Hello Nancy,
This might be off topic but your minimalistic way of sketching reminds me of the Finnish artist and illustrator Emmi Jormalainen . In fact, your drawing made me consider going back to the ink sketching instead of colouring the birds. Sometimes, black and white sketching forces us to think deeply into the details.
Best,
Alyazia
Drawing from a photograph is fine - it allows me to take my time drawing, however, it feels like “flat”; a 2D image is being copied. It is good if i cant stay outside for long due to the weather conditions. The joy of observing is not there though.
I noticed the texture of the Podotheca as well as the form of the beak. Noticing the details is very important in nature journaling; it us part of sensing the bird being watched. It is of importance to point that observing bird’s behaviours for a while is enriching our visual memory. So that when we sketch it from a photograph -even if the photo is a bit blurred due to its fast movement- we will still be able to draw it accurately.
After uploading the image, i noticed that I forgot to add the name & information of the bird ^_^;