Scott

April 11,2021 whether near a stream or in the woods on a trail or off the beaten path I sometimes find myself in a daze after a busy intent day at work., its a way to find peace. I  can unwind in nature either nature journaling , bird watching or trying to find the perfect photography setting of a bird that can stay still. what is important is being still and patient, staying still taking in your surroundings to notice things and alerting your senses. This past week I was walking around a lake photographing any waterfowl that may be around and that I heard that have been spotted by other birders. I decided to take a side route, trail that was quieter than the trail I was on. walking around a bend I noticed a male goose standing on a ledge which told me not to disturb him so I walked far around him not to disturb him. where was it's mate? well on the far side of the gorge there she was walking around a patch of circular white patches, stunning!!! clutch of eggs were laid on a cliff of a gorge. I was very far from disturbing a the geese and snapped a photo of the mother goose and it's eggs; I walked away without disturbing their peace.

I picked a picture of a tufted titmouse from a magazine; this was different for me as I am used to using regular watercolor brushes and take my time and usually would take me at least a month to paint a detailed picture. I went outside my boundaries and did this in 3 days. so it is not very good, but okay.

I took this picture of a immature Gold Finch in the late summer; my story is that it was jumping around in a local Arboretum planting catching insects. I noticed how abundance the color surrounding the bird and brought it out in a sharp view making it a pretty bird even if it was in it's drab color. 

outback I have been observing the woodpeckers that have been arriving at my suet feeder or near the tree next to it that has been dying over the years leaving dead branches which has been a good source of food in the dead wood. also near the suet feeder I have a black oil sunflower feeder that attracts many other birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, 1 Carolina wren, downy woodpeckers, harry woodpecker and a family of pileated woodpeckers, juncos and titmice along with crows and blue jays.

                        only could download three of my images; the fourth image was the Gray Crowned Rosy Finch, I was finding that the pink would not come out the way I wanted, but close. The "Morning light over the Wasatch Mountains" I thought had colors I could work with and when working with colors I usually don't have trouble so I had to go my own route that I usually do to make colors (just go and join colors from my own mind) which I have doing since a young age. taking this course is actually helping me work with colors more and open the horizons to create colors that match.

I was concentrating on the shapes but in sections which I find that I do when I am actually sketching. I found that I was also drifting and drawing what I wanted to draw in my mind and not the picture along with it being a fun learning experience.

I started drawing one and it was way off and I decided instead of getting frustrated I decided to draw a second one which came out better. I find that I am better at actually drawing positive space shapes than negative, but I am getting used to drawing negative space with practice