Creative Summer Challenges

Find and sketch or photograph a texture in nature, such as overlapping bird feathers, a leafy tree, or a rough rock. Use repeating pencil, pen, or paint marks to describe it, or if you’re taking a photo, zoom in and capture the texture in sharp detail. Then, zoom out and sketch or photograph the whole object for a different perspective.

Capture movement creatively! If you’re drawing or painting, this could be a behavior or other action you witnessed that was too fast for you to capture. From memory, render the gesture of that movement as best you can, or even make a dotted line that traces its motion.

Photographers, try lowering your shutter speed to blur the motion, such as for the wings of a bird in flight.

You may already know that you can upload photos to Macaulay Library to support your eBird list observations, but did you know that you can also upload a sketch? Either way, images add value to your observations!
Learn how with this page about Uploading Media. For field sketches, be sure to select the tag that says “Field notes/sketch.”

Take notice of something you encounter daily. Maybe the fruit on your kitchen counter can be a creative inspiration, or busy ants in the garden, or one of your regular yard birds, like a Mourning Dove. Observe with fresh eyes, and sketch or photograph it to gain a whole new appreciation of something you regularly see.

Build your alphabet with photos or sketches! Write, sketch, or photograph something you experience in nature that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Need a shorter challenge? Sketch or photograph something in nature that starts with each letter of your name.