Graphite Woodpecker Continued

I've made a start on the tree by layering different leads, 4H, HB, 2B then smoothing it all out with a HB. At the end I'll lift some highlights and add some interesting darks.

We went to Mere Sands Wood and Martin Mere today. The light was good with blue sky and sun until just after lunch.

I saw my first Bullfinches of the year, a couple of Bramblings ande had excellent views of a Snipe.

Here's a male Bullfinch.

Graphite Woodpecker

I've returned to graphite today, I'm feeling tired and I don't have to think with graphite in the same way I do with paint.

This is from another of my Great Spotted Woodpecker photographs,

16 x 14 in on Arches hot press watercolour paper.

It is too early to tell if Roxie is in whelp, but she thinks she is. She is bossing the other dogs about, claiming the best sleeping spots and all the toys. She has also become even more vocal than usual telling everyone how she'd quite like to go back to visit her mate again.

Golden Eagle in watercolour

I've started a painting of a Golden Eagle from one of my own reference photographs. There is more of the Eagle but it didn't fit in my scanner.

It is approximately 18 x 14 on Arches hot press paper.

I'm using mainly watercolour with touches of watercolour pencils to add detail. I've decided not to include a background on this one although I might add one or two twigs to suggest a nest.

Coloured Pencil Stoat Finished

I've finished my stoat, I like the effect but it will be a while before I want to use French Grey pencils again.

I had a first for my garden birds today, a small flock of Redpolls. I've never even seen them locally so was delighted when I spotted them in my Silver Birch.

It's not a good photograph because the light is poor and they were right at the back of the garden, but you can see the red forehead.

I've started a graphite Woodpecker and a watercolour Golden Eagle which I'll share when I'm further along.

Mallard Finished

My duckling is almost finished, I've spotted a couple of things to tweak but nothing major.

I have found the watercolour works better with coloured pencil than acrylic so I'll be using it more often.

Drawing Birds by John Busby

If you want to draw birds from life then this book is a good place to start.
Drawing Birds by John Busby
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd; 2nd ed edition (19 Jul 2004)
Available from Amazon
The book is written by John Busby who has been drawing birds for over 60 years. He was born in 1928 and studied at Leeds and Edinburgh Colleges of Art.
As well as his own paintings the book contains work from 37 other bird artists, many of them members of the Society of Wildlife Artists. Most of the artwork included are drawings made on the spot.

The book is split into 7 chapters including:-
Birds in Water
Birds in the Bush
Birds in the Air
Each chapter is beautifully illustrated with examples from a wide range of artists who work from life.

The book is not about a photo realistic approach, rather about achieving drawings that have character and life. For anyone who wants to understand the birds they are painting or drawing then I have no hesitation in recommending this book.


Links

• SWLA - Society of Wildlife Artists
• John Busby - examples of his work
• Drawing Birds by John Busby

Mallard Continued

Having done a 600 mile round trip yesterday to take Roxie to be mated I haven't had much time for art.

Roxie has stayed with the breeder as she wasn't quite ready, so we have another long trip next weekend. The big bonus was that we visited Slimbridge on the way home and I got some nice photographs of a Water Rail.

I am almost finished with my duckling.

The duckling itself is just about done except for a few tiny tweaks, the water is also done, so I've just the stones at the bottom right to finish. I'm using the same colours that are in the water and the duckling and keeping them dark so that they don't really attract the eye.

Mallard Duckling in Mixed Media

I'm trying to finish this one in between working on the stoat. Most of it is watercolour with touches of coloured pencil.

I'm working on a new squidoo lens on drawing and painting birds and hope to have a couple of book reviews to post over the next few days.

Stoat in Coloured Pencil

I've been continuing to work on the stoat painting. I've added the stoat itself and you can see the scale. When I was watching the stoat on the Loch side running in and out of the huge boulders I couldn't help comparing its brief lifespan to the endless eons the rocks had been in existence. That was my concept behind the painting, a tiny bright spark in a large monochrome landscape.

Nuthatch

Today's bird is a Nuthatch which I photographed yesterday. The sun appeared briefly so the light on the bird was quite good. I'm definitely going to include him/her in a future painting.

