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.

Ground Squirrel Demonstration - Part 4

I've added several more layers to the top stripe and am happy that it now looks to have quite a lot of depth. I've left the bottom purely coloured pencil so hopefully you can see the difference. I've also started adding layers of acrylic to his head, the top part is finished as I don't think I will improve it by adding any more paint. I do find it difficult sometimes to know when to stop before I create mud.
At this stage he does look quite flat so I'll do some work on giving him some shape next.

Mixed Media Cat on Pastelbord

I put the pastels away again, I don't seem to enjoy them at the moment even though I used to use them almost 100% of the time.

I went back to my coloured pencil, neocolor and acrylic on pastelbord.

The cat is the same Norwegian Forest, owned by our friends John and Caroline Tipper.

The size is the same 7 x 5, the background is neocolor with coloured pencil on top, then brushed in using a hard stencil brush.

When is Lilac known as Lavender?

When it is a coat colour in a cat.

In order to accurately portray the coat colours in the various breeds of cats I want to paint I have been looking at how colour is inherited. I studied genetics as part of my degree in Zoology so can understand the theory. So far so good with colour, but then I moved on to the inheritance of coat patterns, at that point my brain gave up for the day.

My main problem came when I realised that the same genetic colour can have different names depending on both the breed of cat and the breed association.

So lilac can become lavender, tortoiseshell and white can become calico, black can be ebony etc.

When I then started thinking about spotted, tipped, pointed etc, not to mention ticked, mitted and agouiti I decided much more research will be needed.

The one thing I do know is that all cats inherit some form of the tabby gene so perhaps I should stick to tabbies, now would that be mackerel or classic.

I will continue to share my findings as I go along.

Just for a change I dug my pastels out today.

Ground Squirrel Demonstration - Part 3

I haven't done very much over the last couple of days, but hopefully enough for you to see the difference between the area where I've added acrylic and the area of pure coloured pencil.
I have added a wash of raw umber over the two darker stripes. Then I've painted fur in a dirty white (I don't clean my brush after adding the raw umber) on the lighter stripe and a mix of raw umber and paynes grey on the darker. The bottom of both stripes is pure CP. I've also added some washes of acrylic to the head.

I add the acrylic to give more depth and more punch, the washes add the depth and the individual strokes the punch. I then repeat using alternate layers of coloured pencil and acrylic until I'm happy with the result.

I have received confirmation that I have been allocated space at the Supreme Cat Show so for the next few weeks I am aiming to paint a few more breeds. I just have to find the cats to photograph now! Amazingly they don't tend to pose for me when I'm walking the dogs.

Ground Squirrel Demonstration - Part 2

I'm including a photo of my drafting table so you can see how I work.I usually have the image showing on my laptop which I place at the top left but I was using it for something else this morning.

At the right you can just see my home made Mahl Stick which I rest my hand on to stop the acid from my hand spoiling my acid free paper. Basically it's a piece of foam wrapped around each end of a piece of garden cane.

I always have my Gray Scale and Value Finder close, even if I'm using colour.

Also at the right is a scrap of Arches paper which I use throughout to test colours, fur patterns etc.

I've drawn my Squirrel on the same paper as the graphite version, Arches Hot Press and I will use my drawing rather than the photograph to check values.

This first image is all coloured pencil, finding values and fur direction and laying down a base.

Here I'm starting adding acrylic to the head but the rest is pure coloured pencil.

On the last one I'm working in both acrylic and coloured pencil, going backwards and forwards until I achieve the depth I want.

Later I'll post a close up of the fur.

Ground Squirrel Demonstration - The Drawing

I've chosen a Ground Squirrel to demonstrate how I use mixed media.

I took the photograph half way up Pikes Peak in Colorado, there were several Ground Squirrels and Chipmunks running around the car park. This one kept popping out of his burrow then darting back inside.

Stage 1 is the graphite drawing, approximately 7 x 8 on Arches Hot Press. I'm using the drawing to work out any problems, both with the detail and with the lighting.

Hopefully I will finish the drawing tomorrow and start on the painting. I'll include more steps to show how I work.

Brushes for Miniature Painting

Due to several requests I'm preparing a small demo to show how I combine acrylic and coloured pencil. I'll post it sometime over the next few days.


The other request I've had is to show what my small brushes look like. So I've taken a photograph of my favourites together with the painting. I've also included a 1 Cent to show the scale (similar in size to a UK 1pence)
From the left are a 7/0, 5/0, 2/0 and 2 Round, then a 1 rigger, followed by a 0 Filbert. I use the rigger if I want a long stroke because the small brushes obviously hold very little paint, and the filbert on the background.
I can't find my 10/0 despite extensive searching so I'll have to order another. I think the fairies have taken it, it will be about the right size for them to use.
A good supplier of all things for miniature paintings is Polymers Plus

Gouache or Acrylic?

