March 19, 2003

Have you ever taken a mountain hike in the early morning and been greeted by a herd of deer? Emilia did. The deer were brown-gray, had drooping, black-tipped tails, small white rump patches and large mule-like ears.

Six-year-old Emilia did research and found out they were mule deer. She tells us that these deer "are gentle and kind of curious. Before they run away they will turn around and look at you." She learned that deer are herbivores, which means they eat plants. And during the middle of the day, they'll take a nap in cool private places.

The young artist shows us what one looks like using a technique called "collage." In this type of art, different objects are often pasted together on a flat surface such as paper or canvas. Emilia decided to cut out various shapes from paper and use them to form her picture. Famous artist Pablo Picasso made many collages but this was Emilia's first.

After looking at a sample collage and some photos of mule deer, Emilia made a pencil drawing of a deer. She noticed that "these deer have big dark eyes and their noses are black." She used a black colored pencil to outline the deer and darken its nose and eyes. She cut out her own pieces of green and brown paper to make the grass and tree trunk but got help cutting out the deer. She glued the elements onto thick paper, then used a blue pencil to color the sky and gray and light-brown pencils for the deer. Good job, Emilia!

We encourage you to follow Emilia's example. Select a plant or animal, do research and send us your drawing. Be sure to tell us what you learned and how you drew it. We will publish some of your art in future columns. Check this column on April 16 for the next "Drawing From Nature" subject. Maybe it will be yours!

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This Learning Link was written by Carol Felixson for UCLA Stunt Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains Reserve, nrs.ucop.edu/ reserves/stunt.html, and UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden, www.botgard.ucla.edu. Both sites offer lots of ideas for drawing from nature.
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