ILLUSTRATING NATURE STUDENT ART SHOW at the WARD MUSEUM RESOURCE BOOKLET
909 S. Schumaker Dr. Salisbury, MD 21804 WardMuseum.org 410-742-4988 Cover image: Belted Kingfisher, Robert Havell after John James Audubon Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Table of Contents About the Student Art Show 3 Guide to Resource Booklet 4 Green Frog Tadpole 6 Dark-eyed Junco 8 Witch s Hat Mushroom 10 Swamp Rose 12 Deer Tick 14 American Black Bear 16 Black Widow 18 Five-holed Keyhole Urchin 20 Red-winged Blackbird 22 Striped Bass 24 Black-eyed Susan 26
About the Student Art Show Event Information The Ward Museum s annual Student Art Show is a non-competitive display of students works from around the entire Delmarva peninsula. It is open to all students grades K 12 in public and private schools, as well as home-schooled students. The submitted works will go on exhibit in the museum s Welcome Gallery. This year s theme is Illustrating Nature, collecting student works devoted to illustrating the natural world around them from a scientific perspective. The show is featured in conjunction with The Ward Museum s contemporaneous Scientific Illustrations exhibit. Teachers and parents are encouraged to draw from our Suggested Native Species list for their students entries. Submission Requirements Students may use a variety of flat or 3D media, including but not limited to paints, sketch boards, colored pencils, crayons, photography, and sculpture. All flat art must be matted with a minimum one inch black or white border. Hooks for hanging are not required. Please attach a label with the student s name, age/grade, and school name on the back of each student s submission. All artwork must be no larger than 18 x 24 (including matting) 3D standing art must have a footprint of 14 x 14 or less. Dates to Remember Exhibit opening day: Friday, February 17, 2017 Submissions Due: Friday, February 10, 2017 Reception: Friday, February 17, 2017 (5 7 p.m.) Exhibit final day: Sunday, April 2, 2017 Artwork Pick-up: Monday Friday, April 3 7 (10am 5pm) 3
Guide to this Resource Booklet What the resource booklet offers The Ward Museum s education department has produced the following step-by-step instructions for some of our local, native species to encourage the development of both artistic technique as well as observational skills and information about the plants, animals, and fungi we can find all around us. We ve developed these resources for use by teachers, home-school parents, and other educators to facilitate the illustration of nature by Delmarva s children. It is intended to be an introduction to illustrating these particular organisms, making the endeavor readily approachable by children who don t already have a strong background in drawing and illustration. Each featured organism has both an information page and an illustration guide. The information page offers a few photographs of the specific organism, some quick facts about it, a labeled example of some of its anatomy, an example of a hand-drawn illustration of that animal, and even some truly scientific details like the species s binomial name and its entire scientific classification. This page is specifically designed to make this guide interdisciplinary to make it useable by both arts and sciences teachers and for both art and science lessons. Progressing through the illustration guides The species have been included in a roughly determined order of difficulty. The easiest ones have been placed closer to the front; the more difficult, towards the back. Potentially, an educator could use this guide to develop the artistic techniques of their students as the children work their ways through the guide. We ve even included similar organisms to provide more or less difficulty, enabling children of all skill levels to produce artistic and scientifically-accurate illustrations, while offering a degree of challenge as their skills improve. The swamp rose or the dark-eyed junco are intended to be used as easier examples of a local flower and a local bird, respectively, but for students who need more of a challenge no matter their age or grade level we have included the black-eyed susan and red-winged blackbird. One organism, the witch s hat mushroom, even offers both a regular and an advanced version to provide more challenge. How to expand upon this resource booklet Ideally, these guides will be only the beginning for the students artistic and scientific investigations of nature. We ve provided different angles of the included organisms, for example, because we envision children using the skills developed from drawing some of the included step-by-step guides to illustrate the same species from a different angle or in a different pose. Furthermore, the same techniques can then be used to create entire nature scenes by incorporating other organisms from the species natural environment. 4
