By Carol Felixson
Special to The Times

October 5, 2003

Have you heard the saying "Tall oaks from little acorns grow"? It means that no matter how tall or majestic the tree, it got its start as a tiny acorn.

Tess , 5, and Sierra, 7,  made separate oil paintings showing a coast live oak and its leaves and acorn. The sisters learned that the coast live oak is an evergreen tree — its leaves are green all year long. Its acorns are long and thin and reddish-brown.

Acorns are the fruit of an oak tree. They provided a source of food for Native Americans in California. To make an acorn edible, the shell was cracked open with a rock. The nut was removed and left in the sun to dry, then pounded into flour with a stone tool. After going through a filtering process to remove bitterness, the flour was cooked in a watertight basket filled with water and hot rocks.

Tess did the oil painting of the coast live oak while Sierra made the enlargement of its leaves and acorn. Oil paints come out of a tube. They consist of dyes or pigments often mixed with linseed or poppy oil.

The paintings were done on smooth pieces of wood. The girls first painted the wood with gesso, a type of white paint that protects the painting surface and the oil paints from each other. A layer of burnt umber, a color used as a base, was added before the other colors were applied. The girls arranged and mixed their paints on a palette, a thin board with a hole for the thumb at one end.
                                                                                                  (click on image to enlarge)
The art project taught the sisters the importance of patience and determination. They experimented a few times before they were pleased with the results. And it took a while for the paint to dry between sessions. At the end of each session, the girls had to clean their tools with turpentine and then soap and water. They made sure to work in an area with plenty of ventilation to avoid breathing the strong fumes.

Good job, girls!


Carol Felixson is director of education and community outreach for UCLA Stunt Ranch Reserve and UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden. Both sites offer ideas for drawing from nature. To see previous lessons from this series, go to http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/kids.html and nrs.ucop.edu/Reserves/stunt/newsforkids.html. The next lesson appears on this page on Nov 2.


Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times