Student Birder
Forum Replies Created
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I finally got around to drawing the cedar waxwing with berries. It was a challenge to get the subtlety of the colors and forms of this beautiful bird. Trudy Here is my attempt:
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I love many nature writers and many of them have been mentioned. I also have some nature poets that are wonderful. Here is a favorite poem by the great Mary Oliver. When I Am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver When I am among the trees, especially, the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile,” The light flows from their branches. And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say, “and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
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This is great. It makes me feel peaceful and happy. Thanks for explaining how you set up your supplies. I usually use an HB or H pencil for initial drawing but I may try the 6B. It is softer and darker, I think. I am so happy with this course and hope there will be a second version or I may just do the whole thing again. I have learned a lot from our terrific teacher, and it is inspiring to look at other people's work too. --Trudy
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This came out so well. You definitely found your niche. --T
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Here is my new yellow warbler. I used the three techniques of tint, tone, and shade to make the yellows and markings of the bird more nuanced. I used the same techniques with the branch as well. I never used white to tint before. I used to just add lots of water which sometimes washed out the color. Using white works very well. I used Payne's gray to tone and a color called ivory black to shade. I see improvements but still need to work at it. -- Trudy
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Here is my attempt at the sunrise mountain drawing. Mixing the colors was wild and so much fun. Never drew anything like this before. Great thinking about sunrise and new day in this difficult time. -- Trudy
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I painted a light green background square and then did the watercolor of the gray-crowned rosy finch. I mixed the watercolors to get the browns and grays. It is true that you notice so much more of the bird or subject when you draw it. I noticed feather patterns and head shape and beak, etc in a way that I never would have by just taking a photo. I am enjoying this class so much and wish there would be a second part to it. --Trudy
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This vulture/condor is great. So expressive and kind of haunting. I like the way it fills the left side of the page but leaves the negative space and opening for what looks like the sky. Very interesting composition. -- Trudy
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Gorgeous. The mountains and the bird--wonderful. I hope you keep out your watercolors now.
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Beautiful drawing. You got the wings which are hard to do. -- Trudy
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I love this merganser --you've captured an expression I've seen on mergansers and it is great. - Trudy
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This is my watercolor of Mountain Lake, a small lake in Sullivan County, NY. I loved drawing this because it brought some level of peace in this crazy time. I haven't drawn landscapes before and I found the video really helpful. I tried to make the big tree on the right the focal point but I guess I could have also spent more time and detail with the smaller tree in the middle left. Once I look at a scene, I'm not sure exactly how to figure out what should be the focal point, but it was fun to draw this place which is a special place to me. --Trudy
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I drew a goldfinch but didn't do the best job in capturing the subtleties and shading. One problem I ran into is the color yellow. I have problems shading it and not muddying it. For me, it's a really challenging color. I would like to add more background as that might add some contrast so the yellow doesn't look so washed out. -- Trudy
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I drew the American Wigeon duck trying to show how sunlight coming from the right side makes the greenish color on the duck's head seem to almost glow. I used viridian green and hansa yellow light to make the bluish green and then added payne's gray to darken the green. I used burnt umber and burnt sienna to create the brown for the rest of the head and the top of the body. I'll continue working on it, but it was fun to see how to make the lighter color seem to glow by adding more darks around it. --Trudy
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I have worked on the marsh wren and here is my refined and detailed drawing. I'm sure as you say that I could keep on adding but this is my newest version.
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It was harder than I thought it would be. I kept wanting to turn the image and i got a bit confused with the shapes, but it turned out better than I thought. Interesting exercise. I'll try it again to teach my brain some new tricks.
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I redid my marsh wren using proportion techniques and also did the snail shell drawing. then I drew a towhee based on a photo a friend took. I worked on proportion and had to draw it several times. Then i decided to add the rust color of the towhee and it looks a little strange when i scanned it. Anyway using my pencil or fingers for measuring proportion is great. I tried it when i walked in the park just to get an idea of size, and I'll try it an outside drawing next.
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I did all four and as a few other people said, I preferred looking at the image. I could have tried the looking and not picking up my pencil as someone suggested. They came out so light because in the blind contour I was drawing with a light touch I guess. I am only uploading two of them although I loved all the images.
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I compared male and female flowers of the oak tree and found that the male flowers with their long pollen-filled clusters of flowers can lead to early spring allergies. I also compared the acorns and leaves of the northern red oak and pin oak trees.
This is my watercolor of Mountain Lake, a small lake in Sullivan County, NY. I loved drawing this because it brought some level of peace in this crazy time. I haven't drawn landscapes before and I found the video really helpful. I tried to make the big tree on the right the focal point but I guess I could have also spent more time and detail with the smaller tree in the middle left. Once I look at a scene, I'm not sure exactly how to figure out what should be the focal point, but it was fun to draw this place which is a special place to me. --Trudy 
I drew a goldfinch but didn't do the best job in capturing the subtleties and shading. One problem I ran into is the color yellow. I have problems shading it and not muddying it. For me, it's a really challenging color. I would like to add more background as that might add some contrast so the yellow doesn't look so washed out. -- Trudy 