I've decided that acrylic is not giving me the results I'm looking for when painting Miniatures. I am struggling with the speed at which it dries and am also finding the colours look a little bit bright.

Because I'm using tiny brushes with tiny amounts of paint it is dry almost as soon as it hits the surface. This has been causing me growing frustration, so I decided to start again.

I decided to use gouache because it will work if I want to add coloured pencil. I also changed the polymin for Arches Hot Press paper.

So far I am finding this much easier, of course I might have changed my mind by tomorrow.

Supreme Cat Show

Like countless other people I have taken a huge financial hit over the last few months with a nosedive over the last two days. I have not found it easy to snap out of my gloom this time and that has carried through into my artwork. Yesterday I found fault with everything I was doing, so decided the wisest move was to do something different before I ripped everything up.

I caught up on some paperwork which included sending off my application to have a stand at this years GCCF Supreme Cat Show.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself last year meeting all those beautiful cats, so I'm looking forward to this year.

The show is held on the 22/11/2008 at the NEC and if you like cats well worth a visit.

Dot to Dot, another Miniature Painting

I've started another miniature painting which I'm hoping to complete in time for an exhibition later in the year.

It's a Bald Eagle which I was lucky enough to photograph just outside the Rocky Mountain National Park while on holiday. I do plan to do a larger painting of it at some stage, as it sat still for quite some time while I snapped away with my camera. In fact it was far more patient than my two teenage sons.

It is acrylic on Polymin and will end up about 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

I'm using a 10/0 brush and working in dots rather than lines to try to get the detail.

Continuing Cat in Coloured Pencil and Acrylic

I've worked a little bit more on the cat but household tasks kept calling me today so not much progress has been made.
With the continual rain I seem to spend an awful lot of time drying paws or cleaning floors. The cleaning results from the muddy paws that make a dash to pass me when I'm already propping up a dog who has one foot in a towel. Why is it that my dogs can run and play on three legs if the need arises, but lift one leg to dry it and they either collapse, or lean so hard that both of us end up in a heap on the floor.
All except Rio that is, Rio doesn't like rain, even worse he doesn't like the ground to be wet when he needs to go out. The only way to encourage him is to go out first and convince him it doesn't hurt, this is a lengthy process. In fact you can add changing clothes and drying hair several times to my daily tasks . Yesterday it involved rounding up fish from flower beds but that is another story.

More Rough Collie

Not much progress because I've been working today, butI'm quite pleased with the likeness.

Rough Collie Painting

We had a real health scare with Clinton last week although he is completely recovered now. It made me realise that I drew him as a puppy but I hadn't done an adult portrait of him. I felt the need to paint him once we knew he was going to be alright.

I decided to use a photograph of him looking over the fence into the garden. I have already used one of Juno from this shoot to produce

'Wait For Me' Clinton is acrylic and coloured pencil on Arches HP watercolour paper.
It makes a change to be painting a dog again, it seemed strange to be painting long fur.

Clinton is lying under the drawing table, doing his best to add touches of fur into the wet paint.

Another Macro Cat

My series of macro cats has proved to be popular in print, so I have decided to add to them.This is acrylic and coloured pencil on Fabriano Hot Press Watercolour paper, approximately 9x7.

I use the coloured pencil first to put down some layers, then start adding acrylic to add depth and punch up certain areas. I then add more CP and more acrylic until I'm happy with the result. I use mostly Polychromos pencils with one or two Coloursoft as I find Prismacolours rather soft for using with the acrylic.

Society of Feline Artists 2008 Exhibition

'The Aristocrat'

Original sold by the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery

On Tuesday I travelled down to London to attend the Private View of the 2008 Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists. Still jet lagged I did wonder if this was a good idea but I had a fabulous time.

I first met up with Katherine Tyrrell of the Making a Mark blog for lunch and a good chat. Katherine is excellent at finding nice places for lunch so we had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Katherine went into the Gallery slightly ahead of me, and imagine my delight when she came back to tell me 'Aristocrat' had the coveted red spot to mark it sold. I later found out that it had been one of the first paintings to be bought.

We got time to speak to some of the other SOFA members and I found them a really friendly set of people. (Denise if you read this I have been showing off your business cards and have ordered some of my own).

The exhibition continues until the 20/09 so if you like feline art and can travel to London then it is really worth a visit.

