This course has been absolutely wonderful and I will definitely go through it again! I love the relaxed way that Liz teaches, and all of the wonderful techniques that she demonstrates. Thank you!

I couldn’t find my first drawing but here is my second, the fourth water color I have tried.  Still figuring things out, like how to get the black feathers in the wings.  It was fun to do, and thank you for teaching me!

I like using the watercolors and I try most of the techniques. I know I still need to work on proportion, especially when drawing animals.  Birds are really complex and the proportions and sets of wings are perplexing but I know I can get better with practice.  I like to do the birds eyes.     Here are my before and after images of the warbler , I definitely think I showed improvement. 

Sorry, I can't find my first drawing. I'm sure, though, that I just drew the bird and branch the way I saw them. Since I am already a trained artist, there wasn't too much of a difference between the two drawings in terms of realism. I unfortunately haven't done much art at all in the last 10 years. I still can draw realistically, but I am less apt to experiment because I feel very out of practice. So, the difference in my case is that, after taking this class and starting to draw/paint again, I loosened up and started to feel more experimental again. With the warbler photo, I had fun changing the design of the branch and foliage. I liked the way the photo was more horizontal than a standard shape and decided to make my drawing in an even more elongated format - a little like an oriental drawing.

Finally had time to pull the images together. I definitely made some progress in skills, judging shape and size, and I'm less frustrated with watercolors now than I was earlier in the course. I like the vibrant colors that I can add with watercolors. Outlining is really rough, and wet on wet seems to be only useful for backgrounds or larger areas where you don't need definition. Or maybe as a first layer then details on top. Still have a lot to learn! Drawing 1 with pencils: Drawing 2 with watercolors (not really finished but I'm letting go of it and starting on a third with lessons learned):

Top photo is second sketch.  The other one my first sketch.  I think I’ve improved at least paying more attention to details and sketching what I see not what I think I see. This has been a great class as I’ve learned a lot. Now when the weather warms up and spring comes I can do field sketching.  I’ve had to do all mine indoors.

• I feel better about the earlier sketch, honestly. I still need to work on shading and all of the watercolor techniques, but overall, I am very happy with the confidence I have gained through this course to jump in and begin, without worrying so much about a final outcome, and enjoy the process and the present moments within the process.

I was able to apply a combination of the drawing techniques and what I think I've improved the most is the proportions. I still need to work on everything but figuring out the 3 dimensional stuff, shading and value etc. is something I think is the most difficult for me.... and the watercolours. I still haven't figured out the watercolours yet so I snapped a picture of the pencil drawing before I started painting. Painting is fun though but I need to work on that a lot more and also know when to stop. I think I need to work on everything still, including patience.

I had a hard time with the streaks. Guess I needed to blend the color a little more subtly and of course be more patient and wait for things to dry better, maybe dry and dry technique for that?

I probably am better sticking to pencil and eraser vs overworked watercolors but colors are fun.  I tried to better measure proportions (except the big eye) and use short/lighter pencil marks.

I feel I was able to apply the techniques of using sketchy lines, creating texture and depth, learning to imply and drawing what I see. I feel so much more confident now. I would never have believed I could do this! I want to work on accuracy, variety and speed from here.

Honestly I feel better about the leaves/branches than I do the bird. But it is really great to see how much more accurate my negative spaces are. Still figuring out color and feel like I have a long, long way to go. I also need to work on patience for glazing - I always jump the gun! The belly color was an epic fail but it is what it is. I'm surprised how much I've enjoyed watercolor. I was so intimidated by it and so frustrated initially. Definitely going to continue.

I feel like I have learned so much in this course! Especially how to use my brush and paints ;)

Still learning :-)

Sketching, or even using a previously done sketch, before painting would have been a good idea.  Accuracy seems important when birds are the subject matter based on reactions i've seen from more serious birders.   At any rate, the exercise was a good warm up after a necessary hiatus. Glad to be back to enjoy the process.

I love to learn to mix and apply watercolors

I definitely see a difference in my work since the first assignment.  I worked on proportionality and using negative space to get the right angles... though I can still see I'm off a bit when I look at the reference photo.  I created a color palette and used glazing to add value to the piece.  I want to keep practicing these techniques... I feel like I am just beginning to develop my skills, and I'm really enjoying this focus!