What a great observation. How long is it taking you to do one of these lovely watercolor sketches? Are they to actual scale? I invite you to join my yahoo forum (below) of artists sketching and drawing from nature.
Cynthia
Dedicated to the realistic portrayal of plants, flowers and natural science subjects. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/botanicalart

Thanks, Cynthia.

The length of time spent on each of these sketches varies with the day, the subject, and even my mood. They range from gesture drawings of fifteen minutes or less to pieces where I lost track of time and probably spent over an hour.

My sketchbook is very small - the open spread is less than 8" across - so while the dragonfly here is approximately actual size, most of my drawings are to a scale that is, um, intuitive rather than actual.

Thank you for your invitation to your Yahoo group. I'm honored. I may not be able to join for a while, for reasons of time, but I will think about it in the future. (I am a lapsed member of the Everyday Matters Yahoo group - It was a wonderful, generous, and inspiring community, but when I found myself spending more time reading the forum than drawing, I had to drop out for a while to regain my balance. So I am trying not to join anything for a little while - even though your group sounds wonderful! Perhaps in the new year?)

Thanks again!