Wildlife Artist of the Year x 2 - Call for Entries

I've finally finished my christmas commissions and can get back to the paintings and drawings awaiting completion, one of them being the hare in the above image.

One of my goals for 2012 is to enter more competitions/exhibitions and two of the ones I'm aiming for have closing dates early in the new year.

These are:-

David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the year which has a closing date of 20/01/2012, and,

BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year with a closing date of 29/02/2012

'Hot Spot'

My painting Hot Spot was short listed for the David Shepherd award in 2009.

For full details visit Making a Mark the art blog of my artist friend Katherine Tyrrell.
Katherine has written a post covering all the details of the call for entries of both competitions, if you are interested in giving either a try then I recommend you read her post.

Link: Making a Mark - Wildlife Artist of the Year

Wildlife Artist of the Year

I have made very little progress, in fact my art has suffered over the last few days, due in part to the hot weather and in part due to work commitments.

Yesterday we went to the Private View of Wildlife Artist of the Year. The event was in the evening at the Mall Galleries. It was really well attended and the 'red spots' indicating sales were appearing all over.
The Wildlife Artist of the Year award went to Pamela Conder for her mixed media work of Chimpanzees 'Reflections on Ageing'
I thought all the work was of a very high standard but my personal favourite had to be the work of Darryn Eggleton, Achromatic and In Motion. All the short listed paintings can be seen on line.
The exhibition runs until the 06/06 and is well worth a visit if you like wildlife.
For a much more comprehensive version of the evening see Katherine Tyrrell's post over on her blog 'Making a Mark'

Redpolls, Siskins and Wildlife Artist of the Year

The Treecreeper and Long Tail Tits have been replaced by a small flock of Redpolls and Siskins feeding in the garden. Usually moving about high in the Birch trees they have been feeding on the niger seed I put out. We've planted a small tree under the feeder in the hope of getting some more natural looking photographs.

Today the female Siskins were the most obliging, the males of both species kept hiding behind branches.

My other news is that the shortlist for Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 is available to view on line.

There are some really excellent pieces and I am honoured that 'Hot Spot' is included in the short list.

All the paintings will be on display at the Mall Galleries from the 2nd to the 6th of June. I am hoping to be there at the private reception on the 1st.

Links - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009