My sit spot was by a window in my home, looking out over my bird feeders. I think it was too late in the day for any bird (or squirrel!) visitors, but I had fun observing the snow and the rest of the natural view. So much snow!

I just drew in my bird room because it was cold and windy outdoors. This is my Jardines parrot. He loves to have the attention of me drawing him.

3 degrees F/-16 C on a sunny day. Not a bird to be seen or heard. Even the squirrels are staying at home. Sat for an hour in my dining window looking down and not one glimpse of wildlife to be seen. Normally this sit spot (my favourite place in my little apartment downtown) is full of activity, especially the antics of the squirrels- leaping, caching, chirping their warnings at me and at each other. Today all is quiet.

I struggle with tree branches... I just "fake 'em". 

I did my sit spot at my window that opens to my fire escape. Since I've been working from home, I've been able to watch and observe all the changes over the seasons, who comes to feed at what times, etc. I have a few regular visitors that showed up today and I was able to include in my sketches, along with a new visitor! I included Stewart, a squirrel who comes to eat the seeds from my halloween pumpkin, peanuts, and bird seed. He's become a hit with my friends, he is very photogenic. Then there is Dolly, a one-legged dark-eyed junco who likes to feed by herself or wait for other juncos to leave. Today she sat alone on my windowsill for a full 15 minutes just watching. She also bounced a little from the balancing. A female cardinal also showed up, which was a new fire escape sighting for this winter and I was very excited she paid a visit!

As I was sketching, I started with something to anchor me that I felt might be the larger item, which was the bush/tree to the left of the fire escape. Then I placed the other animal visitors in open spaces and filled in some notes. This sketch isn't too out of the box, so i'd like to continue to play with different ideas for formats.

This is a bit silly, but which book should we take out to the field?  The black one or the larger blue one?

I noticed patterns more on my second try. Observations of light and sound came easily (in the case of the sound of passing traffic, came frustratingly). Counting things and finding patterns was more of a challenge, maybe because my mind isn't very methodical ;-)

Still, I loved how this exercise took me out of daily "to-do's" and into a world of wonder. I can't wait to try it again.

Sight observations came more easily to me, especially looking for birds. I am used to looking up and spying movement. Looking at plants and other things on the ground was more out of the box for me because I normally don’t intentionally look at the plants around me.

The sit spot exercise was so meditative.  I sat out for about 30 minutes on my back deck.  What a wonderful exercise to draw and observe my little friends I see in a new way.  Loved this!

I sat on a fallen log, which was outside the fence for my yard. It was lovely to just sit and be with nature. I found that visual observations came easily, but listening to the forest was difficult for me. I had to clear my thoughts to be able to truly experience the sit spot.

Sit-spotting on Christmas Eve. The writing is not so legible :/

Devoting 15 minutes of silent time to observe was fruitful! The natural spot I chose was my back yard in suburban Boulder, so many of the sounds were typical of that setting--kids calling, planes overhead, etc.What I did notice, however, was that the birds coming to the feeder were unusually quiet, perhaps because of my presence. At the end of the time, a rabbit came into view, definitely a surprise since I was so close.

Because it's winter, there isn't  much plant growth, but there are rose hips. I couldn't capture the dimpled surface very well, so that's a fine point worth working on.

This is my first page of my field journal.  I live in northern Michigan adjacent to a national forest and trails for cross country skiing, mountain biking, hiking and lots of trees for great birding.  I sat at my desk and revisited my experience outside yesterday and an encounter with a barred owl. I really enjoyed this process.

My sit spot was inside as the weather is inclement and cold...  I chose a rose bud. A photo taken  It is a Knock out rose that started blooming in November.  Unusual as I live in Oregon and this time of year it’s rainy  and cold and can snow if cold enough.  Fairly mild this year consequently plants are still in bloom.  Hummingbirds are enjoying them. Particularly  the salvias growing in a large container by the front door.  I feed the birds so we have several varieties. A lot of wildlife even tho living in a residential area.  

I haven't had the chance to buy all the materials for this class yet, so I just did a little sit spot in my writing journal. Even though it's just a tiny drawing, I really loved sitting and working on this leaf for a while. I go to Green-Wood Cemetery here in Brooklyn 3-4 times a week to walk and bird (and tree), but this exercise was like a lovely permission to just sit and be present with one spot in the park. I felt sort of amazing after the 30ish minutes I spent just sitting. The fall migration seems to have come to a close in Green-Wood - at least the major activity of it - but where I sat I was joined by a lot of Titmouses (Titmice?), 50-60 geese, two Mallards, one Great Blue Heron, some Chickadees and Blue Jays and I could hear a Red Bellied Woodpecker though I didn't see one until much later when I was leaving the grounds.

The bottom of this entry says: "I'm thinking about permission. Like these classes are giving me permission that somehow I needed. Permission for observing to be the all, not just a means."

For my first attempt at drawing in nature I drove to the Willow Creek Hatchery on the edge of Edmonds Marsh (along Puget Sound in Washington state). There I sat on a picnic bench (the Hatchery is closed now, but thy allow visitors). I was alone and so set to work trying to capture part of a Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) against the trunk of a Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). The more I worked, the more complicated the scene seemed. I was not surprised as I spent much of my life asa practical ecologist at a Land Grant University and have had that drummed into me by experience. I spent a half-hour getting some sort of an impression down and here is the result, using a pencil from the Cascadia Art Museum.

Love standing in the middle of the garden or jungle...close my eyes, take a breath, listen, and look at all the little things around - Nature is pretty amazing! Today, I enjoyed the orchids.

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Had a beautiful 20 minutes at Cresent Lake Park.  Would like a lesson on how to draw ripples on the water!  And shadows! I’ve also seen many birds after sitting for 15 minutes on the front porch. My next observation will be at night - I really want to ‘hear’ the neighborhood screech owls and see our wonderful bats.

My sit spot today was the window in the kitchen nook.  We placed a few bird feeders in the yard and now we have a bunch of house finches coming to visit.  There were so many so I chose to draw them every time they landed on the feeder that gave me a side view.  It took them about ten minutes to come back to the feeder since I know they saw me in the window.  Other than that, they did a lot of swooping in and out.

My sit spot today was in my garden at Stanford, CA.  I sat for about 20 mins watching birds come and go from a little tree that grows near the fence. There is a water dish for the birds on a stump under this tree which attracts a variety of birds which today included a Bewick's wren, oak titmouse, lesser goldfinch and maybe a pine siskin. Anna's hummingbirds frequently perch on this same tree in-between their visits to their garden feeder. I was able to make observations about the weather, sounds and state of the garden. 

I completed my sit spot this afternoon, in Ottawa,Ontario (Canada), at a stormwater facility pond.  I sat for about 30 minutes, in the afternoon.  I definately plan to return there for another sitting :).  I saw the colours, noticed the sunlight shining through the various grasses and plants, and took time to notice things like the air, temperature, and sounds.  This process was very meditative...and immersive!

The observations that come easily are the more obvious ones, like cat-tails, taller swaying grasses, and the pond water.  It took some time, but I noticed the milkweed, how it has dried up now in Autumn, and how fuzzy white hairs were spilling out of them.  I questioned what the fuzzy white things were, also wondered if they were the same fluffs in the wind and air all around me.  Upon closer inspection, from seated position and then later picking up a fallen seed, I realized yes, the fuzzy stuff coming out of the milkweed are in fact seeds that probably have those hairs sticking out of them because they help them fly around and spread.  I definately want to follow the milkweed through the 4 seasons and see what happens!

Keep you all posted :)

Alisha