Catherine

1. I'm glad I had the photo as a reference - this bird would've been difficult to capture in nature. Figuring out the blending came somewhat easily, though in one section I noticed became too saturated with water and would not hold color as well. I finished this months apart as I've been busy - I'm actually glad for that as I came back to the watercolor with a fresh perspective. The beak was more totally black the first rendition, but I just lifted color with a water-laden brush to define the beak better. 2. I wouldn't have noticed the feet structure with just a photo. I'm used to my parrot and forget passerines have 3 toes in front and 1 in the back. I also had more appreciation for the subtle olive back of the yellow warbler in painting it. In painting the bird, I feel as if I gained a better understanding of its behavior and coloration. A quick painting is also less distracting than a photo as there's less information coming from the environment around it. I would endeavor to include any plants that an animal seems to prefer and what it is doing on it during my observation.