The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Nature Journaling and Field Sketching › Capturing Nature’s Color Palettes
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I will admit - this lesson was a little overwhelming. I have never tried watercolors or painting. I did mix watercolors and was able to match a few of the colors in the sample finch. that allowed me to see the value of mixing. The mountain scene is beautiful - but there are SO many shades and nuances in shadow and light that I didn't even really know how to start. In the end, I decided to do a bit less mixing and play - so that I might start to learn from this raw start - how to handle a brush, what happens with this or that stroke, how does the color change as it fades and is that fading useful as a possible tool? etc. I have glanced now at the next lesson so I see some technique is coming and I look forward to a making gains.
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Here are the fruits of my labors. I enjoyed trying different combinations of complimentary colors. They turned out really differently depending on how much of each color I used. I did a little with watercolors as a youngster, but I didn’t know much about color mixing. And handling the brush and getting the right amount of water is challenging. But the color mixing is getting easier as I get to know the colors. The Rosy-Finch was especially interesting because I used a lot of the same base colors, just in different combinations and quantities. I’m looking forward to trying this with actual objects.
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This was my first experience with watercolors. It became easier as I progressed in developing the palette.
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I really enjoyed this. I had to wipe tray clean and start over a few times, but I found this exercise very useful and gave a lot of thought to it.
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The watercolors were easier than I thought, plus the brush was very useful when using different colors and blending it into the correct shade. I tried using my color palette at the beach, I think I got similar colors but I felt that I couldn't get the proper tone with certain colors. However, I think this was a good start in understanding how to paint with watercolors and encourages me to practice my shades.
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I'm so happy we finally got to the color. The palette making is pretty tricky when there are soo many colors to choose from. I want to squint to see what the largest areas of color are, but that doesn't really help.
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I've played around with watercolors on my own with no real training. I tend to use colors right out of the pan (I have more color options) so this was very helpful to learn properties of mixing, tinting, toning, etc. I've created small palettes for the two images above and two birds see in the field today. Once I started picking out colors in the landscape I got overwhelmed with how many colors are actually there. I think I'll focus future palettes on picking out the most dominant and what best exemplifies field markings for quick studies, then go more into depth for finish pieces.
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Getting depth is not easy-I have never done watercolor but I really like it. My Palette was not difficult to do. This is a great class
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I really like this! Did you get the wood effect by letting certain colors dry before adding others, or just adding them all in at once? Also, were you able to get those dark lines at the top of the wood by using a pen?
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A little rainy day color theory practice. Never really used water color before much, I like these brushes, but waiting for the paint to dry is tough. On to the palettes this week.
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This was difficult - took me days to complete. I think it was premature to ask for a complicated watercolor at this stage after only a lesson on mixing colors. There is so much more to painting this bird than just mixing colors. I won’t even attempt the landscape at this point.
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Wow!
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There are so many variations of the 'same' color! That is one challenge, and another is creating the perception of texture. I've discovered details need to wait until the
base color is dry :)
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I have taken a water color class before, but still find it a medium that challenges me! I appreciate the lesson progression, and had fun creating the palette.
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I may have ‘played with’ watercolors as a kid, but this is definitely a first understanding tint, tone, shade, and getting into the depth of mixing to create just the color I was trying to achieve. It took time for some, others I felt worked quickly. As with my original goals for this course, I’m applying patience and as much time as needed to achieve the desired effect. If I haven’t said it before, THANK YOU, Liz, for putting together this course in conjunction with my favorite hobby, birding.
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I used watercolour before, but it was difficult for me. I worked on both palettes, the landscape palette was more complex because it has a huge variety of colours, like all the colours you could think. I am not sure i have them all. The bird´s palette was shorter, it was great to do this exercise, I enjoyed this more. The landscape was a challenge, because first I focused so much on the brighter colours and when I though I had finished, then I realized all the colours from the sky were left. Mixing the colours was great.
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