Rough Sketch – Cicada Shell

Vanity – n., 1 anything that is in vain or futile 2 worthlessness or futility 3 being vain, or too proud of oneself  (Webster’s New World Dictionary)

It is my love for nature… that is the reason why I decided to start, Let’s Paint Nature. I enjoy being outside and looking at every detail, inspecting things, learning about them, drawing/painting them, and sharing it, in the hopes that it will inspire others to pick up that pencil and discover their own nature and the One who created it for them.

Somewhere along the way however, I was more concerned with uploading pretty pictures (vanity). How ridiculous! In doing so, I lost that first love…..sitting in nature, getting dirty, and scribbling for the love of learning without a care in the world who saw it and who did not. Without concern on how the final product ended up.

I don’t want to only pump out pretty pictures.

I wish to inspire the amateur artist who loves nature. The one who wishes to get back into drawing like they did when they were a child. The one who says, “I would like to start a nature journal but…..”

No more buts. Let’s come out of our shell. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Don’t worry about what it looks like, just put pencil to paper and go. Nobody has to see it. You love nature and you will love to draw too. And I promise not to pump out pretty pictures for the sake of a pretty web site.

Today during lunch I sat on my favorite bench beneath a maple tree near my work. To my surprise when I looked up, I discovered a slew of cicada shells, all clinging to the underside of maple leaves. How happy I was to discover this! Yes they’re kind of creepy looking….but wow!!!

I came home from work extremely excited to start sketching. That excitement stirred up that old feeling of wonder and purpose. Nature is amazing!

Pretty paintings might happen and pretty paintings might not happen and that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Becoming closer to nature through art is the aim.