Native Species Resources
G reen Frog Tadpole Lithobates clamitans Also known as: larva, pollywog Quick Facts The eggs of the green frog usually hatch into tadpoles after three to seven days. During metamorphosis, the tadpole develops its hind legs first, before absorbing its tail, losing its gills and forming lungs and other internal organs. Larval green frogs take 3 to 22 months to metamorphose into adults, overwintering as tadpoles before metamorphosing the following summer. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Amphibia Order : Anura Family : Ranidae Genus : Lithobates Tail fin Body Eye Tail muscle 6
1 Draw an oval to be the body of your tadpole. Draw another oval for the tail fins. 2 3 Erase the part of the tail s oval that covered the body Draw a triangle inside the tail, from the edge of the body to the tip of the tail for the tail muscle. 4 5 Draw a circle with a dot inside of it near the front of the body for the eye. Next, add dots all over the rest of the body for the tadpole s markings. Color the body GREEN, the tail muscle LIGHT GREEN, and the tail fins YELLOW to complete your GREEN FROG TADPOLE. 6 7
D ark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis Also known as: Snowbird, DEJU Quick Facts Juncos are often called snowbirds. Over most of the eastern United States, they appear as winter sets in, then retreat northward each spring. They eat primarily seeds, and mostly from the ground instead of feeders. During breeding season they will also eat a variety of insects. When flying they flap their wings continuously and pump their tails so the white outer tail feathers flash. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Aves Order : Passeriformes Family : Emberizidae Genus : Junco Head Wing Beak Tail Breast Feet 8
1 Draw an oval to be the body of your bird. Draw another oval for the head. 2 3 Erase the lines between the two ovals to combine the body and head. Draw two triangles: a small one from the head for the beak, and another one from the opposite end of the body for the tail. 4 Draw two thick lines from the bottom of the body for the legs 5 Erase the line between the body and the tail, then draw a line from the front of the body to the tip of the tail. Next, add a dark circle for the eye. Color the area above the middle line GREY and the beak LIGHT PINK to complete your DARK-EYED JUNCO. 6 Draw two thick lines from the bottom of the legs for the feet. 9
W itch s Hat Mushroom Hygrocybe conicus Also known as: Conical wax cap, Blackening wax cap Quick Facts These mushrooms can be red, orange, yellow, or jet black. Sometimes you will see all of these colors in a group and occasionally in a single cap. The older the mushroom is, the blacker it will get. Very old mushrooms can look entirely black. Younger mushroom will bruise black if touched. Autumn is the peak time for them to emerge, particularly in mild, wet weather following a short cold period. They can remain until November. Kingdom : Fungi Phylum : Basidiomycota Class : Agaricomycetes Order : Agaricales Family : Hygrophoraceae Genus : Hygrocybe Cap Gills Stem 10
1 Draw a rounded triangle to be the cap of your mushroom. Draw a rectangle from the bottom of the cap to be the stem of your mushroom 2 3 Color the cap ORANGE and the stem YELLOW to complete your WITCH S HAT MUSHROOM. For an advanced version, draw the cap as an oval with a rounded triangle atop it. Then draw in the stem extending from the top of the oval. 2a 3a Erase the line passing through the stem, then fill in the oval with numerous curved lines to provide the mushroom s gills. Color the gills GREY, the cap ORANGE, and the stem YELLOW to complete the advanced version of your WITCH S HAT MUSHROOM. 4a 11
