Today it’s another blue sky above and time to get creative.The two photo examples of land art below were done in the autumn when the choice of coloured leaves is at its best, however, land art can be made from any found natural objects and arranged in any form of your choosing.
Out and about – environmental art
Be inspired by land artists like Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash, Agnes Denes and Chris Drury. The land artists of the 1960s and ’70s turned the earth’s surface into their canvas. Suddenly, art could be dirt, stone, sand, and sky. It could vanish in the wind or permanently alter a landscape.
Try – on your exercise walk today, gather natural materials. These should all be found objects – leave living plants and trees alone. You could re-arrange your found objects where you find them; exploring different shape, pattern or colours that are interesting to you. Either leave them there as a wonderful installation for others to discover or take the natural materials home and get creative there.
In the garden – ‘Chuck It, Bucket’ game
This game was invented by Lisa and I at forest school this winter. We were battling some seriously flooded and muddy marsh land, after almost 5 months of constant rain. Unbelievable to imagine that now!
The idea of the game is to throw a small object into a number of buckets, all spaced at different distances. The further away the higher the score. We used giant pine cones (found in the local park) and 6 buckets set out in a pyramid formation. You can use any small, unbreakable object to throw and any flower pot, bucket type of container (look in your recycling box for plastic containers).
Staying at home – Sensory paints ADUT HELP NEEDED FOR POURING BOILING WATER
Obviously, you can also play ‘Chuck It, Bucket’ indoors but make sure the object you choose to throw isn’t too hard (rolled up ball of socks works well).
This activity uses fruit tea bags as sensory paints (have a look in the back of your cupboards for any out of date ones). Not only do you get different natural colours but each colour will have its own smell. This is a particularly great activity for anyone with a visual impairment. To make the colours more visible when dried, you can add some food colouring to each ‘paint’. Just pour a little boiling water into each pot and put a different tea bag in each one. Let the water cool down and paint! Enjoy the sensory smell of each paint.