Cat in Watercolour

This is actually the second attempt, the first is in the reject file.

I changed my way of working to lay down some fur strokes then cover with a wash of a warm grey, add some more darks and then do another wash.

I am using acrylic artists ink for the black because I can then soften it with coloured pencil.

I reserved the paper with white pencil, I used a wax based pencil as it will be easier to remove when I want to reveal the paper, there will be a lot of finger crossing at that stage. Of course it would have been easier to use masking fluid but mine is several years old and looked like it could have got out the bottle itself.

I have done about 3 layers up to now, there is more cat but I wanted to see if i could make it work before I got too ambitious.

I do think watercolour is easier to work with in small areas as it doesn't dry as quickly, but it remains to be seen which I will end up using for larger works.

Watercolour fruit and Dog Shows

I was working away for a couple of days last week so didn't get any time for art.

Yesterday we were showing Roxie and Juno at Midland Counties Championship Show.
It was a beautiful morning, so even though the show was inside I took lots of photographs of them in the sun.

They are both are in the middle of growing their new coats.

Virtual Sketch for October

I have been wanting to try watercolour paint for my miniatures and also try my hand at some botanical art. Imagine my delight when I saw the wonderful photograph posted for the October Virtual Sketch Date.

I tried one pear in watercolour, turned another one round and finished it in graphite. I can see plenty of things that need refining, but I will be using watercolour again. In fact I've started a watercolour cat, more of that in the next post.

Wolf Finished, Snow Leopard Started

The wolf is finished apart from a few tweaks.
I've started a Snow Leopard which I am going to donate to the Snow Leopard Trust when it's finished.

http://www.snowleopard.org/partners/artists

I am using the same Colourfix paper in Blue Haze and the same technique of mixing acrylic and coloured pencils.

Wolf Continued

I'm almost there with the wolf. His bottom jaw needs to be altered at the left side (his right) and I need to finish his fur.

The squirrels are back so the dogs have resumed their hobby of squirrel watching, unfortunately they've forgotten that it's a quiet hobby. The first one to catch sight of a squirrel barks to tell the second , who then barks to tell the third and so on. The squirrels don't worry at all, in fact I'm waiting for them to start barking back.

The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculpters and Gravers Exhibition

Yesterday I attended the Private View of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculpters and Gravers 2008 annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

Following an awful train journey I met up with Katherine Tyrrell and Tracy Hall at the Mall Galleries to look round the exhibition.

Katherine has written a comprehensive post on the Exhibition on her Making a Mark blog and Tracy was awarded the Gold Memorial Bowl which is the most prestigious prize offered, so you can see I was in good company.

I am a huge fan of Tracy's work and it was lovely to see it in real life.

The standard of work exhibited was uniformly high, I was amazed at the detail some of the artists had achieved.

The Private View was crowded and the red dots marking sales were springing up all over. Miniature Art is obviously very popular.

Katherine then took us to the National Dining Rooms were we enjoyed a delicious three course lunch.

Returning to the Mall Galleries we attended the presentation of awards.

I liked a great deal of the work exhibited, but apart from Tracy's, the set of work that made the most impression on me was painted by Rosalind Pierson RMS HS[Co-founder] MAA

Her tiny watercolour landscapes are absolutely exquisite.

I came away from the exhibition inspired and determined to carry on painting miniatures.

Read Katherine's blog for more information, photographs and details of all the award winners.

I have continued with the wolf although the light was poor today to get an accurate photograph.

Mixed Media Wolf- part 3

I've continued to work on my wolf this week, adding more acrylic layers and more coloured pencil.

I'm still reasonably happy with him although I can see things I wish I'd done differently.

Wolf - continued

It has rained and rained and rained today. The ponds are overflowing and the fish are probably swimming round the flowerbeds, unfortunately it's now too dark to see.

I have stayed inside and carried on with my wolf.

Wolf in acrylic and coloured pencil

I have a couple of things that I need to do this month, one is finish my snow leopard the other is paint a wolf. I will finish my ground squirrel, hopefully over the weekend.


I've made a start on a portrait of a wolf, it is my usual mixed media technique in acrylic and coloured pencil, approximately 16 x 12 on blue colourfix paper.
I think I might have drawn the nose a bit too straight, I'll alter it when I get more fur in if necessary.