Alison

For me drawing from the photo allowed me to take my time, I could breathe and try to relax as I drew the bird.  It was a nice challenge; I can only get better from here 😊.  Using a photo allowed me to come back and take a layered approach, first get the basic outline, and then start adding details.  If I didn’t have the photo, I wouldn’t have noticed the upside down ‘v’ over the beak, the yellow ring around the eye.  I think when drawing a live bird, I'll initially have to focus on the primary details quickly and not worry so much about the details, things like focus on the head to body ratio, what type of beak, beak-eye to head ratio (is it a downy or a hairy woodpecker?), how long is the tail.

I love watching the birds in my little backyard and how different ones come at different times of the year. I need to learn how to capture these amazing little creatures as they flit to and fro, hang out on the feeder and play in the bird bath. These videos were awesome. Before I started this class, I had this vision of just learning to journal birds, but after watching the videos I’ve changed my mind, I want to learn how to draw plants & rocks.  I like the idea of having some notes with the drawings, particularly the date, time & location.