🌊 Water, Woods & Wild Places 🌳

World Water Week begins on 23 August, followed by World Lake Day on 27 August. Both highlight the importance of water, making this a great time to explore water and the natural world through art.

Imagine lying in the still of the night, listening to rain pattering against your window. Perhaps you're wandering beside a babbling brook, or sitting in a boat with water quietly lapping against its hull. Suddenly, your attention is caught by a splash.

Wildlife and water - a green heron catching a sunfish. Source unsplash.com | Photo by Cassandra Elkins

Maybe you're by the coast, where waves gently break on the shore or crash dramatically against the cliffs. Water can be peaceful and soothing one moment, powerful and energetic the next.

Look closely, and water offers even more. Ripples and reflections move across puddles, lakes and rivers. Sunlight sparkles across the surface, while changing skies create different colours. Water can swirl, flow, drip, pour, ripple and crash — or become completely still.

Ripples and reflections of clouds on the water. Source unsplash.com | Photo by Yue Wu

Then there's how water feels — cold water around your feet, warm rain on your skin, sea spray against your face, wet sand, smooth pebbles or squelching mud underfoot. Perhaps it's simply the coolness of woodland beside a stream.

Artist Winslow Homer captures the power and movement of water brilliantly in his seascapes. His painting Incoming Tide, Scarboro, Maine shows waves breaking against the rocks, with swirling water and sea spray that give us a real sense of the sea's energy.

'Incoming Tide, Scarboro, Maine' by Winslow Homer (1883). Watercolour on paper. Source nga.gov

Most importantly, water connects us all. It flows through our landscapes and supports the plants, wildlife and people who depend upon it.

Ready to dive in? Here are a few ideas to get you creating... 🌊

🎨 Ripples, Reflections & Light

Look closely at the surface of water. You might see ripples spreading across a pond, reflections in a puddle or sunlight sparkling on a lake. Think about the shapes, colours and patterns you can see.

🎨 Wild Water

Choose water at its most powerful. You might draw a waterfall rushing over rocks, or waves crashing against the shore with foam and sea spray. Think about the shapes, movement and energy of the water.

🎨 Wildlife & Water

Explore the wildlife that lives in, on or around water. Perhaps a frog beside a pond, fish beneath the surface, a dragonfly hovering above it or ducks swimming by. You could focus on one creature or include its surroundings.

🎨 Making a Splash!

Show water in action! You could choose swimming, kayaking, sailing, surfing, jumping in puddles or an animal playing in water. Think about the splashes, ripples and movement the activity creates.

🎨 Your Choice

Has something else about Water, Woods & Wild Places caught your imagination? Follow your own idea and create something using any materials or style you enjoy.

We can't wait to see what you create. Join us on Wednesday at 7:30 pm (UK time)!

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