Art Elective

For our Art elective this year we are studying the life and works of John James Audubon. We started out by reading The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies and discussed the value and lasting impact of Audubon's work. We have done picture studies of several Audubon prints, once studying a print and then turning it over and writing a detailed description of the print, and once studying a print and then sketching the print as accurately as possible from memory. We have also gone outside to look for birds in nature, and sketched a single feather in detail.

Currently we are studying and drawing a stuffed bluejay on loan from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. This is very similar to the way that Audubon created his artwork, and we are gaining a new found appreciation for how detailed and perfectly executed his paintings are!

After we have completed these drawings, we plan to learn some basic watercolor techniques and then create replicas of different Audubon prints.