WORK FAST!

We had robins up in the woods recently, flocks of them!  When we went out to the shed yesterday afternoon to watch the snow, they'd come down to the wild honeysuckle bushes to feast--these were right outside the door.

I grabbed my sketchbook and stood at the door as long as they were in the bush, working with a black Prismacolor colored pencil and just the shapes...they were all fluffed up with their necks pulled down into their chest feathers for warmth!  (Who could blame them!)

This is what the bottom left fellow looked like, just my rough sketch...

I shot a few photos, too, so I could zoom in for color details when I added watercolor later--never could really see their feet, though, they were keeping them warm, too.

I use my journals like a diary, and like a calendar--I can go back through years' worth and find when I saw the first robins (or those wintering over), when the first snow was, where we ate when we were in California, what we discussed at that meeting, who attended the sketchcrawl, when the tree fell on the van, and more.


And yes, this WILL be in my "fast sketching techniques" mini-class, I took photos as I went, once I was adding color! You can find the classes here: http://cathyjohnson.info/online.html