Montana

Activity #1: I am fascinated by the Secretary bird. It's near blindness unless it's prey move makes me think of Jurassic Park and the fact that T-Rex may have had similar qualities. Could it be that the secretary bird is a downsized version of the former kind of dinosaurs? It's pretty cool to think of it that way. Activity #2: I've been birding recently with more experienced birders. Some birds that I have seen/learned about are Orchard Orioles (found a nest!); King Birds (also found a nest and learned about their territorial personalities; Red-Tailed Hawks - these are the birds that got me into birding along with the Falcon. Next to our family garden plot live a pair of hawks and it's cool to watch them hunt, observe, swoop over us, and escape all the blackbirds that want them out of their space. Activity #3: BlueBirds! So many people have bluebird nest boxes it's cool to observe them. We've watched them lay eggs, the eggs have hatched, some aggressive sparrows are being fought off, and they go out and get food to feed the babies.

I found that the water brushes don't work for me but regular water color brushes. I loved painting this and it's by far my best watercolor painting...ever. Putting it all together worked well. 

Here is my refined drawing! I had a lot of fun doing this and it looks so much better! Using negative space and proportions, I was able to get its position and body just right. Adding some texture and shading made it come to life. I feel like I was able to capture it in motion. I love drawing from photographs I always feel like it gives me the time to get the shapes and colors and values just right.

I think with more practice I will definitely be able to have better proportion in the field. It's a good guideline to make sure everything is more accurate and looks like a more professional drawing. Also, when the drawing is better I find it to be less distracting with reviewing the notes and information written down in the observation.

I'm not sure it helped me stay focused on the subject. I found myself thinking a ton about the lines. I was watching my subjects intently but I could immediately tell that it wasn't really going anywhere. My bird of paradise flower wasn't so bad, but mostly I'm not sure I found this helpful for my journaling in general, but was an interesting exploration of hand-eye coordination without looking down at your hands.

At this time of year, I enjoy seeing the patterns of the leaves on the ground that fell last fall. There are different colors, the curves or the points of leaves. Some of the leaves are darker than others, and the fact that they aren't crunchy anymore and as the light filters through the still bare trees it makes for an interesting blanket on the forest floor.

My proportions were a bit off - I made him a bit slimmer than he actually is, but it was fun to get back into drawing. I found the ability to see small details for a long time was great, but it would also be nice to incorporate notes about behavior, interactions, etc. It was also great to notice the leaves, and the different color variations of the bird.