Kathleen

I have only seen two owls in my life, both were the Great Horned Owl and in December of two different years, several years apart. The first siting was in December, 2004 during a rare snowfall. The Great Horned Owl was sitting on a branch of a decaying tree along the right of way behind my house, not far from a tributary of the Brazos River. Due to the moonlight and the reflected snow, I could see very well the ear tufts with a chunky built bird. The other siting occurred in a grove of trees across the street from my house. I was out that night photographing my house with its newly strung  Christmas lights, when I heard some rustling of leaves behind me and a neighborhood cat named Midnight went running across the street into my flowerbeds to escape from a Great Horned Owl who was giving chase. It was a close call for Midnight and I saw him around later on in the week. My local HOA has removed both the trees along the right of way and the mixed grove of trees across from my house, so my chances of seeing owls close to my home are remote unless I travel to go "owling", which I may do soon. It is December of the year and a good time to see my friends, the owls.I have no pictures, only memories.

My favorite nature journaling experience this year has been the observation of hummingbirds. Since I am now retired, I had the time to observe the ruby-throated hummingbirds during the day  that visited my Turk's Caps. I have seen the ruby throat hummingbird throughout September and into early October. I have not seen them for several days now as they have all migrated further south. I observed the males first with their red throats and then females. I watched them hover as they looked through the panes of my windows, took pictures and sketched from other photographers images. 

I appreciate both your drawings and like your shading on the bird from the yellow to an olive green transition which I had trouble with. I like the detail in the branches regarding the moss.

I made my first attempt at creating a watercolor from a reference photo combined with observations from my breakfast room window. I have  observed a single Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) visiting my Turk's caps in the front yard. This small gem has visited my yard several times a day during the the last three weeks. I was not successful in obtaining my own photo, so I used a reference photo from someone else. I admire this little bird who visits daily and I know soon, he will be leaving  for his migration. Perhaps I will get another chance to  capture his brilliance. I have trouble with control using the water brush. 

I have tried all three water brush techniques and I prefer the dry on dry because of the control. The other two techniques were unpredictable and the wet on dry did not have the control I desire. I have difficulty with the water brush  techniques which I do appreciate but,  have not had the success that I had with gouache technique where I used brushes with pigments and water. As with any new technique, I will keep working with it and may find success with the right subjects. The second image is of a dragonfly with gouache.  tecnique.  

A very appealing portrait of a bird with a very long and unusual tail which reminds me of an Australian beekeeper bird.

I had trouble uploading the image with the text, so I uploaded the image first. I had more success with the beautiful gray crowned Rosy Finch than the Wasatch mountains. It was my first experience with the Sakura watercolor set with water brush. I  experimented with gouache earlier in the year and  I had a color chart. I had to make my own color chart with the Sakura water color set. The water brush is a new experience. I am glad to have the experience with the gray crowned rosy finch with its colors of rich brown, gray, pink, gray and black. I will never see this beautiful bird unless I travel to the Pacific Northwest, maybe someday I will get the chance. Working with available  light is always a challenge and with watercolor you can provide the rich tones you might not be able to see with the ambient light provided. This is a big advantage with watercolor, so I will keep working with it.

@Karen I enjoyed  viewing the above two images of your watercolor experience.

I enjoyed this image as it reminds me of Australia.

I am concentrating on working quickly, adding detail later during commercials on television. I viewed a Chevy truck commercial a number of times getting a little more detail in the quick sketch each time because it was a very amusing story.