Nature journals

[demotlj]

I've been keeping a nature journal for over a year and I know others ( @Kristen-Lango @Blitz55) have said they do that sort of thing too so this thread is for anyone who wants to share their paintings/illustrations/drawings of birds, animals, plants, or any sort of nature journal stuff they have done. Here's a few of mine to get started. (The robin is from February -- he returned to our area a little early and it was 13º the day I painted that!)

[Adam Thornton 0]

@demotlj Really beautiful work, Laurie! Thanks so much for sharing.

This has inspired me to incorporate more nature in my illustrations. I was reading an interesting article recently on 'plant blindness' and thought it would be a good idea to add identifiable plants in my illustration work, instead of the generic greenery that appears in many illustrations. Your post has inspired me to commit to the idea.

[Blitz55]

Oh awesome, you started it.
Well I did just posted some Hornbills I drew in the Virtual Studio thread, though they were from photos off of Pinterest.

I'll have to dig up some of my other stuff and with Summer approaching I'll be getting out and drawing from nature a lot more.

[demotlj]

@Adam-Thornton-0 Part of why I started a nature journal was because I felt my environments in my illustrations were pretty bad but I’ve actually ended up spending more time on the nature journal than illustrations because it’s so much fun learning to see the world around me better.

[demotlj]

@Blitz55 Beautiful hornbills! I look forward to seeing more of your work.

[Adam Thornton 0]

@demotlj Yes, I love that. And if it's fun for you learning to see the world better then it'll help others too! It's helped me already.

[Kristen Lango]

I abolutely love these @demotlj! Thanks for starting this thread! I have to say I typically create bird characters from looking at my field guide books, which feels a bit like cheating compared to your lovely drawings which are clearly from life.

Here are some of my nature studies

All of these were done at very different times in my illustration journey over the past 3 years and I'm not sure it's all really considered "nature journaling" (unless you call brussel sprouts & bananas bought from the store nature )

Can't wait to see what others post here!

[Larue]

Love these. I used to do 100% watercolor painting but I'm 90% digital now and this makes me want to pick up my brush again. Nice!

[demotlj]

@Kristen-Lango I love these and I think the brussel sprouts are great. I'm trying to learn the patience to bring that much detail to my drawings.

My nature journal is from what I have actually seen but only the plants are directly from life. For the birds and animals, I take photos while I am hiking or kayaking and then draw from those. On overcast days the colors in my photos are not always easy to see so I sometimes have to check field guides to be more accurate. There are people who would consider drawing from any photo, even your own, cheating but I decided a long time ago to ignore rules and do what I like to do. (Besides, Norman Rockwell drew from photos so why can't we?)

[lpetiti]

@demotlj I used to think that too, but then someone reminded me that there's no way for our brains to remember every detail of everything we see, so I started to go back to photos. And I agree, if it's good enough for Rockwell, it's good enough for me

[Kristen Lango]

@demotlj Thank you! And totally, I agree with you about drawing from photos. It seems a little insane to me to try to draw a bird moving about in nature - unless you have a photographic memory, I'd find that task near impossible.

I also love how your sketches have energy to them - I sometimes get lost in the details and tend to tighten things up too much, so hopefully we can learn from each other

[demotlj]

@Kristen-Lango

It makes me feel so good to hear you say my sketches have life to them because I have worked hard at trying to let go of some control. I even have a note pinned over my desk that says, "Don't just outline!" It's funny how much work it can take to make a piece look spontaneous.

[Valerie Light]

@demotlj I love the juxtaposition of of spontaneous brushwork with orderly composition and lettering. That page with the ospreys is so beautiful.
@Kristen-Lango those brussels sprouts are the cutest, and I love the soft texture in the horse.

This weekend I visited a farm museum to sketch animals up close. I filled up a dozen sketchbook pages with half-finished scribbles of ears and noses and fuzzy butts and silhouettes. Later, in my studio I put some of those sketches on my lightbox to do gouache and watercolor pencil sketches in color. Here are some of my favorites.

It just felt really good to take time to play and experiment with traditional media, and practice observational drawing with an eye for character and expression.

[Kim Hunter]

@Valerie-Light )

There's something very familiar about your work. Hmmmm, I wonder what it is?

Cracked me up when I saw your pic. This is my mustang, Sage, and his wee girlfriend Holly. They're quite the pair. Cheers!

[Valerie Light]

@Kim-Hunter Wow! They're just like the pair I saw! The pony was so sassy, chasing off geese for the fun of it, while the horse stood guard in case any of the geese got out of line. So funny!

[demotlj]

@Valerie-Light These are so wonderful -- you have captured such character and personality in the animals both in the poses and their expressions. I've been painting so many waterfowl lately because it's migration season but this makes me want to find a farm to do some animals.

[Blitz55]

Don't have any recent outdoor nature drawings as I haven't got out to do much lately. But here are some of my older ones to start with.

[Valerie Light]

@Blitz55 YES! your trees are lyrical, Blitz.

[demotlj]

@Blitz55 I love drawing trees. Yours are great and I especially love the last one. It's like calligraphy.

[demotlj]

Here are photos of my two most recent pages in my nature journal. Too many black ducks -- I hate trying to get a good black in watercolor. I use alizarin crimson and phthalo green as suggested by Vesper Stamper in her SVS course on watercolor palettes and it works well for small areas but in larger areas it tends to separate. I'd love to know what you all use for black.