We are here to Love and be Loved

We are here to love and be loved, to nurture, to create - know you are deeply loved. When we create from the heart and soul the love flows like a river - Can you feel the love... know you are deeply loved.

I made this little offering for a very special girl - the little girl loves music so I made her a little baby who loves to listen to the sound of the sea - the shell is from my trip to New Zealand where I spent a lot of time enjoying the wild poetry and music of the sea - the shell seemed the perfect fit.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting Wednesday, May your week be filled with love and creative adventures with our Mother Earth - with love Marghanita x

Some Trees Fall Down

Elise used her foot to move the pine needles, then crouched down and used her hands to complete a circle and declared it was the vets garden. She then proceeded to collect pinecones and place them in the circle. Elise told me excitedly, that the garden has lots of trees. The pinecones would sometimes stick to her woolly gloves. One of her pinecone trees fell down, then another. 

"Thats okay, she said, sometimes trees fall down when the wind is strong".

Last week we had been learning about wind, we had so much fun down at the lake testing out what items from nature could be carried by the wind. Elise kept finding feathers which proved by far the best fliers along with leaves.

The wind was strong today and bitterly cold but Elise didn't feel the cold. She was too busy playing, creating her garden underneath the Ponderosa tree that had gifted so much treasure to play with. Pinecones, pine needles, seeds, fallen branches - "loose parts" as some would call them - I call them treasure (gifts from Mother Earth).

As I sit back and watch her play I am reminded of Froebel’s quote:

" play as the highest expression of human development in childhood; the free expression of what is in a child’s soul" 

What a blessing it is to witness this joy-filled play. Our nature art therapy sessions are filled with so many magical, sacred moments.

The wind blows again and another tree falls down. “ Would you like to help me put some trees in the garden Marghanita?”

How could one resist such an exciting invitation to play!

If you would like to learn more about our Nature Art Programs for both children and adults, take a moment to view the website or contact me direct. We would love you to join us at Educating the Heart with Nature Art.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting weekend, with love Marghanita x

The Three Wise Men - Leaf Art

What fun it is to play with nature. Being creative with treasure gifted by our Mother Earth is something I have done since I was a child. The creative process, the journey - gifts me immense joy. Our lives are so busy and fast and scheduled, making time to be creative with nature allows us to slow down and experience joy and restore our sacred relationship with the natural world.

Yesterday I was playing with leaves I had pressed.. Here is one of my wise men - “Hidden in a Leaf” - Mixed media fun for my Urban Nature Art Program for Adults. Module 11 (One Single Tree)

A single leaf has many magical and enchanting stories to share.

I invite you to play with the treasure gifted from our Mother Earth. Why not join us on this beautiful, soulful journey of creative exploration - we would love you to join us at Educating the Heart.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting Tuesday, know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

The Joys of Learning Outdoors

Today, in our one to one nature art therapy session we were gifted the presence of the deer (they pass our way every day but not too often when Elise is here for a session). Elise was super excited the deer had returned.

Observing

What fun observing the deer. We observe how gentle and quiet the deer are. We observe their shadows and how hungry they are. The first deer leaps gracefully over the fence back into the forest while the 3 other deer decide to go under the fence. We can climb over the fence and under it too.

In our one to one nature art therapy sessions Elise plays a lot. Play shouldn't stop when a child reaches school age. I believe play is important for our mental health and well-being not just in childhood but for all ages, ADULTS included!!!

Playing outdoors in nature helps nurture the "whole child" - body, mind and spirit. Through creative nature play Elise learns more about herself and her connection with the natural world. As she plays, her young mind and body get a workout. She is being physically active hunting for treasure. She's running, flying, jumping, leaping like the deer, the squirrels and the birds who have become her friends. She now knows the pine needles and pinecones are prickly and has figured out how to pick them up without being spiked. Elise has discovered the pinecones are also tricky to walk and run on.

Her soul too, is nourished through her creative play, her imagination takes her on adventures and you can see the joy in her eyes and feel her happiness as her face beams with smiles as she creates her unique art. 

During our last session Elise began her paper-mache deer. This is a really messy activity with lots of glue, water and paint. A wonderful multi- sensory experience and great for learning about the shape and form of an animal. It's all about the process. Paper mache work is a slow and meditative process which is really lovely to do outdoors. Temperatures may have been bitterly low, yet spirits were high.

Elise loves the tearing and scrunching up the paper, she noted it made a funny noise. She used both her fingers and the brush to pat down the dry tissue paper onto the wet sculpture. She talked and giggled as she added layers on top of layers, noticing the newspaper was disappearing.. We left the deer sculpture to dry. Later, Elise paints the deer and adds details such as ears and antlers from natural materials she found in the forest.

Process over product

It's all about the process, the creative exploration is what gifts us the most joy. Sadly, in toadys mainstream primary and elementary schools, very little time is allocated to allow children to express themselves creatively through nature play, and yet the benefits are huge!

