Arleene

I just really enjoy being outside both in winter and summer whether it is in my yard or the big outdoor yard of nature. My back yard has many vegetable garden boxes which I love tending. I also have an evergreen, mountain ash, chokecherries and native roses, snowberries and silver willow bushes, a fire pit and flower pots. This is all packed in a medium sized city yard. I am happy with my back yard. I don't sit in the yard that often but enjoy working in puttering. My front yard has a dogwood and two evergreens but the rest is grass which I don't tend very well. A couple of years ago I made two garden boxes and filled them with native plants and seeds. I would like to grow more native plants in my front yard as the grass does not provide any diversity for wildlife. Merlins. Robins, House Wrens, migrating sparrows, Juncos, House Sparrows, Cedar Wax Wings, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Northern Flickers, Grackles and Crows are some of the birds I see in my yard along with mice, jackrabbits and squirrels. Generally I see them foraging for food and robins, sparrows and wrens will nest in my yard if there are not a lot of Merlins around that year. I feed the birds i the winter both seeds and suet. Birds and squirrels come for the fare. I would  like to bring more insects, butterflies, bees and birds into my yard by changing what I plant and grow providing a suitable habitat as many species are losing more and more of their habitat.

I found this exercise quite difficult, especially keeping up with the movements never really completing anything I started! I will continue practice with videos and live in the outdoors

I did several comparison activities. I quite enjoyed doing them. In all cases they were birds I saw in my yard. I did use what I saw in real time along with my pictures and pictures in a bird book for the drawings. Birds move so fast it was hard for me to do a good comparison quickly. I hope this gets easier with practice. I am not sure how I will balance my drawing, writing, etc in my journal. I have taken a hiatus from my course and journal but am now back at it. I am assuming that my journal will evolve with more time using it.

I really like your drawing. In your drawing I can see why the Muscle Tree is called a muscle tree as I can see the smooth waves and ridges of the tree. Same with the Shag Bark Hickory Tree. In the drawing it lives up to it's name.

@Kathleen Oh nice drawing. Coming from the prairies in Canada I rarely see anything that comes from the ocean.

Yes that's true one questions leads to another and another. Isn't it great to be so inquisitive! Puts a little spunk back into my step and joy into my heart!

Yes I am more aware of my surroundings and asking more questions from my observations. Prior to this lesson while sitting outside in my front yard I noticed and asked the following questions. There were several sparrows and chickadees eating sunflowers from my feeder. Why do chickadees zoom in grab a seed and carry it off to a tree to eat while sparrows tend to sit at the feeder and eat? Sparrows and chickadees eat one at a time at the feeder, even when paired with the same species. Why is this and how do the birds decide who gets to eat first, age, sex, strength, personality? Something I hadn't noticed before was how long the chickadees is compared to his body and compared to the sparrows tail. Why is this? Why do some birds prefer a dust bath while others prefer a water bath; sparrows and robins. And the birds were feeding continuously and at 215 pm they just stopped. Is it siesta time, get to hot, was there a predator nearby that I could not see?

Here are some of my attempts at using the skills you have taught us. I can see how to apply the techniques but will definitely need more practice. I did enjoy trying them all out. It was fun learning ways to draw and how to use the different marks. Also I found I was more relaxed, not worrying too much about the finished product and just having fun. I like to write notes in the journal as it helps me remember what I did and what techniques I used as well as anything special about that particular sketch. I found the 3D shading difficult. I am looking forward to more lessons and practice

In my younger years I loved drawing for pleasure and did a lot of it. I did sketches with pencil non coloured and coloured. I have not done this in years and as I was looking at the courses on Bird Academy I noticed this one. When I retired I was gifted a sketch book and pencils but haven't used them yet. I have never sat out in nature and sketched I mainly sketched from pictures. However I love being outside and spend much time outside on backpacking and biking trips, birdwatching, gardening, etc.. I feel this course will be a great course for me to take to bring my love of sketching back into my life. All the journals were interesting, I liked the fact that I can make the journal my own and change how I organize it etc as the mood strikes me. I do like the ones that have the date, place, time and weather indicated for each drawing, as well as the field notes. I found them interesting to read. I feel this would help me recognize a bird, flower, etc..  next time I saw it and it tells a story with pictures and words. Also I feel it will slow me down and make me more aware of my surroundings and the details with in it.