Children writing with Stabilo watercolor pencils on a large window.
Article Type Making Art Together Making Art Together Categories Drawing Nature

Meadow Mural

Meg Nicoll

In celebration of the opening of Bobbie’s Meadow this summer, we invited guests to bring the Meadow into the Great Hall of the Museum by creating a mural on the windows. We used Stabilo watercolor pencils to draw directly on the windows and create a collaborative meadow-scape for the Museum. These pencils work well on window surfaces, they create a bold colorful line and wipe off easily with soapy water. When the sun shone through the windows, the drawn lines cast shadows on the floor, creating another dimension to this collaborative mural.

Three artists sit at a table making art and talking with guest as they approach the table.
Helping us out on the day were three local artists, Micha Archer, Meghan Burch and B.Z. Reily, who brought their own materials and outdoors-inspired artwork to share.
Three children draw onto a big window with the reflection of a meadow on the glass pane.
With the simple invitation of “what can you add to our meadow?” we saw dinosaurs stomping, insects crawling, birds flying and plants growing.
A child focuses and draws on a window pane with a watercolor pencil.
By placing mats on the floor guests could work at whatever height they were most comfortable with, standing or sitting.
Young guests draw on the window with watercolor pencils, one child takes a break to look at their drawing.
We left the window meadow up for a few days to enjoy, and then then watercolor pencils wiped off of the window easily with soap and water. Lately the windows have provided plenty of inspiration for large-scale artwork, we look forward to continuing to use these surfaces to explore materials.
Adults join in with the mural, drawing on the windows with younger guests.
Photo by Jim Gipe Pivot Media. © The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Authors

Meg smiling in the Art Studio.

Meg Nicoll

Art Educator at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art from 2016 to 2023, Meg enjoys working with artists, educators, and people of all ages to create opportunities for art-making.
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