Jenn

This was truly an eye-opening and enjoyable course for me. I have been passionate about nature my whole life, and I've always had an artistic side, but prior to this course I had never kept a nature journal or engaged in regular nature sketching! I'm inspired to keep going - to bring my journal with me on nature walks, and to take time to sit in nature and just get consumed in its beauty. This year I am also diving into some more mindful birding and ornitherapy experiences, so I'm excited to combine journaling as a regular practice for feeling the many benefits that birds and nature bring us. While I've always had an eye for animal behavior and nature discoveries, I'm ready to slow down and really take it all in and get it down on paper to reflect on it at any time. So far, I think my favorite experience was the sit spot. I felt my senses heighten at every sound, movement, smell, and feel around me. It was so calming and enjoyable and I can't wait to do more. I'm looking forward to trying out these prompts, and really get creative! Thank you, Liz, for this wonderful course!

I was guiding a wildlife boat tour yesterday morning and took the opportunity to arrive early at dawn and try a landscape sketch and painting. For my first time painting with watercolors in the field, I settled into the experience fairly quickly and just gave it a go! I was surprised at how it felt natural organizing my materials on my lap, I thought it would be more awkward but it was comfortable and easy to handle. I sat on a small folding tripod stool and had my sketchbook on my right leg and my watercolors on my left leg, and a paper towel to clean my brush tucked underneath the watercolors, and pulled it out when needed. Once I got into the painting I recalled and used many of the color-mixing and watercolor techniques Liz talked about, and I was surprised at how many different colors I made in a short time. My sketchbook pages are a little small, but if I had the space I would have noted more birds I heard while I was sketching and painting. I finished most of the watercolor work in the field and then did some additional refining at home (I took some pictures while I was there for reference).

A fun and challenging exercise! I really took my time with it, used the proportions tool throughout, looked at negative space, erased when needed, and focused constantly on the relationships of the shapes and forms. I am happy with how it came out, both upside down and right-side up!

A fun and challenging exercise! I really liked it, my first two (newt and sunbird) came out fairly wonky, but there were features I was happy with on both, and on my second two I started to feel an improvement - I was actually very surprised and happy that my Springbok start and finish point matched exactly!