make :: contour plant drawings

I recently viewed the Ellsworth Kelly exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was transfixed by his minimalist, contour drawings plants. The galleries that contained these simple images were calm and reverent spaces.

As soon as I returned home, I knew I wanted to do something similar with my children. So, we gathered greenery from our yard, trying to get the biggest variety we could, and set up a table with good drawing paper, art pencils and plant cuttings in old Perrier bottles.

I was amazed at how much my kids took to this project. I was worried it would fall flat because it was not messy enough or more hands on. We tried to focus primarily on the edges, not adding detail (although sometimes we could not stop ourselves). 

The end result, collected together is striking. I hung the drawings in my office, where I look at them everyday. They bring me the same calm I had in the gallery a few thousand miles away.