Colors and textures on the picnic table.
Photo by Lorna Schmid

Eleven participants showed up for the November 3 workshop entitled Color, Texture, Shape, Form: Painting a Picture of Nature with Words. After reviewing workshop objectives and the research evidence supporting the health benefits of spending time in nature and writing thoughts and feelings, we introduced ourselves by describing a Thanksgiving Day “must have.” Cranberries came up frequently, as did pies. Turkeys took a back seat. We talked about the process of standing in front of a painting and how noticing the elements listed in the workshop title were a good place to begin to understand it. For our activity, we each selected a setting in the park environment that pleased us and described it in our journals in a way that allowed the group to visualize it, like a painting. An excerpt from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweet Grass, was read aloud as an example. Participants were also charged with bringing back natural items to the picnic tables to decorate them for Thanksgiving. We left our decorations in place for all creatures passing by to enjoy.