Today we've been at the first dog show of the year. Roxie had to stay at home because she's in season and we would have been better leaving Juno at home as well. His mind was definitely not on showing, it had been left at home with Roxie and Roma (who's also in season).

It was nice catching up with our friends though and looking at this years puppies.

Goldcrest and Stoat in Coloured Pencil

I've started drawing my stoat from the photograph I took in Scotland.

So far all French Grey on Arches Hot Press paper, 20 x 8. I am going to paint the stoat in full colour to provide a bright splash.

Todays bird is a Goldcrest which visited the garden several times, it only stays for a couple of minutes each visit so I was lucky to catch it in a good pose.

Woodpecker part 4

I decided to add a background to the Woodpecker using mainly watercolour with a little coloured pencil on top. It needs some work yet but I have a picture in my mind of how I want it to end up.

I've included a close up of the Woodpecker, still a lot of feathers to complete.

Woodpecker Part 3

I'm finding the watercolour is working better than acrylic when I'm working over it with coloured pencils. I can use a dark Sepia/Payne's Grey mix and then add fine detail using a light blue pencil.I went to Fairburn Ings yesterday and saw my first Kingfisher of 2009, although it was a very fleeting glimpse. The light was poor so my photographs aren't very good, which is a shame as there was a Snipe quite close to one of the hides.

Peanut Butter and Woodpeckers

I've put peanut butter on the menu for my garden birds, the rough not smooth kind. I've started spreading it onto the bark of my trees and it's certainly creating interest.
The Treecreeper appears a little perplexed, in fact I'm sure he'd scratch his head if he could. I think he visits every day just to see what's on the menu, being an insect eater he's not been too impressed with my offerings up to now.




I've been working on my Woodpecker and I have to say I'm enjoying painting the bark.

Great Spotted Woodpecker Painting

I'm working on the duckling but started this one as well.
It's a Great Spotted Woodpecker and it was perched on one of my Silver Birch trees when I photographed it.

The size is 10 x 6 and I'm using coloured pencil and watercolour on Arches hot press paper.

I'm thinking about very lightly drawing a couple of trees in the background but I'm not sure that would work. I'll try it in photoshop first.

Watercolour Duckling continued

I've not had much time today as I've been cooking the Sunday lunch, then afterwards we were all having a turn on the Wii fit. It always finds that I'm not very fit, although today it showed I had the body of a 26 year old. It obviously cannot see my body, or feel its aches and pains or else it would reverse those numbers.

Anyway I'm continuing to work on the water, building it up in layers and trying to avoid mud. I'm being very restrained as I haven't even put the ducklings eye in yet.

Watercolour Duckling

I've made a start on another duckling, this time it's a Mallard. I photographed it in the Spring at Marten Mere.

It's watercolour on Arches Hot Press Watercolour paper, 10 x 8inches.

I've been giving some thoughts to what I want to achieve in 2009.

Birds will play a big part in my work, both photographs and paintings. I intend to continue working on improving my photography as I have become increasingly interested in it as art in its own right.

My specific aims are:-

• I aim to produce 6 new feline works for the 2009 SOFA exhibition.
• I aim to submit 2 works to NEWA and at least one piece to SWLA .
• I aim to enter at least 3 competitions.
• I aim to develop my miniature painting and submit to one exhibition.
• I aim to complete at least one new painting each month.
• I aim to post on my blog at least 3 times a week
• I aim to spend one day each week on marketing with the aim of approaching a Gallery with my portfolio by the Autumn
• I aim to have a tidy up of both my websites, and my squidoo lens

Back from Scotland

The weather was really cold in Scotland, down to minus 20 overnight and never above freezing during the day. It was beautiful, the sun shone and the frost was so thick it looked like snow. The dogs came back from their late night walk with tiny icicles under their chins, formed by their warm breath condensing. Clinton wasn't too impressed with this and demanded they were removed by leaping about shaking his head, then sinking slowly to the floor and rubbing his head on the carpet.

This is my favourite photograph, taken on the shore of Loch Fleet.

Tomorrow I'll post a bit about my aims for 2009 as far as my artwork is concerned.

