In a time when it is easy to be overcome by fear or worry, we want this series of blog posts to give you simple, gentle, and dynamic ways to reclaim an atmosphere of peace, joy, and wonder in your home. We can all then help shine light to the world by sharing how we are choosing beauty daily. Please join us by using the hashtag #choosingbeauty on social media.
#ChoosingBeauty – Day 17
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“The forest is so quiet that you can hear an insect boring a tunnel deep inside a log. And that other sound – not the beating of your heart, but the one like half a whisper is the sound of growing ferns, pushing aside dead leaves, unrolling their fiddle-heads, slowly unfurling, slowly stretching.”
-Robert McCloskey, Time of Wonder
“Interior With Black Fern” by Henry Matisse (1940) Fair use from WikiArt.
Activities
Look: Study the picture. Notice everything you can and try to remember it. How many different colors did Matisse use? Do you have those colors in your paint box? What do you think the leaves feel like? Can you tell a story about this picture? Close your eyes. Can you still imagine the picture? Look again. Now look away. Tell everything you remember without looking.
Read: “How a Fern Bud Unfolds” Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
Observe: Take a walk today whether around your home or on a trail looking for new shoots coming up. In his book, The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, Tristan Gooley writes, “All ferns need moisture and like to start life from a damp, typically shady place, often a rocky crevice…” Are there any places like that where you could look? If you do find ferns, you can do an object lesson using the Comstock chapter above. Bring along a magnifying glass if you can. Look closely on the top and underside of the leaves. If you cannot locate ferns, see if you can discover other new life pushing up from the ground. If you like, sketch or paint what you found.
Read: “The Young Fiddlehead Ferns” by Yomono Akara; Illustrate this poem if you like.
Listen: “It Is Well” (hymn) arranged by Chris Rice
Share: What parts of Spring are your favorite? Tell about something you have discovered over the past couple of weeks that seems beautiful to you. #choosingbeauty
More to Read and Do:
Video: “Drawing From Nature With Jim Arnosky Part 3: Plants” by PBS
“The Work of Leaves” Plant Life in Field and Garden by Arabella Buckley
©Charlotte Mason Institute 2020
