Liz makes painting outdoors look so simple! I had my first experience painting in my garden, perched on a stool, balancing my pallet between journal pages; clutching a folded paper towel and trying not to drop my water brush or drip paint on my leg. My first obstacle was finding a location where I wasn't looking at the bright whiteness of sun or dancing tree shadows on the page, and still had an uninterrupted view of my subject and was out of the wind and drifts of white pine pollen.  I did manage a half hour outside getting the basics of my "St Francis " garden, before a rumble of thunder chased me indoor to finish. The result looks like I forgot most every technique Liz taught us while her words ring in my head; "Art is a skill--whatever you put into it is what you'll get out of it--the only reason I'm good at drawing (and painting) is I do it every day."  I'll keep at it until painting outdoors becomes a breeze!  Kathy B.

I haven't taken them yet to the field, because you know... the whole situation right now. But I got really happy with the results on putting all the skills together to draw animals. I mostly used wet on dry, given the paper I'm using is not as sturdy as I would like to hold lots of water. I wished Liz would go a bit more in detail on good paper to use for different sorts of works, since I know paper in watercolours is even more important than the paints. On and all I really appreciated this module and I'm only sad that the course is ending!

I found that the water brushes don't work for me but regular water color brushes. I loved painting this and it's by far my best watercolor painting...ever. Putting it all together worked well. 

I have been working with the water colors trying to create depth with just the color, instead of the pencil.  I came across this delightful photograph and I just had to draw it and color it.  

Liz - I want to thank you for these lessons in watercolor.  I haven't started working on them yet, but I've learned so much in the past few days of watching how to blend colors, doing palettes and watching the start to finish video.  I took a watercolor course a long time ago and gave up on it because there was very little instruction and I felt like I was really out of my element.  Since that time I've always felt that I was color challenged and wouldn't be able to do watercolor.  After watching these videos, I feel that I may just be able to do this!  Your instruction is very, very helpful!  Thanks for giving me a boost into watercolor!

L

Advantage of a rainy day - I decided to attempt to use the metallic/florescent watercolors that I received when I first ordered to see what I could do. Others have mentioned they also got this pallet by mistake - it doesn’t contain a black or any flat color. Our only local hummingbird is the ruby throated, and it has iridescent colors, so that was my pick. This was from a photo in Stokes Field Guide - I found I could add some darkness with my pencil which I wouldn’t have tried if I’d had the regular color palette. So a good experiment.

It’s been pouring rain the last couple of days so no outdoor fun. I went back to one of my earlier journal entries to fill in a picture of the Caspian Tern - we see a lot of them flying up and down the Lake Michigan shore, and I’d seen several that day. My journal is more wordy, lots of text, little room for pictures, but filled this in trying to use some of the new water color techniques I have been learning. I’ve got to work on the wash technique. I needed to keep a lot of white for the tern. Adding the blue sky after the fact was tricky and it’s uneven. I also used a reference pic from Stokes Field Guide. Definitely need to practice watching the real thing!

I haven’t taken my kit outdoors yet because it’s peak migration season here and I’m moving around too much.  But I did make this journal page from a reference photo I took in the field.

And another.  

Here is another.  

I finally got brave enough to try color on my drawings, actually copies of my drawings, copies onto watercolor paper.  I am not totally pleased with them but here they are and I would like suggestions from any  other students.

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.