Susan

May 4, 2023. Favorite nature writers - I had trouble with this one, not sure why, because I read a LOT of natural history, or non-fiction with natural leanings. I came up with authors whose writing I have loved, such as Scott Wiedensaul's Living on the Wind (a deep dive into bird migration), Mia Kankimäki's The Women I think about at Night (travel, exploration, writing, thinking, self-reflection). But I don't consider them "nature writers". Mark and Delia Owen's The Cry of the Kalahari is another. What I love about these three (and many others) is the quality of the writing, the storytelling, and how evocative they are of place - which I think perhaps is what I'm trying to explore in my field sketching. If I can feel a place in a way that allows me to produce a watercolor sketch that evokes that feeling, well, then I've arrived! Reflections - When I wander out in the woods, I certainly reflect on my surroundings, but I don't tend to express that in my journal. When I tried to organize these thoughts, it turns out that they lean toward reflections on the people who have made an impact long before I stood in that spot. Stone Walls - Was there a solitary farmer, making the rounds, picking up stones after winter had passed? was it a family outing to pile the stones, step back, have a look, and add one more? Was it to keep the cows out? keep the cows in? The landscape looked much different then than it does now... I'm here for the trail through the trees - those farmers worked hard to remove the trees - clear the land for a hay field, for a pasture. And once felled, what became of those fallen oaks? lumber, fence posts, firewood? a house, a barn? Now the oaks fall and lie there - scaffolding for a squirrel, upturned roots offering underground crannies for a black rat snake, a chipmunk (ah - one or the other, not both).  One day I'll try to capture a stone wall in watercolor - there is so much to it :-) When my thoughts turn to birds or plants - I tend to think about early naturalists - not in Connecticut specifically, but those who wandered the forests and clearings well before the farms were everywhere. They were collectors of observations but also of objects (plants, birds). The Baltimore Oriole caught my attention today - the first I've seen this spring. What a great example. Wikipedia says Carolus Linnaeus described and named it in 1758, based on the heraldic colors of Lord Baltimore (golden yellow and black). Well, a deeper dive shows that English settlers in the area that became the US state of Maryland were calling it the Baltimore Bird in 1669, and yes, they named it for one of their colonial governors, indeed of the Baltimore lineage. Now I find Mark Catesby, a young Englishman and one of the first naturalist/artists of the American colonies, who included this bird in his work The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, published in 1731. Catesby called it Icterus, the Baltimore Bird. Carl Linnaeus very likely used Catesby's description in his Systema Naturae (10th edition), but changed the name to Baltimore Oriole because he (old Carl) was familiar with the European orioles that look similar - but Catesby was right! It's an Icterus, of the American family of blackbirds. Mark Catesby's Baltimore Bird (above) and my Baltimore Oriole (below, done a few weeks ago, for a friend). I'll wrap up my reflections with this - Naturalists, scientists, observers, thinkers, artists, journallers - we have all been at this task for CENTURIES!! Linnaeus may have put his binomial pen to paper in 1758, but I've only scratched the surface, and found that he stood on the shoulders of oh so many others. We now have incredible access to information, but those facts are built from the observations of people like us, through centuries of spending time in nature, with journal and sketchbook in hand. It has been so wonderful to spend this time with all of you, these last few weeks, and to see your sketches, paintings, observations, words, poetry. Wow, you are all an inspiration. I'm so excited to see what's around the next bend in the trail. - Sue H. And Liz - thanks for being the spark, so gentle and encouraging, but, as Bruce Springsteen said, you can't start a fire without a spark.

May 2, 2023, Connecticut. I have been very happy with this Koi watercolor set, and find it quite handy to use in the field. I've noticed in the videos that Liz used the pallet in different positions, so I tried that in my field sketching today. If my sit spot is close to the car I bring a folding chair, otherwise I choose a spot with a large rock or something to sit on. Other than the paints and water brush, I bring a pencil, eraser and my binoculars (and a rain jacket!). I love how simple this kit is. Somebody below suggested the cuff of a cotton sock worn around the wrist for blotting the brush, instead of paper towel (which inevitably blows away!). This sounds like a winner - I'll try it! I'm usually overwhelmed when I sit down to a landscape, and found Liz' suggestion to define the planes and layers you see and to gradually block in the areas of color were really helpful. And for some unknown reason today, I was also able to control the waterbrush better, and get some fine lines. Win, win, win! I loved the dramatic sky, but it changed so quickly. I'm glad I took a photo when I first sat down, because the light was so different by the end. This sketch was start to finish 45 minutes - enough time to capture the mood of the moving river and the heavy clouds before the rain returned!

Scott, this is exactly what I've come away with in this class - I usually take forever, but now I'm able to complete something in a reasonable amount of time! For me it's a combination of the techniques and Liz's constant refrain to not be hard on yourself!

I think I tend to try to draw with watercolors, rather than paint - if that makes sense. The wet on dry technique works great for that. Wet on wet was fun, but I have to learn to let the paint go, and not try to control it so much. The dry on dry seemed good for suggesting texture in an area. Below I attempted to capture the colors of an early spring day in Connecticut. The wet on wet worked well for suggesting the light foliage and sky, and wet on dry defined most of the shapes in my landscape. I wasn't able to achieve dry on dry with the water brush.

Revising a gesture sketch is something I've never done before. That aside, I find I was really looking for the negative spaces. This gallinule cries for color, however - can't wait!

April 18, 2023 - was chilly out today, so I wimped-out and sketched indoors. My still life was fun to arrange, with the objects adjacent to each other and then quite separated. I usually try to capture these positional relationships by eye, but the brain plays tricks and I found the measuring exercise very helpful. And the negative space awareness also helped get things positioned on the page. I think it will be a challenge to practice this in the field - but I'll give a landscape a try.

April 13, 2023. Connecticut. This exercise made me work to catch basic shapes more quickly, such as how the cormorant's body was rather angular. I was using my binoculars constantly, since my subjects were rather distant... maybe next time I'll bring along a spotting scope - but I really want to keep my field sketching portable - minimize the equipment!

April 12th, 2023, Connecticut. I noticed a little Sanguinaria blooming, and had to sketch it - and then I compared it to another, growing in different corner of the yard. Your prompt questions are super-pertinent to my effort - Balance is the key word. My writing took over the page. Next time I'll try those boxes! and write neatly, and perhaps make my observations more precise. Part of the problem may have stemmed from the fact that when I started the left half of the page, I hadn't chosen a subject for the right half yet (oops) and didn't really have a plan...

Very cool! I feel like I usually take my time when I walk in the woods, even do some birdwatching, but this was completely different. I closed my eyes and listened, felt the breeze, heard the leaves rustle, heard the birds, near and far. The act of taking notes, however, is what really put me in the moment. Spring has just arrived in New England, and I cannot wait to get out there and find another sit spot - or revisit the same one!

I often draw birds from photos, so that came easily. The challenge was to keep going once the bird was complete! Once I finish sketching a bird, I usually consider myself done - but having just outlined a bit of a goal about completeness on a page, I went ahead and sketched the branch with a few leaves and even the lichen - and better yet, made some descriptive notes about color and texture. I'm excited to see how my yellow warbler might be different at the end of my journal!