I Wonder the Weed – Who Decides What Is A Weed and What Is A Flower?

Dandelions A Weed Is but an Unloved Flower – Ella Wheeler Wilcox When appraising nature, I am perplexed by the question, “Who decided that some plants were weeds that looked like flowers and who decided which were flowers?” Take for instance the common sweet violet that weaves a purple and green carpet across my lawn…

Miss Maple’s Seeds Are Being Born in My New Front Front Yard

Tomorrow, I’ll begin moving to my new, 125-year-old house in the Ozark Mountains. Yesterday, I was wandering around in my new front yard, and I paused for a moment beside the huge, old tree, where the daffodils are blooming, I knelt low, and I couldn’t help but notice that my big, old tree has a…

Register Now for Free and/or Almost Free SCBWI Seminars in April

The Regional Chapters of SCBWI have a tradition of offering online webinars. The prices for these webinars are extremely low. I thought that I would share with you the SCBWI Webinars that I’ll attend in April. Get Your April Off to a Good Start with Frances Gilbert What’s Your Picture Book Hook? Date/Time Date(s) –…

The Importance of Writing in a Journal

This spring, I vow to reestablish the important practice of observing nature closely and of recording what I see, smell and hear in a journal. Much of writing is about recreating sensory details, and I am convinced that learning to be more in the moment and observing what I sense in the moment will help…

How to Draw Bowtie Bunny in Ballet Slippers

Last week, we drew an egg. Bowtie Bunny is just an egg with ears, arms, feet, and, a tail. If you haven’t drawn the egg, click on this link and do so. We’ll start this drawing at the end of that tutorial: https://x55.68c.myftpupload.com/how-to-draw-an-egg-jacki-kellum-draw-the-bowties/ Once you have reached the spot where you have an egg with…

How to Draw An Egg – Jacki Kellum Free Drawing Class

Eggs have important to human survival for as long as I know. I don’t know who were the first people who learned to cook eggs, but somewhere along the way, mankind realized that the little oval things that birds lay were edible, and ever since then, eggs have been important for human survival. Centuries ago,…