On Wednesday, September 19, students in Mr. Meyer’s water coloring class headed out after chapel to Forest Park. They traversed to the St. Louis Art Museum, picnicked on Art Hill, and sketched in the Zoo. Whilst there, they learned about different historic paintings and noted still life and moving animals around the Zoo in their notebooks.

First schedule event on their field trip itinerary was a lesson at the Art Museum where a curator met them in a study room. There, the curator had selected twelve historic watercolor paintings from the archive collection that dated from 1469 to 1963. Mr. Meyers assigned his students to study those using magnifying glasses. After this activity, the curator lectured on those particular pieces.

As Mr. Meyer’s class finished up, lunch time neared. His students were then allowed to eat their lunch on the famous Art Hill. Afterwards they headed to Zoo where they learned about and practiced En Plein Air painting (painting from life in the open air) for a little more than two hours.

“Plein air painting is actually really tricky because the animals move constantly,” said Andy Thomas, junior.

While there, the students had to draw two pages worth of drawings in their water coloring journals. Their water coloring journals were mandatory to have for the class because Mr. Meyers often assigns them to draw in these books for homework and in-class work.

Setting off in groups of two or more, the students wandered about the zoo to find an object or animal they wanted to sketch.

“After a while I chose to compromise and did a ton of rough sketches and also took over 750 photos that I’m going to paint from later,” said Thomas.

Many students enthusiastically commented about their field trip, which was unlike any field trip conducted before.

For Julia Guzdial, senior, this field trip was a pleasant break from the rigorous and busy schedule of a school day. She also enjoyed the opportunity to view paintings in the museum and learn about the painters’ techniques.

“I wanted my students to learn about historic works of art while having time to practice painting outside,” Mr. Meyers said.

Overall, the beautiful day was well spent. Students not only carried their two drawings back to school, but they also brought back a great learning experience.