Over the course of the year I have noticed Elise's memory is better - she remembers that she saw 5 deer on her last visit and only 4 deer today. Having sketched the deer and created a sculpture, she now knows how to recognise the differences in the deer - the fawn, doe and buck all look similar but have slight differences.

She could notice the difference when she got to observe the peaceful deer today - such a blessing. Elise also noticed which deer was missing today - "the one with the antlers" she declares and places her hands on the top of her head with her fingers fanned out.

After adding the antlers to her buck, Elise announces we can all be friends - "come - I want to show you something", and she heads off to the fairy den, holding her new friend in her hand - then onto the pine needle eagle (land art) she made a few weeks ago. "Quick the eagle wants to eat us again Marghanita" and off we leap like deer and escape the grasp of the large eagle once more - oh the beauty and magic of imagination - what joy!

The arts offer students more in depth learning about things that really matter - like a sense of wonder; creativity, love and respect;, relationships; how things are connected, resilience, truth and beauty; mindfulness and conservation to name but a few. Let us make sure as we move forward into a new year that we provide plenty of opportunity for children of all ages to experience the arts and the great outdoors.

Full of gratitude to be able to share the joys of learning in the great outdoors with my students. Such a beautiful and sacred journey it is, feeling truly blessed. Wishing you all a magical and enchanting week with our Mother Earth. Know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

We have several NATURE ART WEEKENDS scheduled for Spring 2020 for Adults. Or you could sign up for one of the online Nature Art Programs we offer that you can join at anytime of the year. If you would like to receive our SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Nature Art WEEKENDS PDF please leave a message below or email me, I would love you to join us at Educating the Heart with Nature Art....with love and gratitude Marghanita x 

The Land and How it Shapes Us

The Land and how it shapes us

Working on Module 10 has been an amazing journey so far. Yesterday I created a piece of mixed media art depicting two of my longest and deepest connections (sacred relationships) with the natural world, trees and the deer. What a joy filled experience - It is all about the process, the journey. I allowed my imagination to carry me to the places where I am wild and free.

Ever since I was small, the trees, the birdsong, the graceful deer of the forest have spoken to my soul. Playing with the clay, shaping it into the deer, I lose myself in the process. The creative journey, finding little pieces of treasure to make into ears, a tale and antlers. Deer hold a special place in my heart - they are forever present in my life, both here in BC where I live now and back in my homeland - Scotland.

My clay deer is a spirit stag, white and mysterious. The deer remind me of spirit, purity, peace and gentleness - to be gentle to others and to ourselves.

“We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

– Pierre de Chardin

Then there are the trees - oh how I love trees - I have never felt separate from nature. Climbing up into the welcoming arms of the paper-like bark of a Silver Birch in our back garden is probably my earliest recollection of the powerful “connection” I had with nature as a young child. The majestic tree gifted me freedom—the higher I climbed, the freer I became. Up high, was a place of beauty and wonder, where my imagination soared.. My love and respect for trees has grown deeper throughout my adult life; some of my best friends are trees. I so desperately wished to use silver birch for this piece of artwork but I did not have any to hand so I used these beautiful Aspen branches as an alternative.

The golden leaves of the Aspen are very similar in shape and colour to the silver birch in the Autumn - however the bark is nowhere as delicate as the paper-like bark of the birch but it has its own unique beauty like all of us. Sacred and beautiful. What experiences with the natural world touched you deeply as a child ? In our Urban Nature Art Program we delve deeper into our relationship with the natural world through creative expression. You can learn more here: URBAN NATURE ART FOR ADULTS

Oh What Joy

"Once upon a time ...there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated." - Terry Tempest Williams

Urban Nature Art - Celebrating with Nature

I love birds, their song, their beauty, their flight and so I created a simple bird shape to savour the Autumnal colours just a little bit longer - using the colourful leaves as feathers for my bird sun catcher, I now have a beautiful reminder of magical moments spent outdoors playing with the leaves, listening to the bird song with my students both young and old. If you are venturing into Spring, then maybe a few colourful spring flowers and leaves could be used! Giving thanks to each flower and leaf gifted.

Every time I look at the bird it makes me smile, remembering these sacred, joy-filled moments, my heart fills up with love and gratitude. Feeling truly blessed. Wishing you all a beautiful and enchanting week ahead. Happy Autumn to all my friends in the northern hemisphere and Happy Spring to those of you in the southern hemisphere - may the birds sing with you today and every day, know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

Want to live a more joyful - creative life? Why not join our community at Educating the Heart with Nature Art. When we combine nature and art we receive a double dose of very powerful natural medicine. Check out our Urban Nature Art Program/Modules.

Are you an educator looking for ways to help connect your students to nature? Are you beginning a new term at School - why not infuse nature art into your curriculum. Our Nature Art Program for Educators is full of creative explorations that help nurture the whole student, body, mind, heart and spirit. Details of both programs can be found here: http://www.educatingheartnatureart.com