It's November, cloudy, breezy, 48. It's not a day for outside sitting. So for many of these assignments, it's indoors, looking out.

I ventured out into the backyard.  It has been cold and frosty here so couldn't get to a park.  I had a great experience, though!  I am fairly good at sitting/meditating, so it wasn't hard to be still.  Even with the barrage of human noise, I still heard birds and saw hawks and had a visit from our friendly squirrel friend.  I am looking forward to really venturing out to a more "nature-y" setting soon!

My spot was my backyard in Sonoma County. I enjoyed taking the time to observe and appreciate it's natural beauty after a week on the edge of evacuating due to the Kincaid fire. I found a dried seed pod I had not noticed before and discovered it was from a small dogwood tree. I don't normally close my eyes to observe, but as soon as I did I could really smell the aroma of the bay tree.  

It is a rainy day here, so I ran outside and grabbed a few leaves. I placed them under a light for shadow. I really went for the autumn color.

I found time to go to a spot around 5:30 PM. But it was  getting dark quickly. I listened I smelled I tasted. I was there a short 20 minutes,  so many species to record, a few sounds, and only tasted one thing. But I felt the rough texture of the Aspen bark,  and the smooth velvety surface of the polypore which I need to identify it is not one of the few I know.  

I mostly notice noises and animals (birds) at my sit spot. My position was alao a bit awkward so I could not successfully sketch as I would have liked. As  far as outside of the box, I did not feel anything particularly interesting in the vegetation perhaps because it was so dense? Only one morning glory that was opened compared to a few others that were closed.

1)I observed the wooded hillside below my house. I have been here many times to work on the hillside, but never to just observe. I filled only one page of my journal, but could have stayed for an hour and still had information to record. I would like to try this again when I have unlimited time. 2)I found it easy to make quantitative observations and verbal descriptions, but I didn't do much drawing. I think I need to practice that so I can sketch quickly and easily. Especially as I record changes in the deciduous plants and those that die down to the ground in winter, it would make for some interesting observations at this time of year.

I did this sit spot in my front yard a few days ago. It is a stump from a tree that died and had to be cut down a few years ago.  There are some really cool polypores forming on the Northern side of the decaying stump.  It was a very calming moment to sit out there and to absorb everything.   In notes outside the photo, I also recorded 14 bird species.  My wife was working in the garden.  I believe making this sketch / doing this sit spot gave me a deeper memory of the moment; it cast a wider net: I noticed shadows and textures of decomposition in the stump that I would not have otherwise noticed.

This is a river about 1/4 mile from our house.   I go there with the kids at least once a day.   I didn’t see many birds today. I really enjoyed the sit spot and just writing things I saw.  This is my first try at adding watercolor to my page.  I’m really enjoying this course!  

Sitting on the table on the terrace in front of the house.  It is about 6pm, the sky is getting dark. Sound comes first.  I heard lots of things, mostly birds as we live in the country.  Next time, I'll move out into the garden to do this.  I could hear the birds but could not see them from the terrace.  I definately need to cut back this rose and next spring tie it up so that it grows along the trellis.  If feels very much like fall.

I sit on the patio all the time, but this time when I concentrated on what was happening around me I heard and saw details I hadn't observed before. It is hard to site and just let nature take over.

I didn't actually sit in one spot. I walked slowly along the trail looking for things that "caught my eye". The wooly bear caterpillar was fun to sketch and as people walked past me, we shared our knowledge of this caterpillar.  Then I went home and looked up more information about it's life cycle.  I guess I should have written in my journal the new things  I learned as well.  Just to help me to remember.  I was nervous to add water colour.  I just felt it would blotch up the whole thing.

So nice to see everyone’s journal - such variety and wonderful work. My spot is a place I go several times a week. It’s a unique and protected wetland, Labrador Hollow, and I’ve had the opportunity to notice all the changes through the year.  Right now it’s Autumn with beautiful colors and migrating birds, especially Canada geese - I never get tired of this place. Looking forward to continuing and seeing others journal.

I sat in my patio for this sit spot experience. I noticed that after staying still for a while, the animals were very active and interacting with each other through sounds. I focused more on the vegetation since I couldn't visually see the birds and the squirrels were too fast to get a quick sketch, but I happened to see a chrysalis on my milkweed so that was exciting to spot. I would like to practice more in secluded areas since a lot of my neighbors were passing by, which could have scared some organisms away. 

What a delightful experience. Feeders were busy since they're used to us being near. About 10 minutes into the observation, a feeding flock of juncos and white-throated sparrows approached through the middle layer of viburnums. They spent a few minutes on the ground scratching through maple leaves. It's good to see our juncos back for the winter.

I often go into the woods and sit and listen and observe.  This is the first time I recorded my observations.  It seems like there is so much happening, I can't write fast enough!  Because my house is in the woods, this time I sat where there are several bird feeders.  This is the closest I have gotten to the little downy woodpecker that comes to my feeders.  Writing down the sounds is easy to forget.  The visual is so striking that the sounds get lost.

Scrolling through - what great images and sit-spot stories. Good to see all the different approaches and styles of drawing. I did a combination of sitting and walking the dog through our neighborhood on a windy cool day.  I love the reminder to observe-in-awe.

I loved this exercise!  I sat for about 40 minutes because I was enjoying the experience so much.  The birds reappeared much more quickly than I thought they would.  Herons and Egrets settling right back down across the water from me, and then after about 10 mins there were about 20 Yellow-rumped Warblers in the trees beside me and on the beach beside me, it was such a cool experience.  My drawing is rather rudimentary, and I was afraid to move too much, but I would like to make smaller sketches of different viewpoints on my next try.  If anyone wonders...there are Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and Double-Crested Cormorants in the drawing.......lol

My sit spot 1 was an observation from my kitchen window during Tropical Storm Nestor today in Panama City Beach, Florida, October 18 with 61 degrees rain and strong winds. I was only able to capture the sight of a mourning dove.  I look forward to being outside to engage with other senses.

Just did my first sit spot: Wow! For about 30 minutes I could only hear the wind. No bird or animal in sight. Then a red-tailed hawk flew in and landed on a sturdy branch very close to me. After about 10 minutes, I started hearing bird calls from chickadees, downy and a pileated woodpeckers. Before long the chickadees and pileated flew closer and were scolding the hawk. What started out very quiet became quite a drama to be observed! Although the hawk stayed for a long time, it was very challenging sketching him. He was constantly changing position.