Links:-

Denise Laurent - The Painted Cat

The Llewellyn Alexander Gallery

The SOFA blog

Home Again to Exciting News

I'm now back from my American holiday although I think part of me remained on the plane, hopefully the jetlag will soon pass.

We travelled almost 4000 miles and I probably shot the same amount of photographs. I was lucky enough to get some lovely close up shots of various creatures and some spectacular early morning shots in Yellowstone. This one however sticks in my memory, "The one that got away"

I have also received some exciting news.

In early August I submitted a portfolio for consideration by the Selection Committee of the Society of Feline Artists, when I arrived home I found that I have been accepted as a full member. I consider this a huge honour as the standard of work produced is consistently high.

I don't think it's really sunk in that I can now add the letters S.O.F.A after my name.

Some other exciting news is that I have been approached the Snow Leopard Trust and I am going to be supporting them as part of their artist program, more details to follow.

The Arte y Pico Award

While on holiday I had the honour of having my blog awarded the Arte y Pico Award by Karen Hargett.

Karen is an artist working mainly in graphite or pastel, have a look at her blog to see some lovely work.

Thank you Karen.

As part of the ongoing process I would like to pass the award on to the following five artists, I get a great deal of pleasure reading their blogs on a regular basis.

Making a Mark by Katherine Tyrrell - for me simply the best all round source of art information on the net.

Tracy Hall - a brilliant watercolour artist.

Laura Hardy - beautiful coloured pencil portraits of animals.

Sheona Hamilton-Grant - animals in graphite, always a pleasure to see new work

Nicole Caulfield - stunning still life and portraits in coloured pencil

Just a note to explain the origin of the Art y Pico award and the "rules" for accepting:-

The Origin of The Arte y Pico Award and Rules are:
The Arte y Pico Award has arisen from the daily visits that are made to many blogs, by you, which nourish and enrich you with creativity. In them, you must see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. You want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain and enrich you day to day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few.
The Rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Show these rules and the paragraph (above) explaining the awards origination.

Thank you again Karen for nominating my blog.

Yellowstone Morning

I've had two wildlife firsts while staying in Yellowstone National Park. First we watched a Grizzly Bear feeding on a Bison carcase, then I saw a pair of Beavers building a dam. I got some photographs of the Bear but it was too dark for the Beavers.

Here is one of my early morning in Yellowstone photographs.

I'm now in Utah and finding the heat very tiring, I prefer the mountains and forests to the Canyonlands.

Rain, Snow and Extreme Heat

The flight to Denver was long but uneventful, and the first day in Denver was hot, sunny and enjoyable.

However we got up on the second day to rain, rain and more rain. As we drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park this turned to snow and visiability was almost zero so the Rangers suggested everyone went down the mountain as quickly as possible. On reaching Estes Park there was a flood watch in force so looking round was somewhat restricted.

South Dakota was hot so we visited Mount Rushmore early in the morning, it was fascinating to see it in real life so to speak.

We are now back in Wyoming in the scorching heat but at least I can take photographs of the wildlife.

This was the first wild animal that got its photograph taken, I've no doubt it will appear in a painting some time in the future.

Going on Holiday

I will be having a blogging break as I'm going on holiday tomorrow until the beginning of September.

We're visiting some of the National Parks in Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. If technology works I'll try to post some photographs.

Otherwise I'll see you in September.

The 2008 Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists

Yesterday was the selection day for the Society of Feline Artists 2008 exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in London.

I met up with my friend and fellow artist Katherine Tyrrell and we both had all our work accepted. I had a slight hiccup with one of my frames but Katherine has kindly sorted everything out for me.

I sent in three of the images earlier in the year and 'Aristocrat' was one of the images selected to feature in the 2008 Private View Invitation.

I will be going back to London on the 2nd of September to the Champagne Private View at the Gallery. It will only be 2 days after I'm due to fly back from America so I'm not sure how alert I'll be!

Kingfisher and Bilberries

I wanted some reference photographs of tree trunks with ivy growing up them. Whilst out tracking down suitable subjects I remembered that it was Bilberry season. In fact as I discovered I remembered a bit late. There was plenty of evidence of Bilberries having been there, but they were now obviously residing in someone else's freezer. I did find enough for a couple of pies after a lot of searching in places not designed to be searched.

I have also made progress with the Kingfisher, he has at least an undercoat all over now. I am enjoying the small paintings for a change, although I'm not sure my eyes have the same enthusiasm.

Kingfisher in Miniature

Staying small I've started another miniature painting, this time acrylic on polymin, 2 x 2.5 inches.
Polymin is sold by Polymers Plus and is described as the modern base for miniatures, a dimensionally stable, chemically resistant, translucent, surface treated plastic sheet. The colour I use is similar to ivory, but there is also Polymin White which is obviously white in colour.

