Prompt 17, 18 and 19

Of course, this prompt involved mixing so many greens that I ran out of room and had to hand some leaves 3-D in the book!  

This prompt had to do with symmetry and ellipse.  I bought this pretty pottery vase up north and brought it down.  You can see I am doing okay on the symmetry but not as well with ellipses which are of course, circles in perspective.  

So here we are working on perspective and ellipse.  Draw a bird bath.  A few of the European members of the FB group did not know what a bird bath was!!!  This is actually MY birdbath outside the studio window.  I decided to use Sketch and Wash pencil for this.  A few people did not know what a "sketch and wash" pencil was.  You can google that if you don't know.  They are really a cool pencil to use as it is water soluble graphite.  

This morning when I went out to get the paper in the drive way I found myself immersed in a flock of swallows heading north.  Barn or Tree Swallows...I don't know which.  I mean a HUGE flock...swirling all around our area and making those amazing synchronized shapes as they swirl up and down from the trees.  I was mesmerized.  Stood there for 15 minutes watching them form and re-form and sometimes I was almost in the middle of the flock as they reformed around me and then swirled up into the sky.  I have never seen these except in videos.  What a blessing.  Made my day!