Workshop: Recap and Reflections
September 2024
The workshop, Inspired by Nature-Artmaking on the Trail, was fun and a success!
First, I would like to say thank you to Buffy Nelson, Director of the New Mexico Art League, who was open to this concept and worked with me on the details. Also a big thank you to all those who signed up and participated. It was a pleasure to hike and make art with you!
The weather was perfect. Each morning was cool, and dare I say a little crisp. We gathered at a trailhead in the Cibola National Forest, but took different turns at the fork each day. Each hike was around 2 miles with 5-7 stops along the way to look at the forest’s treasures. Also, at each stop there were different drawing or writing exercises to capture the moment.
Along the hikes, many things sparked our interests, for example, a neon green caterpillar, tree bark of the ponderosa pines, and baby hummingbirds. The mullein patch felt like the fan favorite where we drew a view of the plants from above and a side view. Keep in mind some of these plants come up to our waists!
In the clip above, you’ll see us at a stop capturing a composition in nature. After the timed exercise, we huddled up to share our drawings with each other and through talking, we learned more from each other. We talked about perspective, using different mediums, and scale.
The third day, we all headed to the studio at New Mexico Art League. There we discussed the hiking experiences and our takeaways. After the discussion, we created a series of artworks inspired from the prior days. I loved seeing how the hikes influenced their artworks and what had inspired them.
Planning and leading this workshop was incredible. It was fulfilling to see it come to fruition- from mind mapping the idea all the way to walking in the forest with a curious and happy group. Needless to say, it felt like we were all inspired and enjoyed the outdoors experience. Stay tuned, I hope there will be more artful adventures soon!
(All photos were meant to hide the artists’ faces)