Polymin is totally smooth and very nice to work on, I find it easy to correct mistakes although it does take me several layers to achieve rich colours.

Polymers plus supply a wide range of supports, brushes, frames and other accessories for painting Miniatures

Robin Finished

I've now finished my Robin, I'm reasonably happy with it.

There is a bit more all round so I am still thinking about the crop. I also want to adjust the tones on the bird, but I'll let it rest for a couple of days and then look at it with fresh eyes.

The biggest challenge was getting the acrylic to behave itself in such a small space. I found working with a tiny brush ( a 10/0) and applying the paint in tiny drops worked best, that way I could blend the colours quite easily. I did however use tiny lines to represent the feathers.

Going Small - Miniature Robin

I'm trying to get two or three miniature paintings together to submit to an exhibition later in the year.

I've had one or two false starts and realised in the process that my eyes are are not as good for close up work as they used to be. I have an optivisor, but when I put it on my dogs disown me, sure I must be up to no good. Today they were too hot to care, I just got one or two strange looks from Clinton when he popped his head out from under my drawing table.

Fingers crossed third time lucky. This Robin is from my own reference photograph, it is 3 x 2, acrylic on Arches HP Watercolour paper.

I might decide to crop a bit tighter when I can see the whole thing.

Tomorrow Roxie is at a show but I hope to be home in time to finish my monochrome cat as for once it is fairly close to home.

Most of the other dogs have dropped their coats and I can see Roxie looking at them enviously so I expect to be having a forced showing break soon.

Monochrome Cat with a Splash

I have abandoned everything else to complete another cat.
This is mainly coloured pencil with touches of acrylic on Arches Hot Press Watercolour paper. It will be about 16 x 8 inches.
It has more colour than the ones I've done in French Grey, but I am sticking to the monochrome colour scheme.

There will be a surprise addition to the picture once the cat is finished.

Watch this space.

Snow Leopard continued.

It was a sad day today as we collected Saskas' ashes from the Vet's. They had been put in a very nice little casket but we are going to scatter them on the moor where she loved to run.

We plan on just taking Clinton with us when we do it as he was her special friend.

Once we've done it every time we take the dogs for a run on the moor we will feel she is close to us.

I've done a bit more work on the Snow Leopard including adding a dark background.

I also went out to take some photographs of flowers, foliage and walls today, dodging the rain showers which were torential. Here's one of a Foxgloves which I plan on drawing at some point.

National Exhibition of Wildlife Art -NEWA

Last night I attended the private viewing of the 2008 National Exhibition of Wildlife Art at Gordale Garden Centre on the Wirral.

Earlier in the week I had been delighted to find that 'The Hunter' had been selected by an independent panel of judges for inclusion in the exhibition, so I was once again looking forward to seeing my own work in such prestigious company.

'The Hunter'

As with last year the organisers of the exhibition are to be congratulated for the professional way everything runs. Once again handing in day ran like clockwork, it only took minutes for my work to be checked in, labelled and carried away. This is not as easy as it sounds with high volume of submissions expected each day.

There is plenty of parking at Gordale and there are plenty of signs directing people to the exhibition.

The exhibition itself is a delight to wander round, and the on line gallery means that anyone unable to visit can still view and purchase work.

As well as simply enjoying looking at the diverse work on show, I wanted to use the opportunity as a learning experience.
After an initial look round I went back to study some of the work in depth.
My first impressions were:-
There were an awful lot of Lions and Tigers, all well done and different, but I might work on a more unusual animal or bird for next year.
Birds were popular, from simple graphic designs to paintings including detailed habitat.
To catch the eye from across the room a picture had to either have an excellent and different design, or be strong colour wise. There is so much art of a consistently high standard that to stand out is a real achievement.

On more careful study of images that particularly appealed to me, I found they all had one thing in common, a really strong design. Those artists had obviously put a lot of thought into how best to present their chosen subject.

Some of the ones I liked were close crops of animals, in each case the crop had obviously been chosen to reveal some part of the personality of that particular species.

Although I liked a lot of the work I had two favourites:-

'Achromatic' by Darryn Eggleton

and

'Pheasant' by Wayne Westwood

If you get time have a look at the gallery even if you can't get to the exhibition in person.

Links

Home page for NEWA

Continuing the Snow Leopard

I started to draw the features of the Snow Leopard and realised that:-
1. I didn't like the right ear position
2. the eyes were crooked.

