I am and have always been a writer.  I took this course because I have always been intimidated by having to add any kind of sketch or drawing to my writing. I have three empty journals waiting for me to get brave enough to make my mark in them. Drawing this bird was a huge challenge for me. Seeing what others have done with it made it even more intimidating. But I want to journal; I want to keep a record for myself and to share with anyone who’s interested, so I’m going to make an attempt to learn to sketch.  I know it will improve my observation skills, and I love what one of the sample journal writer said about it helping to cement things in her brain.

It took me a long time.  I really struggle with drawing skills trying to get right angles and lines, etc.  if the subject were moving it would really be a challenge for me to make a likeness of what I was seeing.  getting values correct also I find challenging.  still, I enjoyed it and hope to improve with this class and all that we are going to learn.

1. I tended to draw from the photo as if I was drawing from real life, that is, I did it quickly. I tried to get everything down on paper in just a few minutes. And with a warbler even a few seconds can be too long. Looking back at some of the other responses I could have spent all day. Of course that is the beauty of drawing from a photo, you have all the time in the world. 2. I really didn't concentrate on other things in the photo except the branch because I felt it was necessary to add it in order to get the correct angle on the legs. I loved some of the extremely detailed and finished journals in the video, like the woman who did a sketch a day. The birds especially looked to have been drawn from photographs  or worked on later from detailed notes. The colors and detail were so exact.

Since I have not been drawing lately, I found everything challenging, but manageable once I started. I struggled to get the dimensions right on the bird. I need to work on head size and beaks. I found it easier to start by lightly drawing the shapes within the bird. I had difficulty getting the correct colors with my colored pencils. I would not have noticed the lichen and moss on the branch, nor how the warbler's feet gripped the branch if I were not drawing it. Nature journaling always helps me notice more details.

I was really taken by the layering of the wing feathers, although I struggled to capture it with a waterbrush and 05 pigma.

The picture actually looks better on paper than in the photo.  But I hope to get better with detail and proportion.  The good thing is, that by doing this sketch, I'll be looking at more detail the next time I spot a yellow warbler.  This actually came out better than I expected!

Loved this first assignment.  Found myself going back into it to add dimension and shading, which I tend to shy away from on first drafts.  I became fascinated by the lichen on the bough, and by conveying texture along the branch.  The bird was a total delight -- I was immensely grateful that it didn't move!

I Yes, it's definitely felt weird to start drawing with no instructions and I need to figure out proportions! but this was a lot of fun and I appreciate drawing from a photo until I hone my sketching skills....

Easier to draw a bird from a photo as not moving around. I got tired so skipped drawing the leaves. Getting the shapes right and relative to one another is most challenging part for me. And depth/perspective. Putting on the color with water colors is my favorite part

Though the photo stays still, it's challenging to get the proportions right--plus I always start out forgetting that it's okay to use the eraser. But a photo allows a slower pace, and lots of study. I think I wouldn't have noticed the warbler's wing structure if I hadn't tried to draw it. I felt like I was able to kind of learn some anatomy, in a way, though I don't know any terminology. Which makes me think that with moving subjects, drawing and even quick sketching will offer similar insights.

Yellow Warbler revisited. 1This time I did sketching with no color. Practicing the exercise a second time was easier. I found my proportions to be more accurate and my drawing progressed more easily. 2 using the photo I noticed the detail in the feet holding the branch more accurately and that the beak angle aligned with the eye differently than in my original drawing.  Being able to enlarge details was helpful. curate 

I was nervous at first because I have been a long-term birder and worried that it would not look right. After getting into it I realized that it was never supposed to be a replacement for photo but my interpretation. Started being a lot more fun as it progressed.

I tend to get wrapped up in detail. How in the field will I better focus on sketching . The key may be the purpose of the sketching- diary or  life study.

I realize that I didn't speak to the questions.  I feel good, I feel focused and alive whenever I take the time to draw or paint.  It is all challenging!  Of course, the more time I took to draw, the more present I became, the more detail I saw.

When drawing, I explore relationships.  When photographing, I isolate.  I enjoy both ways of exploring, and they can overlap.

Drawing from the photo forced me to look closely at every aspect of the bird - first looking at the overall shape, then focusing on the details. It was challenging to get the details of the wing colouring , yet that was what I found so beautiful about the bird, and was also the thing that I wouldn’t have seen if I had just looked at a photo instead of drawing and painting the warbler.

1. Drawing from the photo gave me time to look many times at proportions and details of a perfectly posed subject. Nothing came easy, but the proportions were very difficult and the expression on this cute warbler's face was very difficult to capture.  2. I would not have noticed the way the beak meets the head, the detail of the feet gripping the branch with the long "fingers" extending below the branch, the wing coverts and many other details. Nature journaling gets one to observe these details, but, if one is drawing a warbler in nature and not from a photo, the observation time will be too short for me to get that sort of detail. 

1. Intimidating because it’s my first attempt to do something like this. The attempt was challenging. But I enjoyed it. 2. The proportion of the bird’s body, and details of the branches and the leaves. 3. Absolutely. Nature includes the bird’s environment.