Artists have always been fascinated with translating their three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional plane, be it a sheet of paper, canvas, or wall.  Look down a street, and you see the sidewalk on either side appear to converge into a point in the horizon. Event the walls of buildings, which would be rectangles face on, will appear as trapezoidal planes, shrinking as the planes move away from your line of sight. This is perspective, how our eyes perceive depth. It's all about our point of view.

We can create the illusion of depth with a drawing technique called linear perspective drawing. Amazingly, it all relies on a line and a point, specifically, the horizon line and the vanishing point. Following basic rules of perspective drawing, one can create realistic representations of the three-dimensional world.

If you want to learn how to do perspective drawing, Syrendell offers a five-lesson course that will take you through one-point, two-point, and three-point perspective to create the drawings above. 

Perspective drawing has been around for centuries, even before the 14th century when the Renaissance masters began studying and applying the technique in many of their drawings and paintings.
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Shinrin-yoku is a Japanese term for "taking in the forest atmosphere". Being outside where you can breathe in the sky, feel the trees and rocks and soil, and be comforted and invigorated - this is the magic of nature. In your week, have you had a chance to be outdoors? To balance work/life and feed your soul, take time to go outside, with the intention of experiencing nature.

One way you and your family can do this is to go foraging. Collect pine cones, fallen leaves, acorns, branches, rocks, and moss. Now let your imagination kick in. Find scraps of wood, and with some simple woodworking tools, create a fairy bed, or sofa, or house. Embellish with found objects. 

At the end of the day, you will have realized you were outdoors, connecting with nature, AND connecting with the family and a collective imagination.  You were taking in the forest atmosphere.

As the fairy folk now grace your backyard with their magical presence, you can spend even more time outside to discover new ways of shinrin-yoku.

See our course on making  a fairy garden to get the kids outside!