Maine farming - belted Galloway cows and blueberry picking, kids' art class, group display, 8/14/18

The kids and the adults followed along with my drawing demo. They start with a border or frame. We put in some marks or decorations. It's a great way to warm up.

Then we went into the scene, drawing a cow. One child observed that the cow body we started with looked like 3 moons, (crescents). I hope I remember that next time. These are supposed to be belted Galloway cows. Some people call them Oreo cookie cows. They are black but marked with a broad band of white around the middle.

Then we drew a set of big ears on either side of the top of the head. Yes, it looked a bit like a cow-pig, as one child said! My cow then got a set of big eyelashes. I always think of cows as having big eyelashes. Long triangles for legs with the grass they stand in. Hay coming out of the mouth like a set of whiskers.

Boxes of picked blueberries in the foreground, and a blueberry rake.
Barely enough room for mountains, trees, flowers, butterflies, and a rainbow.

I asked for some words to write for viewing or possible spelling needs. A very young child who can write some letters already, suggested the shortest of words - in, it, is, at. I think perhaps the child had learned how to write these already. And then came a bunch of techy electronics words. Oh I could hardly spell these. And I drew the line at DVD. We barely had room for the more narrative words. Purple, blueberries, elephant, rainbow. No one used any in their drawings that I know of. I find they do like to have a word of their choice up for all to see with everyone else's.

One grown up told that they grow blueberries and theirs are done already, because of when we had the heat. Blueberries flower in May and because they are small cup shaped drooping flowers, the bees have a hard time getting in there and pollinating. And, blueberries come in blues and pinks. Blues are sweeter because in their darkness they soak up more sun, which makes them develop the sugars more. Note the blueberry flower drawing this participant so kindly drew for us.

The Union Fair starts 8/18. It is a country fair in Union Maine in celebration of blueberry farming. Our last August  topic is 'A visit to a country fair'. (Next week is Maine birds.)