S wamp Rose Rosa palustris Also known as: ROPA, Rosa floridana, Rosa lancifolia Quick Facts Swamp rose can be found in tidal freshwater marshes, swamps, nontidal marshes, margins of lakes, and forested wetlands. The mildly fragrant pink blooms last for six to eight weeks in midseason, generally June through July. Unlike most members of the rose family, the swamp rose grows best in moist or wet soil and is thornless. Kingdom : Plantae Phylum : Tracheophyta Class : Magnoliopsida Order : Rosales Family : Rosaceae Genus : Rosa Petal Pollen 12
1 Draw a heart shape to be your first petal. Draw four more heart shapes in a circle like this. 2 3 Erase one line from each place where the hearts overlap to reveal all five petals. Draw a circle at the center of the petals. 4 5 Erase the lines inside the circle to reveal the center of the flower, where the pollen is located. Color the petals LIGHT PURPLE, and the center YELLOW to complete your SWAMP ROSE. 6 13
D eer Tick Ixodes scarpularis Also known as: Blacklegged tick Quick Facts Deer ticks are extremely small animals. Females range about 2.7 mm in length (the size of a sesame seed), and the males tend to be smaller. The deer tick is known for spreading several diseases such as Lyme disease in animals, including humans. The deer tick inhabits the white-tailed deer, acting as a parasite. They also parasitize other animals such as mice, lizards, and migratory birds. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Arthropoda Class : Arachnida Order : Ixodida Family : Ixodidae Genus : Ixodes Legs Mouthparts Dorsal shield 14
1 Draw an egg shape for the deer tick s abdomen. Draw a circle inside the egg shape at the top This is the tick s shield. 2 3 Draw a round triangle at the top of the egg shape This is the tick s mouthparts. Draw 8 thick squiggly lines for the legs. 4 5 Color the mouthparts and the shield DARK BROWN. Color the abdomen TAN to complete your DEER TICK. 6 15
A merican Black Bear Ursus americanus Also known as: Euarctos americanus Quick Facts Kingdom : Animalia The American black bear is the smallest of the three bears species found in North America, and is found only in North America. Phylum : Chordata They are omnivores, eating plants, fruits, nuts, insects, honey, fish, small mammals, and carrion. Occasionally they hunt young deer, elk and moose. Order : Carnivora Family : Ursidae In regions with a consistent food supply and warmer weather throughout the winter, bears may not hibernate at all or do so for only a brief time. Ear Genus : Ursus Tail Nose Hindleg Foreleg Paw 16 Class : Mammalia
1 Draw an oval for the bear s body. Draw a circle at the top-left of the oval to be the head. 2 3 Erase the lines between the body and head, then draw four tall ovals extending down, two in the front for the forelegs and two in the bag for the hind legs. Erase the lines between the legs and body, then draw ovals at the top of the head for the ears and at the bottom of the legs for the paws. Next, erase the overlapping lines. 4 5 Draw on the face: an oval on the face for the snout, a rounded triangle in the center for the nose, and two circles above the snout for the eyes. Color the body and head BLACK or DARK BROWN, the snout TAN, and the nose and eyes BLACK to complete your AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 6 17
F ive-holed Keyhole Urchin Mellita isometra Also known as: Keyhole sand dollar Quick Facts Living keyhole urchins are dark brown, dark green, grey or tan and spend most of their time buried in the sand in shallow seawater below tide lines. A keyhole urchin has a mouth on the bottom of its body that it uses to eat small plants and other food it finds buried in the sand. When keyhole urchins die, their bodies wash up on the shore, turning white and looking like the sand dollars with which we re familiar. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Echinodermata Class : Echinoidea Order : Echinoida Family : Mellitidae Genus : Mellita Petalloid Slot (lunule) 18
1 Draw a circle for the body. Draw an upside-down star in the middle of the circle. 2 3 Draw five ovals coming off the central star. Erase bits of the ovals to turn them into dotted lines to form the petalloids. 4 5 Draw four ovals at the ends of the dotted ovals and one between the bottom ovals to make the keyholes. Color everything but the keyholes DARK BROWN to complete your FIVE-HOLED KEYHOLE URCHIN. 6 19
