of painted wood, with an elongated figure of Christ, with an oversized head and exaggerated wounds. The grief-stricken mother is also portrayed in an abstracted fashion, and these unrealistic elements serve to elicit a sense of angst and pity for the tragic scene.

Pieta des Villeneuve-les-Avignon
Pieta des Villeneuve-les-Avignon

As religious icons moved across Europe, the theme of the pieta reached artists of other countries. In France, we find the painting of the mournful virgin, known as the Pieta des Villeneuve-les-Avignon, believed to be painted by the French artist Enguerrand Quarton. This oil paint on wood masterpiece of the late Middle Ages is notable for its restraint in showing the grieving mother, as her hands are in prayer rather than clutching her son’s body. The other figures are still and solemn in their sorrow.

Many artists have created their own version of the pieta. Do you know who created the most famous pieta of all? Check back next week to find out.

Here is a discussion about the Rottgen Pieta.

Take your art to the next level with See the Light videos:

And don’t miss these free resources from our blog: