1) I compared two plants on my deck. I am a beginner at sketching and it took me a lot of time. I enjoyed it so much but this did make me wonder how I can adapt my work for going out in the field--my goal for my nature journal. I know that practice will help me work more efficiently, but are there other things I can do to capture important points about the subjects in a shorter time period? Birds are not going to sit still for me. I continue to be surprised by just how much more I observe when I draw. Drawing also gives me more time to think about questions I have. I have a biology background, so I think my observational skills are quite good. However, this study showed me just how much more I can grow in this regard. 2)This question of balance is key for me. When I finished drawing, I first thought I was done until I realized I had done no writing! Quantitative data is important, but asking questions led me to go back and do even more observations. I have an additional page or writing I didn't upload. In the earlier video on journal styles, one person had lots of boxes on her pages. I think this might be useful for me to use this more to force me to have a box for quantitative data, one for qualitative observations, one for questions , etc.

Another rainy day comparison.  I used a hand lens to look closely at the two plants.

Today was way to smokey to go outside but I had these pine cones as part of an indoor arrangement.  Watching our instructor draw her comparisons really helped me.  I have very little experience and learned a lot from watching her.

I have been putting this off because of rain and then we had a hard freeze last night so there went the flowers.  So I chose the berries.  This assignment is great because it is really helping me to be more observant.  I'm having fun with these challanges. 

1.) I really enjoyed this study.  These feathers have been on my mantle for six months, but I truly saw them for the first time tonight.  I learned that, although they have the same basic pattern elements, there are big differences in coloration, speckling, and contrast. 2.) I would like to try to add more numerical data because I have never thought to do it before.  It would make it more scientific.  I have only ever noted the presence of birds I hear while journaling so that I can imagine the atmosphere after the fact.  It would be interesting to count plants, flowers, insects etc as well.

I enjoyed this activity. I selected two specimens of Holly from my garden. It was interesting to examine the many differences between the plants. The Winterberry was new to my garden so a fairly immature plant while the English Holly is very large and over 25 years old. I thought the difference in the leaves were especially interesting. I took some additional time to read about both species. I learned a bit about how to distinguish English Holly from native American Holly.

Comparison study of two different maple leaves, with shadow and palette practice.  The sugar maple is not quite as dark as I expected, but the watercolors are very new for me.  Not much painting experience or even detailed drawing prior to this course.

Autumn garden makes for some good comparison of plants at the end of season.

Colorful leave are falling everywhere and I wondered what determines their colors. I drew an Northern Red Oak leaf which is reddish and a yellow Norway Maple for comparison. Checking on Wikipedia I found there are 2 pigments present after their the chlorophyll has left the leaves because of dropping temperatures and less sunlight. Carotenoids which are already present in the leaf come through as yellow, orange and brown. Anthrocyanins present as reds and purples. Thank you Wikipedia.

I started with the drawings and then added descriptions of the subjects.  I’d like to also use the journal to remember a walk or a special time with family. The comparison study is informative and enjoyable. My second comparison of two very similar flowers, the vinca  and impatiens was rewarding.

Was able to finally go outside and devote some time to this. I was surprised at the differences in the 2 leaves.  I fear my drawings do not reflect that but perhaps in time...I am attempting photography and this course will help me see the small details I have overlooked so far. I think I need to work on ordering the writing so it makes sense when you go back to review. As others have said, writing with a pencil is taking me back...old school!

Simple versus Complex. I challenged myself by choosing a rather complex subject to draw, but liked the comparison of two different kinds of seed carriers, a pine cone containing  multiple seeds and a hickory nut containing only one seed. I wondered why the pine tree produces so many seeds and the hickory relatively few in comparison. I included the leaves because the hickory has a more complex leaf as compared to the pine.

I decided to work with elements that I found interesting in the lesson.  1) Demo is drawn so fast - I don't trust my skill level so I tend to draw slowly.  2) The details are suggested but not always drawn in detail.   3) ask and muse about answers - I tend to figure someone already has the answer so if I ask, why not look it up... but it could be kind of fun to muse first.   I sat in our front yard a bit away from the trees and tried a rough and quick comparison. Nothing fancy, but I was pleasantly surprised at how curious I became about the tree growth and trying to remember anything I know about leaf types (not much) so it could help to do a little research to remember complex and compound vs other leaf types.).

1. This is the first time I did a comparison study and I found it to be really helpful.  It helped me to observe the differences and similarities and guided some of my observations.  I feel that it helped me study to object in more depth, and will help to grow my observation skills. 2.  I think this is helpful to from time to time include all this information in my journal.  It will help later to identify certain objects and most definitely expand my knowledge of the variety of objects found in nature all around me.

I It rained most of today so I compared these two oak leaves working inside. One new thing I learned is  that not only each lobe had a vessel, but each sub-lobe had one as well.  I wondered if the branched "veins" only carried sugars away from the leaf or if nutrients also flow back into the leaf.  It seems there are these types of oak species (rounded or pointed lobes), and oaks with no lobes.  The leaves reminded me of my own hand, especially the back. I felt that I need to draw hundreds of leaves before I'll begin to appreciate the structure of leaves, and that's just the leaf!  The whole tree.  It's an endless journey. The other student drawings are so interesting!

Inspired by the "lecture" and all the wonderful shared comments and pages by fellow students, I still gave it a few days before doing the exercise. I did several hikes the past week and came to realize that even a short walk in my city has me passing dozens of different types of trees and I'm woefully unable to identify more than a few very obvious specimens.  Long intro to: I chose trees.  Two oaks which are growing across the street from me and are beginning their fall color transition. I never knew their names until today, and the comparison of the leaves, trunk and fruit (nuts) upped my appreciation for the Gift of Nature so close to my very small corner lot backyard.  Taking the time to study the leaves, make the comparisons, then draw them and list observations has me feeling like I "got to know my neighbors."  A walk around the block was stimulating and challenging.  I located one tree ID book I had, and ordered another one right away.  Looking forward to the process of learning to ID trees using the methods presented in this course.  Hurrah!

I have lived in the same house since 1976 and watched the pines and the oaks grow in the front yard.  Many times we have had to cut low hanging branches off and two years ago had to hire a company to have a major tree trimming for all the trees in the front yard.  I have watched these trees grow and change over the years, so I picked to do a comparison of the bark in the trunk area of a pine and oak .

The weather has been too wet to go outside, so I collected these two seed-heads, and brought them inside. My handwriting doesn't make it easy... I suppose I need to remember how to print.