B lack Widow Latrodectus mactans Also known as: Southern widow Quick Facts Black widows are considered the most venomous spiders in North America; however, their bite is rarely fatal to humans. Black widows are easily identified by the red hourglass marking on the underside of their abdomens. Black widows got their name from the tale of females consuming the males after mating. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Anthropoda Class : Arachnida Order : Araneae Family : Theridiidae Genus : Latrodectus Legs Palps (Cephalothorax) Head Abdomen Hourglass marking 20
1 Draw a circle for the black widow s abdomen. Draw a half-circle above it for the spider s head (scientists call it a cephalothorax). 2 3 Draw 8 thick lines for the first leg segments. Draw 2 lines from the head for the palps (spiders use these for both taste and smell) and eight thin lines at the ends of the legs for the final leg segments. 4 5 Draw and color the famous hourglass marking in RED. Color the abdomen and head BLACK to complete your BLACK WIDOW. 6 21
R ed-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus Also known as: RWBL Quick Facts Red-winged blackbirds are visually dimorphic. The male is all black except red and yellow shoulders, while the female is a subdued brown. The glossy-black males puff up or hide their shoulder patches depending on how confident they feel. Red-winged blackbirds eat mainly insects in the summer and seeds, including corn and wheat, in the winter. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Aves Order : Passeriformes Family : Icteridae Genus : Agelaius Shoulder patch Crown Wing Bill Tail Feet 22
1 Draw an oval to be the body of your bird. Draw two more ovals for the head and wing. 2 3 Draw three triangles to form the beak, wing feathers, and tail feathers. Draw a circle inside the head for the eye, and two lines from the body to the head for the neck. 4 Draw two lines in a swoop shape on the wing. Draw two thick lines from the body with two curved lines on the ends for the legs. 5 Color everything BLACK except the eyes and the two top parts of the wings. Color the top of the wing RED-ORANGE and YELLOW to make the shoulder patch, then the eye GREY to complete your RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 6 23
S triped Bass Roccus saxatilis Also known as: Rockfish, Striper Quick Facts Striped bass are the state fish of Maryland. They are also the top recreational sportfish in the Chesapeake Bay. Striped bass are anadromous, meaning they live most of their adult lives in the ocean but return to freshwater to reproduce. They are important predators in coastal and marine ecosystems. At different stages of its life one feeds on zooplankton, insects, and various types of fish. Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Actinopterygii Order : Perciformes Family : Moronidae Genus : Morone Dorsal Fin Stripes Tail Fin Gill cover (operculum) Pectoral fin 24
1 Draw an oval to be the body of your fish. Draw four irregular triangles to form the fins. 2 3 Add several curved lines for the spines of the dorsal fin. Add curved lines across the spines to complete the dorsal fin. 4 Add two curved lines connecting the body to the tail fin Add the complex shape above for the pectoral fin. Erase the X-shape to connect the body and tail fin. 5 Draw a circle with a dot inside of it near the front of the body for the eye. Color the body and fins LIGHT GREY and the eye GOLD. Finally, add the stripes across the body to complete your STRIPED BASS. 6 Draw two curved lines near the front of the body to form the mouth and the gill cover (scientists call this the operculum). 25
B lack-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta Also known as: Yellow daisy, Gloriosa daisy, English bull s eye Quick Facts Black-eyed Susans bloom from June to September. Flowers attract bees and butterflies, which are the main pollinators of this plant. Black-eyed Susans serve as an important source of food and shelter for many birds and animals such as slugs, rabbits, and deer. The Black-eyed Susan is the Maryland State Flower. Kingdom : Plantae Phylum : Tracheophyta Class : Magnoliopsida Order : Asterales Family : Asteraceae Genus : Rudbeckia Seeds Leaves Petals Stem 26
1 Draw a circle to be the center of your flower. Draw 11-14 big arcing lines from the center circle for the petals. 2 3 Draw more lines behind the petals for leaves and a stem. Draw 2 light lines in each petal and many small lines on the stem for texture. 4 5 Color in the petals YELLOW, the leaves and stem GREEN, and the center DARK BROWN. Draw numerous small lines in the center for seeds to complete your BLACK-EYED SUSAN. 6 27