Because the koi watercolors are (mostly) portable it makes it easier to travel with. I use a pencil pouch to keep my brushes, erasers, and pencil which works pretty well. I think using watercolor has really improved my painting skills and making better observations with the things that I’m not only drawing but painting. It’s really helped me enjoy painting a lot more and inspired me to make more art. This is a painting of the tree in my backyard I wanted to use more of a wet on wet wash kind of look And this is my favorite sketch that I've done. It was really fun to draw and take notes on

I haven’t had the opportunity to try watercolouring outdoors yet, so here I practised with two of my photos: a mallard and a landscape. I tried to incorporate as many techniques as I’ve learnt and I can see how practising really is the secret to familiarising with watercolours. The more I do something with them, the more I realise that I can anticipate what doing something with the brush or a colour will do or how the colour will get to the paper. When I draw, I try to pay attention to the little details of my subject. That is key to getting to know it better and asking myself questions about the whats and hows I have yet to learn more about. That’s one of the things that make drawing special to me and one of the reasons I find it a perfect complement to photography.

First two live tries in field, from sketch to reskwtch to paint. Not satisfied yet but I only had about 2minmof observation of these Brown-throated Parakeets:

1. I have a pochade box (5"x7" very manageable in my day pack) from "Guerilla Painter" that works for my field water color kit & I have an old Russian officers documents bag dedicated to just field sketching. (See pics) 2. I have been sketching for a bit and water coloring with no training. This course is helping me greatly with simple techniques. Very good. I am a field ornithologist in Panama ... So science wise ... It's what I do ;) 3. I'll share more in n next lessons. I have reached the 3 photo limit.  

I can't say I will ever feel comfortable with watercolor.  I either get too much water or not enough and it is difficult for me to control, I always feel it is sloppy.  The painting I did outside is way darker than the scene I was painting, I included a shot of the area I was painting.  I used mostly washes.  The cedarwaxwing I was happy with.  Got to do a lot more practicing.

I used a photo to practice the watercolor techniques similar to the video.

I have discovered through your videos and trial and error that watercolor takes time and patience.  Frankly, at this point anyway, I will not be using watercolor in the field as I am mainly interested in sketching birds, and in some cases animals that I see in nature.  By the time I got my watercolors out, the bird would be gone.  I will use watercolor when I want to do a more "formal" picture.  Here are my attempts at doing a watercolor from photos.  The first is a hummingbird that I took a picture of on the shepard's hook for the nectar feeder.  The second watercolor is from a photo I took on a trip to Lake Erie.  We always spend a lot of time at the Marblehead Lighthouse.  My area is experiencing a severe drought and extreme temperatures.  The landscape is so dried out and stressed that there was nothing that I wanted to sit out and paint.

A Long way to go. The reference photo is a black-billed magpie taken in Jackson, Wyoming. It was the first time I had seen the black-bill. It appeared larger than the yellow-billed as I remembered it. He was busy hunting bugs in the mulch in the courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by birch trees, making a perfect setting.

I have started the course a few times, but really focused on getting the most out of it the past few days. I am sharing my initial picture and my end of the course. There are some features of each that bring me joy and some areas I will continue to work on. This was a really interesting course and I will be revisiting different sections as I seek to improve my skillset.

• I have a long timey canvas tote with everything including a small easel so organising is ok so far. I have been adding depth to odd things. This is a wild flower from a vine and the small berry is courtesy a bird who dropped his lunch. I like loosey goosey water colours that give me an idea of what I have seen. I don't go for precision. I have also started painting birds from my journal sketches in the field. This guy is on a barn door not my journal.

I find it easier to work wet on wet for the plumage but I did my best on glazing. Can obviously improve. But I enjoyed it very much.

Wash and blending getting easier with practice. The examples to follow are extremely helpful. Letting go of judgement and more having fun.

I have a dedicated bag for all of my materials, with paper towels, watercolors extra pencils and lead, etc.  It is grab and go. In the field, I usually spread out on a bench or on the grass. Many people use a camping chair, but I feel like it is too wobbly.  Often, I will sketch in the field, make notes and then use the watercolors later when I return home. In this case, I picked up the crab molt from my beach after sketching brought it home so I could make more notes and color it in. I am happy with the results.

It’s still a bit too wintery to be sitting outside so I have been practicing techniques inside and attempting to copy various photos and paintings. I need much more practice but am enjoying the learning process.

I have not been able to sketch in the field yet as it is winter (Mid-February), but I noted some good suggestions from other users below (folding stool, cotton sock etc). Instead, I practiced with a reference picture of a bay-breasted warbler, that spent the 2022 summer in the woods back at the cottage. I followed the same steps that Liz used to paint the waxwing. I had fun mixing this palette of colours, and adding a leafy background.

I observed some Sandhill Cranes at work recently and did some gesture drawings of their behavior. I followed it up by sketching a sandhill crane head, and then refining and coloring it using a reference photo. It was fun to observe some of their behaviors, and coloring the bird head really helped me recognize all of the color combinations found on them, especially the eyeball

1.  I am still not confident in completing the field sketching in the field, so I've been using my backyard where I can have a chair and a table.  Otherwise I have to leave painting to an indoor activity.  2. I've been trying to still notice as I draw, like the color of new growth even though the majority of the leaves in the Winterberry Holly are falling off and that is a single berry that was produced.  I need to get better about creating hypotheses for my observations. 3.  I tried some of the "dry brushing" on the bark, but I had to use a lot of layers.