Seventh graders at Hall Middle School recently studied with biological illustrator and Mentor Artist Christine Elder. Students created illustrated watercolor booklets about the life cycles of flowering plants to enhance their 7th grade science curriculum.
Over the course of our five sessions, students studied flower anatomy, and how the process of pollination by honeybees creates a wide variety of fruit types.
Students created sketches and watercolor paintings of preserved specimens of honeybees and live bouquets of a variety of beautiful flowers as well as an aromatic assortment of fruit types including strawberries, apples, blackberries and oranges. The students practiced thinking as a scientific illustrator, using their keen powers of direct observation, along with hand lenses, to carefully portray the correct shapes and colors of the specimens.
The finished product – a booklet complete with anatomical labels, will be displayed at the end of year open house.