Still working on figuring out the techniques to get the right depth and natural textures. Seems like I need to work on the consistency (pigment to water ratio). Appreciate any tips!

Just as you say, the first one won't be the best one, but I have followed you during the video and this is the result:     Also, I went out and took notes on how this flower dry's up, it was pretty exciting putting what we have learn into practice

I can’t get over how great this color set is, how portable , and how neat the water pen/brushes are!  I’m struggling to get the detail, but it’s super fun- something I look forward to, yes, the calming and focused joy of art, what a wonderful course ! Thank you!  

I finally got around to drawing the cedar waxwing with berries. It was a challenge to get the subtlety of the colors and forms of this beautiful bird.  Trudy Here is my attempt:

first watercolor attempt ever- lilac breasted roller- one of my favorite birds.  Really enjoyed this- I have learned so much from this outstanding course  

kind of amazed how successful I’m feeling with this course!!! I *see* much better, and I depict what I’m seeing a fair bit better. Good lessons and exercises.

I am finished the course now and loved it.  I learned a lot and feel much more comfortable with watercolour now.  Even drawing these little bitty birds and flowers.  I feel the look of my journal is emerging.  I am heavy on the images, poetry and commentary, pretty lax on the scientific stuff. Keeping track off all the tools and equipment is a challenge for me.  Nearly every sit spot claims a pencil, eraser or a pen cap, some of which I do find at a later time.  I spend a lot of time close to home as I love my comfy folding chair but it is very awkward to carry.  So my garden and my bird feeder are the focus of my pages.  In this time of Covid 19 I am staying home a lot, most of the time in fact.  This course has greatly helped me to fill my days and to get me outdoors to do it. I continue to draw from photos but do practice the gesture drawing from time to time and it gives me ideas if not particularly good drawing that I work on to the finish.  Hope to see that improve over the summer. Forgot to take a picture of the very first bird but there is considerable improvement over the time of the course. So thanks to Liz for her really great classes.  It was especially helpful for me to see her actually doing the drawing and painting.

I know I have improved.  Painting from a photo taken in the field seems to be the easiest option for me now.  Too cold and snowy right now to find a warm sit spot.  This fox surprised us on the golf course.  Its not as good as I'd like - practice practice practice!  But better than I ever could have done several months ago.  

It was much easier painting from a picture than in nature.  I noticed that the shadows changed before I was finished, I tried to use all of the techniques learned to date on these drawings.

Oriole I saw in my yard, found a picture in one of my bird books to sketch, then watercolor.  I tried to use most of the ideas that have been shared.  how to get proper proportion, color matching, and trying to pay more attention to detail and the eye.

It is definitely going to take practice to learn to control the watercolors. This is a brown headed nuthatch I copied from the Merlin photo. Not too bad for my first solo attempt.

Sketching and painting the Steller's Jay that I was drawing took a long time, though I thought it wouldn't take as much time as it actually did. Though this was a really fun experience, and I would love to keep on doing this!

Working from a photo.  My niece's cat Caspi.

My sketches took me a lot more time then I was expecting. I was forced to draw and paint from photo, but I did both in my backyard without furniture. I sat on the floor so I can experience doing this in an unconfortable position. I noticed something i wasn't expecting: in the Northern Shoveler the speculum is more visible in the reflection than in the actual bird. I never notice that before. I'm used to ID directly from the bird but maybe I can search for "clues" or field marks elsewhere, like reflections.

For a few years I have tried to photograph the tree swallows with no success. But today was different. While weeding quietly I noticed these birds accepted me and put on a show. They fed their young in the nesting boxes. They chattered with each other. I love the way they fly - just swoop on buy. I only see them in the Spring and the Fall. They are never at my bird feeders. I discovered later they are insect feeders. But what I love most about them is their color. Their dorsal side is this iridescent blue green color, while their belly is a vivid white. Sometimes when they sit on the fence they remind me of mini penguins because of their color contrast. This was a perfect Spring day in E. TN. Temps were in the 60’s with a slight breeze blowing.

I have been taking advantage of beautiful weather here in Boquete to spend time in the garden and observe the many birds and flowers.  The woodpecker is a rare sight and the pink ginger is changing everyday as the flowers open and put out new blossoms.  This course has been helpful in raising my awareness of how quickly even the flowers change from day to day.

It's still too chilly here in Northern Indiana to go sit out back and sketch, so I've been working on copying some of my birding photos. I'm pretty encouraged given I hadn't drawn anything since about the 5th grade - close to 60 years ago. The hardest thing for me is mixing colors. I suspect it will be even more difficult once I head outside.

I'm am very happy and suprised with the way this turned out! I think I found my niche!

I’m using a quart-sized Ziplock bag to hold my tiny Winsor and Newton watercolor travel palette.  I’m using a 6B pencil, water brush, and 130 lb watercolor paper cut to size to fit in my Nature Journal.  All of this fits in my quart bag, which I carry in a daypack when I’m out in the woods. I’m really happy with what I’ve learned from this course about gesture drawing and color mixing.

A Vulture/Condor. Reference photo and interpretation. Some mixed medium, to finish the outlines at the end of the sketch. Fine Markers, almost all W.Colors.

Belted kingfisher from a reference photo. I feel like I know so much more about this bird from having spent so much time studying every detail and proportion in the photo. I love the way it is so totally absorbing. One problem with doing this in my journal was not being able to go onto another page while it was drying as I wanted to have more than one drawing/painting going at a time. Any ideas how to handle this? I guess I could have more than one journal!

This is my watercolor of Mountain Lake, a small lake in Sullivan County, NY.  I loved drawing this because it brought some level of peace in this crazy time.  I haven't drawn landscapes before and I found the video really helpful.  I tried to make the big tree on the right the focal point but I guess I could have also spent more time and detail with the smaller tree in the middle left.  Once I look at a scene, I'm not sure exactly how to figure out what should be the focal point, but it was fun to draw this place which is a special place to me.  --Trudy

I drew a goldfinch but didn't do the best job in capturing the subtleties and shading. One problem I ran into is the color yellow.  I have problems shading it and not muddying it.  For me, it's a really challenging color.  I would like to add more background as that might add some contrast so the yellow doesn't look so washed out.   -- Trudy

Practicing with Reference Photos This is something that I could definitely practice a lot.  Perhaps I should have started with something a little easier.  I soon discovered that there were lots of aspects of this bird that were very tricky, like all the streaking, barring and chevrons.

While weeding outside in my garden, I noticed how delicate this plant is. It is only 2 inches across at the base and 6 inches tall. I really enjoyed its rosette form and the purple in the stems.