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Good morning everyone,

Here is the latest in my Celtic cross series. This one is a bit more involved, not in the intricate design on the cross itself but in the background, as you can see.

As usual I created this with a pencil and paper. The color is all done by painting on a single color layer in PhotoShop. I originally sketched the concept out last year, and spent a few evenings last week working out. The last time I spent this much time drawing leaves was when I illustrated Jairo Penaranda's book "The Little Leaf" which is available here. Like most people I enjoy fall, the bright colors in the trees. I'm especially enjoying it this year as we had such a hot dry summer here. I'm very thankful for the cooler temperatures, and the rain.

I chose simple colors, and gradations of a single color for each leaf, instead of multiple colors for the leaves. After spending a few days on the drawing I don't have the time to spend making a photo realistic painting (I've never enjoyed that style myself, why not just take a picture, and save the wear and tear on your hand and wrist?). I like to keep it simple too, it appeals to me.

This is a close-up of a portion of the pencil drawing before I colorized it in PhotoShop.

Thank you again for stopping by my blog. I hope that you enjoyed what I have shared with you here, and that you have a terrific day today, God bless. --Ryan

Yesterday I started a new semester at The Des Moines Art Center, teaching teens fantasy art. I've taught there for over a decade now ( O_O ) and I tried something I've never done before! It was super fun too, at least it got more interaction and conversation from the teens than usual.

I made three categories: symbol/animal/fantasy figure

There were ten in each category, folded up and placed in three cups. The kids divided a large sheet of drawing paper into eight sections and then drew whatever I pulled from the cups. Finally they picked one they liked and elaborated for the final.

I didn't draw with them during the eight, but I did sit and draw with them during the final. My personal favorite was

leaf + rabbit + elf

Name: Leafsnap
Platform: iOS
Cost: Free

Leafsnap has languished for years on my phone. The app represents the sort of big audacious online project that we as librarians need to know about. Merging geographic location with image recognition, it combines reports from the field to produce an interactive electronic guide.

For the end user, Leafsnap is designed to make a “best guess” about the species of a plant, based on an image of a leaf you upload or input through the camera. I hadn’t been able to use it before last week. It’s limitation? Spearheaded by the Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution, Leafsnap is crowd-sourced, and a caveat warns that the database best reflects the northeasten U.S. for the time being (though there is a U.K. version, too). When I heard someone speculating about the name of a specific tree while I was in Massachusetts, I was happy to put the tool to work.

One word on technique: I had better success when I photographed and cropped around a leaf beforehand, and you will need a “true white” background — the reverse side of an index card works fine. The app converts your image into an “x ray” of the leaf, queries the database and returns with a series of options, all of which contain Leafsnaps as well as more holistic images of matching plants.

Using the apps involves creating an account in Leafsnap’s user-driven botanical database to track your scanning and positive identifications. Inside the app, you’re creating your own log book, marking each species with a swipe, with a geographic distribution as well.

The process of collecting and marking specimens can be addictive; even your most tender-hearted teen will respect the do-no-harm approach to nature the app represents. Within the database, the specimens link to the Encyclopedia of Life, another ambitious, crowd-sourced online project, and there’s an integrated program designed to improve your recognition skills.

It only occurred to me after the fact that leafsnap enables a twenty-first century manifestation of the very nineteenth century impulse for classification among amateur botanists. For contrast, you can see a digitized version of Emily Dickinson’s old school herbarium here.

Leafsnap offers a fun, mobile way to involve the natural world in your summer STEM programming. And while the geographic scope of the database might seem to limit its utility, I’ve found that it works just fine beyond the specified region.

Have a suggestion for App of the Week? Let us know. And find more great Apps in the YALSA Blog’s App of the Week Archive.

Review

Teevert follows the life of one individual little leaf, from his first budding to his final fall to the ground. Throughout the book, Teevert and his family are full of enthusiasm for life and love of the changing seasons. However, when, one by one, Teevert's friends start to turn brown and fall from the tree, he is not so fond of winter and is frightened of taking that fall. Eventually, he is left alone and is forced to face his fears and take that final jump.

The story is told in a very simple and straight forward way and is perfect for youngsters who are beginning to read for themselves. Lorna Foot's illustrations are bold and capture the atmosphere of the changing seasons as well as Teevert's emotions.

The book gives parents and teachers a perfect starting point for discussion of a number of subjects: the seasons, growing up and the circle of life and death, all presented in a manner that is non-threatening and esay to understand. Recommended.