Art from Nature

 I discussed using materials in nature to make art in their natural environment, however, you can also use natural elements to create new art pieces entirely. You will need to use glue for these sometimes, maybe paint, and there are tons of ideas beyond what I am about to explore with you from my own experiences. I just want to share a few ideas to boost your inspiration to try and use the materials around you as they can be a great starting point for any project.


Here, I used natural grasses and leaves to make a scene from the valley, if anyone from the Annapolis Valley is reading this, they will be able to make out the distinct horizon of the Blomidon mountain stretching across the sky. I could have added paint if I liked, but since the image was inspired during the winter, I let the white canvas background become the snow surrounding the bits of springs, grasses, and trees poking out of the white blanket. This piece took about ten hours, and since there were no material costs (all glue and canvas provided by school) and minimum wage was about $10 at the time, this piece could be sold at about $100 if I chose to do so. However, I chose to keep this piece and it still hangs in our home.
 
I just gathered bits of plants from my walk home after being assigned an art project for school, and found that with some Modge Podge and Gel Medium, I could preserve and create a piece using the provided canvas, and natural materials. 
(this photo is a basic reference photo from the area, the perspective is different than the one for my canvas, but it gives you a general concept of the area I was representing, photographed by Julia)


Another example of using found materials are these silhouette paintings I made on driftwood for my friends and I. The first below, is family and I attached a shell I also found (an empty shell, be sure to not take home any creatures). The second I made is a wolf in front of a moon, sort of night colour scheme, and the third is a horse in front of another sunny theme.




Finally, I have another shell image example. This is not the final image I glued down, as I played around with it a bit. The final one I chose is on a blue painted canvas and I created a mermaid, but the shell placement might be a bit too risky to post here, so I opted for this fun swinging person instead. It also just shows the versatility of these materials that I was able to create more than one image before deciding on the final product and gluing it down.



One example most of of celebrating Halloween have done is carve pumpkins. Here is mine from a couple years ago as it is still a fun holiday themed art project where you take nature and make it something artistic.


I hope you enjoyed these examples of some ways you might use found natural materials to create your own art and begin exploring the outdoors for little bits and pieces that spark your creativity. I ask that you do be aware of where you are taking them from, if you have permission to take them, and that they are not a creature's home currently, and just be aware. You can always be inspired by nature without taking too much away from it, and that is what this post is meant to be about.

-Julia May




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