Therefore I used the ear from the next photograph as the Leopard had flicked it forward, and alsoadjusted the eyes. The grid lines made this an easy task, they also enabled me to see that the nose and mouth would line up correctly.

I then painted the eyes in acrylic and started working the fur using a mixture of coloured pencil and acrylic.

It is the scan that is crooked, not my lines!

From the Photograph to the Paper

I want to do a study of a Snow Leopard in coloured pencil before I continue with my graphite version because I've realised the noses on most of my photographs are twisted (I have no idea why)

In order to correct anatomy, I find the easiest way is to use a grid for the parts I'm not sure about. The rest of the reference I can draw freehand, but using a grid helps me keep everything else constant while I alter certain parts.
I start by adding the grid lines to my reference photograph.
I have created a new pattern in Photoshop in order to do this and I add my custom pattern to the photograph as a new layer.

This is the complete photograph gridded out, I could have altered the grid using the transform function to just cover the features, but as I can quite clearly see under the grid lines I decided not to bother.

I then print the photograph out, size doesn't matter although I always like large reference material, so I printed an A3 version. When I start drawing I use the photograph on my laptop so that I can enlarge/lighten etc parts of the photograph as needed. This helps greatly when drawing the features.
The next photograph shows part of the image with the squares labelled with a letter and number in pencil.

I will next draw a grid on my paper, in this case I am using a heavyweight Fabriano Artistico hot press paper, 640gms.

In my next post I'll show you the adjustments I make with the drawing.

Mixed Media Deer

I've worked a little more on the deer, trying to create the feeling of recession. I have a lot of adjusting to do, but once I put the antlers in I hope things will start to come together.

I'm using Caran D'ache Neocolor for the distant hills, I will work over this base coat in coloured pencil if needed.

End of an Era

Pelido Chorus Girl - 'Saska'
19/06/1997 - 09/07/2008

Today was the day every animal owner dreads, we had to make the decision to have Saska put to sleep.

She broke her hock trying to jump over a gate and would have needed it pinning. After discussing all the options with the Vet, and taking into account that she already had chronic arthritis we decided that the kindest thing for her, was to give her rest.

She loved to run and hadn't been able to do that for several months so hopefully she's reunited with her friends, Dexter, Honey, Fleur and Chelsey, chasing after those pesky rabbits.

More on the Red Deer

I am now feeling microscopically more human following my surgery, although the nausea is not completely gone. Each day I can move my arms with a little less pain so I have returned to the Red deer in mixed media and some Snow Leopards in graphite.

I changed paper for the deer, as the pastel paper didn't want to play with acrylic and I wanted to add some in the fur.

I restarted on Arches Hot Press watercolour paper, around 18 x 12 inches and am using a mix of coloured pencils and acrylic.

The coloured pencils are mainly Polychromos and the acrylic mainly Liquitex, with the addition of Chromacolor white.

I have only included the bit of the painting that has some work done on it.

The Snow Leopards are even larger, approximately 20 x 16, on Mellotex Ultra white paper, using mechanical pencils, 4B to 4H.

The reference material for both paintings is mine, the mountains of Scotland have been adapted to provide the basis of the Himalayas.

I photographed the Deer in Scotland, and the Snow Leopards at Marwell Zoological Park.

Red Deer in Mixed Media

I had one of those days yesterday where I didn't want to do anything serious, I just wanted to experiment.

I've found out that all being well with my pre-op tests they've moved my operation forward to this Saturday, that threw me a bit.

I have some lovely photographs of Red Deer that I've taken over the course of several years visiting the Highlands of Scotland. I have been planning a large Deer painting for a while, so yesterday I decided to do a Deer study.

This is an old stag and I wanted to leave his grey fur as it gives him character. It is on Ingres pastel paper and includes Neocolor, Coloured Pencil and Acrylic.

I'm not sure I'll finish him but it helped me to see the potential problems.

After rushing round all day to get things at work sorted out I got another phone call from the hospital to say they don't have a bed for me this weekend, I'm back to where I started, oh well.

Almost Completed Mastiff

I was trying to post the final stage on this one, but I've been so slow that I thought I'd better show you an almost completed version.

I had to have a blood test today prior to going in hospital at the end of the month. Getting blood from me is every nurse's worst nightmare. Today I really excelled myself, nurse 1 had four attempts before passing me on, nurse 2 had 2 attempts before admitting defeat and sending for a Doctor. The Doctor ignored all the usual places and went into the side of my wrist where he hit gold and creared a positive torrent. It never ceases to amaze me that if I get the tiniest paper cut I can soak everything with blood in seconds, show my veins a needle and they sink out of sight refusing to yield a drop.