Amy

I tried to put color to my drawing

I never could have done this before this course.  Here is a red squirrel eating a bird seed.  This is an example of glazing.

I am truly amazed at how much better I am - looking and seeing so that I can draw.  Painting with watercolors will be a challenge - I can see that by playing with shades and mixing colors.  Too much water on my brush - not enough of one color and making sure I clean the brush after using every color.  More water - lighter shade.  To help me remember what the colors look like I made a painting palate in my book.

This took a long time and I really spent the time trying to see the different shapes.  I did not get the proportions exactly right - but that will come with practice.  

I'm beginning to get the shape better.  The questions you ask yourself and put on the page are fun!  While watching the birds, there must be either a hawk or owl around because there is not one squirrel anywhere! I need to keep practicing - the foxes are fun but really really hard.  I do that many times.  I'm better at birds.

I need to slow down; take my time; not rush and keep my eye on the subject.  I will keep practicing this exercise.  It also matters whether I start from the left or from the right.  I am right handed but I do better starting from the left.  I took a botanical art course and I love nature; I am outside in the woods every day; I love to garden so I have lots of subjects to draw and take notes about.  Break up of winter with snow on the ground to April and no snow with the same subject.  Green shoots coming up out of the ground.  Birds at my feeder.  I will never be an artist and the more I draw, the better I will get. I am journaling every day.

Working on my skills i find that some of the pencils I have are too hard.  I need to do many more of these practices before I finally get it.  I'm going to try an apple next.  I can't seem to soften the areas of highlights to make it more realistic.