[Music] hi I'm naturalist Paul root do you think the only place you can find great paintings is an art museum well I'll change your thinking as we discover how nature can Inspire art reading and writing today we're visiting the Thomas Township Nature Center and preserve we will explore how art is is used to build awareness and appreciation of the wildlife around the tid Basi River we want to engage your inner artist with some nature journaling so grab some paper and let's create art whatever you have on hand is fine some markers crayons or colored pencils the river in its Wildlife can be an inspiration or encouragement for art writing and reflection when you are Outdoors take a moment to look around imagine you are an animal living around the river and write or draw what kind of animal you are describe what you hear see and smell here's something I wrote while near the tid Basi River I am a tall bird I am slowly stalking walking and fishing in the dark river I am a great blue heron let's head inside the Nature Center to discover how a local artist was inspired by the wildlife found around the river this mural or large picture painted on the wall will help us learn more about this bird this bird is the great blue heron which is the tallest her in the United States it's a little bit bigger than this yard stick given its size it only weighs 5 to 6 lb which is about as much as this bag of flour the great blue heron has long legs to weigh into deeper water it also has a long neck that stretches out to catch fish and frogs what do you notice in this painting its feathers are grayish blue in color and its bill is long and yellow when it is flying it holds its neck in the shape of an S it can raise its Crest this group of feathers here on the top of its head when it's mad or threatened now we're going to do a guided drawing of the great blue heron First grab some art supplies you'll need black blue yellow and gray and start at the top of the page then we're going to draw a big letter s try to imagine the shape of the great blue Heron's head and neck next we're going to draw the beak start at the top of the S and sketch a line away from the S then make another lines under it and begin to form the shape of a beak now from the beak we will draw the hair in neck we will make a curved line following the S shape now we can add in details there are Crest feathers on the top of the head we can put the eye here draw a little circle with a dot in the middle color the be and I yellow now take your blue and color the top of the Heron's head then swipe it outward and make the crest feathers next fill in the neck with some gray and blue Strokes to represent the feathers wow you've drawn the head of a great blue fairing we've seen some amazing art today and how it connects us to the river and Wildlife at the Nature Preserve we've learned how nature can Inspire your own creative expression through ART and writing you can learn more about art from your local library visiting an art museum or even talking to a local artist in your hometown remember not only can reading and writing connect us to special places in Michigan but art can too [Music]