Tree Sparrow

We're off to Scotland this morning to welcome in 2009, hopefully I'll get some sketching done and have some new photographs to share.

I'm taking my laptop and mobile internet connection so I might post before 2009, then again I might not. If not I wish you all a Happy New Year .

I'll leave you with a Tree Sparrow I photographed on Saturday at Mere Sands Wood.

Rough Collie in Pastel

Another of my Commissions, Bonnie the Rough Collie in pastel.

This was another one I enjoyed because the owner supplied me with some really nice photographs to choose from.

I picked this one which to me had so much life.

The picture was 16 x 20 on colourfix.

Jack Russell in Coloured Pencil and a Treecreeper

Now that Christmas Day is over I can share some of my commission work.

This Jack Russell was a pleasure to draw she had such a sweet little face. Plus I took the photographs which made it easier as I'd seen her personality.

The owner asked that I use French Grey coloured pencil with colour for the eyes, the same technique I've used for cats.

It's on Arches hot press watercolour paper.

My bird of the day is this Treecreeper which was attracted to the fat we've rubbed in the bark of one of the Silver Birches.

It's not the sharpest of photographs but I was so excited my hands were shaking. This is not a common visitor to our garden.

Happy Holidays and a Chaffinch

I bought a Canon lens off eBay and I'm delighted with it. It's a Canon 4oo 5.6 L, really lightweight and easy to use.

Even though the light was awful I managed to take a few reasonable shots today, this is one of the better ones, a Chaffinch.

We're spending the New Year in Scotland so fingers crossed for good light and plenty of birds of prey.

For all who celebrate Christmas I hope you have a very Merry one, for all who don't I wish you Happy Holidays.

I'll be back with some artwork later in the week.

A Photoshop Tip

At last the Christmas Commissions are finished, the last one is being collected tomorrow. I'm now looking forward to getting my entries for a couple of competitions ready.

Today's photograph is a stunning Asian cat.

I thought I'd share a photoshop tip for sharpening an image without altering colour.

Open image

Create a new background layer

In the layer palette select luminosity (the colour and saturation in the lower layer will be retained)

In the filter menu select unsharp mask and adjust the sliders until you like the result

Flatten image,

I have found this works better than applying unsharp mask direct to the image.

More on Taking your own Photographs

Todays bird is a Shelduck chick, taken back in June, the same one that I've started painting in a different pose.
I thought it would be useful to let you in on a few of my tricks for taking photographs of garden birds.

I place feeders in locations surrounded by vegetation that the bird can perch on, as my aim is to avoid photographing on the feeder whenever possible. I want natural looking shots to use as reference material for future paintings. I do however try to ensure that they are never placed where cats can sneak up on the birds.

Once I've placed the feeder I try not to move it as the birds seem happier to visit familiar objects. I also keep them filled as I've found birds continue to visit as long as food is available.

I rub cheese and fat into the tree trunks as I've found this attracts Woodpeckers, and keeps them reasonably still while they peck at it.

I always provide water, Blackbirds in particular love to splash about in it.

If I had to give one tip to increase the chance of successfully photographing garden birds, it would be learn about their behaviour.

I've found that most species tend to have fairly predictable visiting patterns.
Long Tailed Tits tend to visit early and late afternoon, passing through quickly, they never stay longer than a few minutes.
The Woodpecker visits early afternoon and spends several minutes on one particular tree.
The Jay and Sparrowhawk visit early morning, the Jay tends to be on the ground but is very shy and hard to photograph. If the Sparrowhawk has caught a bird you can approach quite close while it's feeding, otherwise it just shoots through the garden.
The Blue, Great and Coal Tits are about all day often taking a seed or nut and perching on a branch to eat it.
So on and so on.

Oh and one other thing, you need an endless amount of patience and good humour when several Collies decide to tell you all about the one you're trying to sneak up on.

Another Bird

Still no artwork but I am continuing to print out my photographs on a daily basis.

Another bird from my garden, this time a Blue Tit.

Standing Room Only

I went to visit the RSPB Reserve at Leighton Moss today, visiting Heysham and Hess Bank to look at the waders on the way.

I'm going to call this one "Standing Room Only".

