I think both my first drawing and this last one turned out pretty well. The photos are poor quality since this is a chromebook camera but at least it shows the general shapes. I would like to work on the dry brush for the feather textures in particular. I feel it will be a useful tool once I can do it better. The moss was surprisingly fun! I did pointillism rapidly so they blended a little and it captured the look pretty well, I think. The leaves were a challenge, as far as placement, colour, and the veins go. I had fun placing everything on the page using negative space to double check. This course taught me so many new techniques! I am so happy to learn them as it will improve my drawing/painting/nature journaling skills. Thank you so much, Liz!

The bottom is before and the top is after ☺️

This was drawing at start of course. Back to the course with the drawing at then end. Then decide to paint it... second try at painting it... Wow, I learned a lot about sketching and watercolor. I have so many things to practice and have appreciated the opportunity in taking this course! Not sure I captured all I should have within the painting, but it certainly will bring positive memories. I keep talking about sketching and now I need to get at it! Thanks Liz!

I haven't been drawing since school and never used watercolour. But I have been into birding and wildlife photography for some time, learning about behaviour and letting all my senses explore my environment. And I am super happy with the progress I made even in a short time. Negative space was an eye-opener, as well as gesture drawing and the tools for measuring.  To know that with short sketchy lines I can keep refining until I am happy. I am astonished how much more I see and notice now, after studying a subject for hours. I still have to practice painting with the dry-on-dry technique and mixing the colours. I still feel I am using too much water. And I have to work on creating textures. I feel that I learned so many useful techniques and will keep practising. I absolutely loved this course. Thank you for inspiring me.

These they are.  Again the negative space was a big thing for me - really helpful.  The leaves and branches of the Elm Tree came out well after I decided to leave them out first time round.  Unfortunately I then proceeded to paint in the green background wash, and I wasn't happy with that version AT ALL.  Fortunately I have a a"before" photo to share.  I will work on the green version on a few days and see if I can redeem it.  Clearly I need to do more work on background washes and when and how to apply them ensuring I get the balance right.  

Placing my two Yellow Warblers side by side I can really see the benefit of adding color to parts of my journal. I still like using pencil to show detail and I like how the two techniques work together. I felt more comfortable using the photograph as a reference but arranging its elements on the page to suit the story I wanted to tell. I would like to keep working on different ways of combining these techniques and adding background washes too.

All the techniques came together here - adding color was greatest improvement. Proportions were better, shapes were better too.

• Understanding that I need to let the colors dry as I apply color.  This is why I felt like I couldn’t control the paint before. I use mostly acrylics, but have always admired watercolor paintings.  This class has given me so much more convenience in using watercolors.  I still need to work on blending colors and knowing how much water to use on my brush.

New techniques I was able to apply were Gesture Sketching, and Proportions. I feel better about the proportions because I always feel like something is off, but something I would still like to improve would be drawing/painting bird feet and realism.

Honestly, I can appreciate my progress comparing "after and before" seeing the results, anyway, I´m having problems to get some colors, because I´m working with a watercolors `no matte´ box, and I still have doubts in the selection for mixing and calculate accurate portions to obtein tones that I expect. Slowly, but I feel that I improve in the application of learned techniques, but to shade or feign proportions or volume, I need to do it with a ballpen, pencils or markers, for me it´s essential to give it more expressiveness. Obviously it´s different the sheet that I used for my first exercise too, for which I chose one page of my own diary and give way to a new phase.

I started this course in fall 2019. I kept meaning to get back to it after the holidays, but then, well, life got interesting for all of us. Finally I finished the second picture! I was able to be more detailed and more adventurous the second time around, and more accurate with the colors. I used a glaze for the background and established a palette, with notes, that I was able to recreate over two years later. I still had trouble with smudging the eye! I am also working on getting the right amount of pigment and water on the brush, and steady brushstrokes. I’m a much more confident artist now when I  actually paint!

Learning about negative space was a game changer for me! How to measure proportions and layering of color was also really helpful. This was such a great course!

