Previous image could not get the rose color right.

I’m used to using acrylic paints. I tend to over work watercolor instead of relaxing and let it flow. I will improve with practice. I hope. 

So far from perfect, but I really enjoyed this after being intimidated by it a bit haha.  I've never worked with watercolor before now.  I decided to just dive in and do a quick 10-15 minute watercolor only "sketch" of this (no pencils).  What I loved most about this is that in that short amount of time it gave me the confidence to feel comfortable trying this in the field.  The watercolor can be almost as quick as sketching it seems if I don't overthink it when I want to record what I'm seeing quickly out in the field.  I like that it's a way to quickly get colors down on the paper and add notes to id later.  I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this.

I'm really impressed with everyone's work. So far I hate watercolor. I really don't understand color theory and I can't seem to *see* color the way I can see to draw. I feel like the color mixing lesson went really quickly and I don't have enough information to move forward. I'm really frustrated. Because I'm frustrated, it's also really hard to get myself to try. Just sit down and try. It's a rough combo. Trying to push myself to work through it.

Not my first experience but haven't used them in years. In the scene I couldn't get that bright blue sky, mine was more muddy. The orange and yellow and greens are harder to copy. The greys are easier to mix as I have Payne's grey. It mixes and gave me some colours for the browns on the rosy finch. I didn't have too much trouble with the pink using grey and white and rose madder. 

Long ago I used watercolors but not much.  This class is very helpful!    I have a hard time seeing difference between Tone and Shading mixtures.

Very cool. I did have to order and ship another KOI watercolors box because my first one too did not have black, gray, or white.

Below are some of my experiments with the colours in the KOI set, I never really understood the colour wheel and mixing before!  Its definately challenging to mix colours, and add ones you wouldn't expect.  I really concentrate on what I'm seeing and notice, for example, the orange in the trees are actually orange, some are red, depending on the light and shadows etc.

Hidden Grey-green gator  🐊   in the rushes at edge of marsh. He’s between the two images on lower right — barely even visible. I had to use colors to make him at least slightly visible in my journal — best I could do with colors and still make the point.

First watercolor ever!! Pretty Exciting.....did procrastinate for a couple of weeks before tackling but was actually quite fun!

I have been painting with watercolour for a couple of years. Your instruction videos on sketching and mixing colour have been very helpful!  I did not know the theory of Tint Tone & Shade. This is going to be a great help as I continue my journey in watercolour. Thank you for offering this affordable course.

I am quite new to water color, though I have worked with water color pencils before.This was very difficult for me because I do not have a black or gray in my pallet. I am also wondering if it is ok to go back with the fine point marker to add some tree detail.

1. I’ve used watercolors before, my mom is obsessed with the result. 2. My palette actually turned out okay, but sometimes the colors were way too light. 3. My paint set has 48 colors, more than suggested, so the colors I mixed were closer than the ones shown in the video.

I tried watercolor some time ago and was not very successful.  I have trouble getting the correct amount of water on the brush.  Something I need to work on.  It was raining so did this from our lesson on the computer.  Colors were a little hard to distinguish but the suggestion of color was ok.  I would have liked to blend the colors more but wasn't really able to .  Anyway, will try some more and hopefully more successful.

I've tried watercolors before(limited).  I think that is is hard to do but a skill that can be learned with practice.  For the most part I was able to get the colors I saw, but the images on the laptop vs. desktop computers were slightly different in color.  I find its hard to paint details with the  water brush.  I'd either get too much or not enough water. Getting the detail on the wings of the bird I found particularly challenging.

still at work trying  to duplicate colors and create natural palettes

I was drawing/painting from the image on my computer screen. Then I attached my computer to a tv monitor with an HDMI cable and the colors in the images were very different. If I'm sketching/painting from an image, should I be using a printed image to get truer colors?

Going from sketching to watercolors helped create depth when I added paints. I’ve used watercolors (limited) before. I keep trying adding paint every day... Watercolor is not easy. I tried to create a palette that most resembles ruby throated hummingbirds and while not an exact match, I was satisfied with my results. I got a descent set of colors; i was happy with how the Olive mixed on paper as olive is subtle & difficult for me. The throat color was a challenge, but in such a prominent place, I decided not to overwork the colors. As I looked closely at the colors, it’s surprising how many undertones and nuances I usually miss.   I cleaned up the sketch, painting and I was pleased at my first layered/pained bird. It’s much different than using watercolor straight from tube or 1/2 pan. 

This was a great new experience for me (I have been using watercolor pencils). What I noticed was sometimes the color mixed on the palette tray did not turn out as expected on the paper, so I used it as an exercise to try and figure out what I could have added or subtracted to get closer to what I wanted. Also first experience with the water brush.

This was my first experience with watercolours and the water brush pen. Quite different to acrylics and oils! It's been great to make a start on this whole other world of painting. The brush pen took some getting used to in terms of controlling the water content in the brush but I can see that, as a painting implement, it increases the contact time with the page and allows me to get a lot of colour down quickly. The colours are fresh and surprisingly nuanced. I'm also surprised by the amount of control I can get in tint, tone and shade. The weather has been terrible in Heidelberg this last week so I've been referencing colour palettes from a book on the Amazon rainforests. The dry pigment can look a little different when wet. The white page is much more effective in conveying whiteness than the white paint. Light purples are an interesting alternative "tone-maker" to grey with a touch of warmth or coolness to them. The watercolour palette seems very flexible in that it can capture the intense oranges of a sunset as well as the soft umber hues of a bird feather. The black colour seems very strong on the page - one to use carefully!

Using white with watercolors was a new experience for me and very useful to achieve the colors that I wanted

This was not my first experience with watercolors but it was with this new palette and the new brush.  I wanted to really get to know how my palette, brush, and paper work together.  I pushed the limits but was very pleased with it all.  I first created a page of all my original colors then adding all the tints (white, gray, and black), then I mixed all the compliment with each of the types of colors.  For instance, I have 3 yellows with 1 purple, 4 oranges with 4 blues, 4 reds with 4 greens.  This provides a couple of good reference charts so I could find the closest match and what to use.  I decided to practice by paining the two pictures provided.  Then I selected a photograph I took in May of a Great Blue Heron just as it ruffled it’s feathers on top of the nesting tree.  My challenge is the detail of execution.  As a landscape painter, I do a lot of marks to indicate rather than exact markings, but with birds and such specific makings I get lost in the details.  I need to nail what causes birders to recognize what I paint.  I can however see that if I use shape for distant elements within a landscape the birds have a great shot at revealing the species.  Still think I will need to get better at defining the parts of the birds. Pat

I first used watercolors with my grandmother as a child, in college, and again in the last few years. I find greens and oranges to be challenges to keep colors vibrant with out over mixing. The play of contrasting colors draw my eye in as the viewer.

I never took a watercolor class or a color theory one, even though watercolor is my media to paint birds. Since I am self-taught, I mostly mix my colors on the paper, so this was a completely new experience.