I chose my dining room as my sit spot. It was interesting to observe familiar objects more closely. Drawing the reflections in my salt grinder was a new experience and so was drawing a leafy plant. I thought I might get bored but the time flew by. Both the drawing challenges and the discovery of new shapes were quite captivating.

I thought I went out too late at dusk but I did get to watch 2 hummingbirds trade dinner time at the feeder. Dark fell quickly so I used photos I took of them last year. I was excited to use some texturing tools I recently learned. They move so fast that it took a camera to capture the details I didn’t see otherwise like tiny yellow feathers & pollen coating a long black beak. Chris Jonientz

Observation by MGB from inside home looking  through large south window. _3C today ,light S wind ...white spruce trees swaying in the breeze . Sky partly cloudy with clear blue background . 3 Black capped chickadees at feeder ..grab a sunflower chip and fly to mountain ash the feed ...seed held in claw and pecked at to devour . All trees in "my forest"  covered with hoar frost . Black billed Magpie looking for seed spillage below feeder ...skitsy ..flies away . Red Squirrel perches on art sculpture  surveying his territory ..( constantly driving bird from feeders !) ..a balmy day in Yukon.

Because of the cold weather, I sat at my desk inside. It was fun to have inside sensations while I observed outside scenery. I recorded whatever occurred to me in columns ...each listed with a different sense. When I was done, it was great to realize that my music was accompanying the spitting snow. There were no birds at my feeder or at any level in my scenery. I wonder if they naturally take shelter when the snow starts or if they are resting at this time of day? When I do a sit spot....wherever it is, I will remember to ask questions about what I am sensing.

A sit spot in southeastern Arizona, sacaton grass, mesquite scrub a visiting harrier hawk with the Huachuca mountains in the distance.  It was a beautiful day to draw.  I added the color later.  Not much activity from animals in the early afternoon but the hawk fly by was a big plus.  These are very familiar plants for me and I had to shift things to fit them all on the page.  I think it is mostly successful but I may work it a bit more.  Hard to know when to stop.

I found many orange and black caterpillars ( aprox. 3 cm long) on my avocado tree. They were eating the leaves and have four  long hairs on their heads and tails

I enjoyed taking the time to contemplate my surroundings. This was a good lesson in how to get the most from your time outdoors.

It was a great exercise to get into a meditative mood where the senses were amplified. Unfortunately, my sit-spot, although great for drawing ducks, had a little too much river traffic and could never deliver enough silence to allow nature´s noises to come alive. The boats drowned the ducks´ quack, the leaves´rustle, the sound of water hitting  the edge. That made my impressions and notations lack meat. Still, it was a good moment and I´ll be repeating it often. 

It was such a quiet afternoon. Rustling leaves were the primary sound in every direction, but other than that, it was all so still. I enjoyed drawing a leaf close-up. This particular day I think my mind was also a little preoccupied, but focusing the the details of the leaf helped me be more present.

Observations of birds come most easily for me.  Sketching is very new and I have lots to learn, but i gave it a shot.  : )

This sketch was done in my front yard where I have a four station feeding station for birds. These include: niger thistle, oiled black sunflower seeds, a small bird cage feeder, and suet. I observed that the very agressive pinyon jays rake sunflower seeds out of the feeder where ground-feeder birds can get. The jays fly and hide seeds around the property. Then I noticed that the chickadees and other small manmals would dig up the hiden seeds. It is interesting to see how these are interrelated. I feel honored that I live in a place where nature can come and visit. As winter approaches, it is interesting to see how animals prepare along with us. I look forward to seeing how others observe nature.

This was fun to do in my friends back yard, chilly!

I love the discovery process this cultivates and am reminded of Darwin's Red Notebooks--his drawings, questions, connections, comparisons, hypotheses and so on. My drawing fails to capture the web of tiny branches casting a halo--utterly luminous, reflecting the intense sun on a Colorado day--around the much thicker more muscular main branches of the massive cottonwood I stood under, looking straight up. I'm relatively new to Colorado and find myself asking all kinds of questions (not yet written in notebook) about these (weak?) fast growing trees with such an awesome presence.

This was really enjoyable.  I spent half an hour observing, making notes, and doing quick sketches.  Later, I referred to a Sibley bird guide to help fill in correct details to the drawings. The text was refined a bit and the boxes were added.

We had a warm morning today out ahead of an arctic front that arrived about 4 pm. I went down to the Clark Fork River and sat about 10 meters from the bank just under the mean high water mark. A few birds were active, like chickadees and magpies. Mergansers raced up and down stream. I spend a lot of time in this area fishing, taking pics, and swimming in summer. Interesting to focus in on the plants in the floodplain that are now dead or dormant. The state of the water and the trees is obvious to me as they change throughout the year. But looking more closely at the low plants along the river was a little tough. Good to try and get important details for later identification.

I noticed a lot of variation in similar static objects, like entire color ranges of leaves from the same tree.  I was in a fairly busy city park, so did not see much wildlife.  I heard numerous birds, but was a bit frustrated I couldn't identify them.  I was motivated to ID the trees surrounding me with iNaturalist so that I could properly label them in my journal. I really enjoyed experimenting with different media, although I know that is later in the course!

This is my journal page from my second visit to McDowell Grove Forrest Preserve, in Illinois. I went earlier in the week but didn't have my sketchbooks with me, so I used that day to mostly write my observations. I wanted to go back again since it was so enjoyable. The downy woodpecker was literally right in front of me, but only for 3-5 seconds. I wanted to try and draw him from memory so that was a little challenging. The two visits were quite different mostly in how I recorded my observations. Both days were really nice fall days and I ended up sitting out there for a few hours yesterday even though it was in the 40s, I painting the middle scene well into dusk, and watching the sky change color as I painted was really special.

a nice november day.  the tree was farther from my spot, the grasses were close to my spot.  I think the distance is not accurate in the drawing but I like observing outside.  I have a long experience in this spot and it seemed new and fresh today.

 I don’t remember my leaves identification from when I was a kid but I hope to relearn it now.

I’ve kept a written journal for decades, and clearly that comes more naturally to me than drawing. Also, the birds were the most striking things for me, and they were not hanging around for sketches! I was also very interested in the sounds of the birds. Usually I’m more of a plant person, but the back yard is mostly weeds I’m trying to get rid of, senescent veggie garden—and the sunflower stalks that bring in the birds, piquing my curiosity about them.

I'm enjoying doing this and finding what I like that adds information as well as looking pleasing to me.

Second page of my Sit Spot. I quite enjoyed this activity, spending 30 minutes on our back deck taking in the nature preserve that abuts our backyard. The first page of my Sit Spot is all text, noting what I heard, saw and felt on my face (it was chilly and the temperature felt as though it was dropping as the clouds meandered by and the sun traversed the sky.) With page two I focused on what was on our deck, and found myself entranced by a pot of flowers that still had some blooms, despite several evenings of temperatures in the 30s. I felt most content drawing rather than writing, which makes me smile. :-)

The "outside the box" observations for me are when I am observing a forested landscape in front of me.  I often wonder where to start and am getting a little overwhelmed.  For now, I enjoy observing a single leaf or bird, taking a picture and drawing in my free time.  The weather is getting cold here and I will probably have fewer opportunities to draw outside.