The contrast between my before and after drawings show the effectiveness of Liz's instructions. I used her tips on varying values to create dimension, squiggles to create the lichen, stippling in the branch, and negative space to position the bird on the branch. The proportion measuring with a pencil trick helped my poor bird's first shape improve. I am happy with my progress and look forward to gaining skill with all these tools.

I feel like I got the overall proportions better by using my pencil to measure.  I also got the proportions within the bird more accurate this way.  Really like the eye placement and size much better in my second painting. I am feeling good about my water color techniques and want to continue working with them.  My new journal that I just started has heavier real watercolor paper in it so I can use my paints a lot more.

Negative space, sketchy lines, dry brush.

My before sketch was completed in my notebook for the class. The after sketch was completed in the MixMedia  sketch pad. During the course, I switched from sketching pencils to a mechanical pencil to assist me in completing crisp, shorter strokes. I am more mindful of negative space.  The after image is OK but I would like to achieve more vibrant color and utilize more color mixing to achieve the desired results.The after image was made with a chrome book camera and it does not reproduce the color or image sharpness  very well.

I had not used watercolor prior to taking this class and I have done a few landscapes as practice exercises. A few things I like about the yellow warbler w/watercolor: I didn't overwork the bird as in the original sketch - this is something I've definitely adopted to my sketching; I was much more patient with the watercolor and like some of the texture of the branches and leaves that layering different colors and tones created; I used the negative space to create a more proportional bird. Though this doesn't come through entirely in the photo, I used a water on water technique to just shade the paper green. I was really surprised at how much depth and warmth just that little color added to the overall impression. I'll work on watercolor technique forever, but isn't that the point?

I am extremely proud of my painting. I love how this image was from strange to expert. For example in the before image the eye is out of course, the olive yellow back was too short, the branch was too short, and the bird was all slim down. But in the after it looks more realistic, alive, and accurate. There is color; the branch, eye, and back are accurate; the details are excellent. I dd not knew anything of proportion or watercolors. But now this made me become a " Be a better Painter".  :)

I'm surprised at the skills gained after a year in the course.  How delightful to grow in this journey will everyone and I truly look forward to seeing one year from now how my skills have developed.

I am pleased how my lessons improved this Yellow Warbler, Watercolor is my medium of choice, sometimes waiting for the paint to dry is my challenge. Therefore, taking my time, waiting until the paint dries, don't be in a hurry. I must say this little bird on July 7th took almost two hours to complete. This class has taught me many new things. I have loved nature all my live, loved to hike and backpack and put in the miles. Now - I enjoy sitting in the forest, listen to the birds, forage for edibles, take photos and attempt to paint. I have often taken my sketchbook along, usually I take a photo and draw at home.  My question is - when will I sit down and actually do a plein air....? hoping to find a group to paint outside.

I have enjoyed taking this course(although it took me months to get through it). I always enjoyed drawing but am badly out of practice. This course helped me get back into it and going forward I am going to draw and sketch more frequently. I did a pencil sketch the second time around feeling it will be a good compare and contrast. In the second one I did pay more attention to detail, as well as using proportion and negative space as aids. 

It took me a year and one day to get this course completed. I think my final bird looks kind of worried, but overall has better proportions than the portly one I first drew. I used the idea of looking at negative space to get the body to be more accurate. From taking the course, I also learned to do the background all at once to start, instead of afterward and I had a lot less color bleeding that way. When I did my first painting, I didn't know about letting the layers dry and everything kind of bled together. In the second attempt, I was able to get more details on the stomach stripes and leaves, from layering and using a smaller brush. Overall, I think the second picture reflects more of the actual bird and the first one is more of the idea of the bird. I still need a lot of practice, but I did make progress! Thanks for the wonderful course.

I have improved a lot. I did a pencil drawing to make a better comparison. My second drawing is much better observed, with more accurate detail in the branch and the bird. Proportions and negative space are better. I have learned how to see the details and the shapes. I am really thrilled with the result. I’m a lot more confident and enjoying taking the time with my journaling. I expect I’ll improve further.