Betty

Very nice.

Taking a gesture drawing to a refined sketch is not so easy.  I found that drawing from a reference photo gives one the opportunity for getting a pretty good drawing as you can use your measuring techniques for putting proper perspective on your drawing and getting negatives spaces accurate makes for a more realistic sketch.  I followed Liz's suggestions as she was drawing, then looked at my drawing with blurred vision and tried to get my darkest darks and lightest lights correctly demonstrated.

My bird looks OK but it's nothing like the example at all.  I started and erased the entire thing several times.  I started at different parts, the top of the stem of the grass like Liz did, then from the other side.  My bifocal glasses made it hard to do, so I printed a copy of the example to a sheet of paper and laid it flat so I could see it better.  That didn't help much, I must have started and erased numerous times.  Still all in all the picture I ended up with looks pretty good but it's not like the example in many areas.  It was fun but I got pretty frustrated during the process.  I think I'll do it again a few times just to see how different each one turns out.

I found that with my attempts at gesture drawing I tend to try to do some refining of my sketches rather than continuing on to the next subject.  I see the importance of getting the gestures down as accurately and as quickly as possible because the subjects move so quickly, such as the song birds and squirrels that frequent my yard.  I've included 2 pages; the 1st page has to 2 parts, the top half shows gesture sketches from a window overlooking my bird feeders (that have been taken over by red squirrels) I've tried to capture a few gesture sketches of red squirrels, chickadees and woodpeckers, the bottom half of the page is from a walk in my woods this morning showing scenes from a tree trunk with moss and some kind of mushroom that dried out and puffs out powder when you flatten it, another scene is of geese flying overhead.  The mushroom or toadstool, whatever it is, leads to a great question as to finding out just what it is and why it puffs out a brownish powder, questions that lead to other questions that need answering.  The 2nd page is from the video with Liz at the bird feeders in Sapsucker Woods. The fox video was very hard to follow as the baby fox was so active. That one was really a challenge. All in all I think gesture drawing is a great practice for every session or as a warm up.  I think it is quite fun to do.

Here's the Eastern Red-spotted Newt with contour and glanced at sketches.  I see this species of newt every spring at our camp in Upstate New York.  They are like fairy creatures, so tiny and cute.

I've been setting up bird feeding areas around my yard, we have a very large lot in rural NY and we have a lot of birds coming to my feeders.  Alas, the squirrels have located my bird diner and have invited themselves to come and partake.  I thought that if I also provided them with their own feeders they would narrow their choices to their own table.  I'm including an unfinished sketch I started a couple days ago.

I'm including my comparison drawing and remarks about the Downy Woodpecker and the Hairy Woodpeckers that I see at my feeders this winter.  

I've been drawing daily for quite a while, I live in the Syracuse area, we have 43 acres of woods and I generally draw grass, flowers, bugs and little creatures I spot throughout my days.  This past summer I had a wren family set up house keeping in a birdhouse near my bedroom window.  Each morning after the eggs hatched the "father" bird, I presume, sang on a branch near the window several feet away from where we were sleeping. I was really excited about our new neighbors and I sat outside close enough to watch the pair actively flying back and forth feeding their brood. I decided to draw the tree, birdhouse, and the tiny bird scolding me from a few feet away.  I usually try to get photos to copy later on, but I'd like to try my hand at field drawing as described in the lesson discussions. When I received the notification for this class I immediately decided I would take it so I could properly journal my experiences with all the beautiful creatures I see.  I'd like to be able to leave something for my grandchildren that I hope they will someday cherish. Thanks Betty (Bee Kay)