Yesterday I printed a photograph of a Shelduck chick which I have started to paint in acrylic.

10 x 8 on Arches, started laying in a base coat of indigo with a touch of sepia.

Starling Photograph

I photographed this Starling in my garden, I couldn't resist the beautiful colours in the plumage.

Not the most exciting of this mornings birds but the most eye catching.

Squirrel Photograph

Today's photograph is a Squirrel that I took in Yellowstone National Park in August.
I hope to be back to sharing my artwork by the end of the week.

Least Chipmunk Photograph

Todays photograph is a Least Chipmunk (if anyone thinks it is a different species please let me know as I am not 100% certain) that I photographed in South Dakota in the Summer. I'm torn between painting a miniature of him or doing a larger work with a background.

I'm almost finished with my Christmas Commissions and am longing to paint something for me.

Creating a Photographic Record

I've been thinking about a daily project for 2009. I am realistic enough to know that attempting a daily drawing or painting is not going to happen.

I have also been thinking about how little my photographs actually get looked at because they are files stored on a hard drive.


So each day until the end of 2009 I am going to try to print one of my photographs. I'm just going to do a small version, probably around 4 x6, each one will be a subject I intend to paint.


I've bought some blank 8 x 5 cards and I will stick the photograph to the card. I will then record details about the photograph and which folder it is stored in on my hard drive. The back of the card will be used for thumbnail's, tiny sketches etc. Once the card is full I will laminate it to help preserve the information.


As often as possible I will use a photograph taken on that day, so for today it is a Robin on the garden fence.


I will then be able to share my photographs with people who don't have access to a computer.

Pintail Photograph

I'm still working at my Commissions which I can't show until after Christmas. I've aslo been struggling getting to and from work in the icy conditions. The roads have been sheets of ice because the snow froze during Tuesday.

However the rain has returned so hopefully it will wash away the snow, fingers crossed it doesn't freeze.

I'll post another of my Martin Mere photographs, this time a Pintail with a great reflection. I can't wait to get started on my bird studies.

I've also purchased two new Derwent Onyx pencils.

This is what Derwent says about them:-

Derwent ONYX - Darker than a 9B Our new Derwent Onyx pencil is made from smooth dark graphite and allows you to instantly create dense rich jet-black tones, even darker than a Graphic 9B. Its 4mm wide core has a non-crumbly texture which means it will sharpen and hold a fine point for longer making it ideal for hatching. And, it will smudge allowing you to blend it with your finger tip or a Tortillon.

I haven't had a go with them yet but will do over the next couple of days.

North West Bird Watching Festival

I took time out from painting today to visit the North West Bird Watching Festival at Martin Mere.

The Reserve opened early this weekend and I was there by just after 9.00am. The weather was freezing, around -2 degrees, but lovely and sunny. I took lots of photographs of the frost edging everything in white. I also took lots of swans, geese and ducks with stunning reflections. My favourite photograph for today however is this little Goldcrest. I had to wait quite a long time to get this shot by which time my hands were so cold I had difficulty operating the camera.

After taking the photograph I had to go inside for reviving coffee and a browse around all the goodies on sale.
I took out a subscription to Birds Illustrated which I've been meaning to do for quite a long time. It is a subscription only magazine and has articles of bird art/artists in every issue. I got 4 free copies with my subscription, so I'm going to go and get another coffee and settle down for a long read.

Red Deer in Mixed Media

I want some examples of British wildlife for my portfolio so I pulled this Red Deer Stag from the WIP file.

I didn't get much done as I'm in the middle of a large pastel commission, but I did paint the sky.

This is an old Stag that I photographed in Scotland last New Years Day. His whole attitude was one of patient endurance. I wonder if he made it through the winter.

Watercolour Cat

I can't show any of the commissions I'm working on until after Christmas as they are all surprises for the owners.

I have however done a little bit more work on my watercolour cat.

Snow Leopard Finished

I worked on this all day yesterday and got him finished. Hopefully he will be auctioned on behalf of the Snow Leopard Trust, more details in a couple of days.

I know the paw is slightly foreshortened, but I didn't want to change it, as it gave the effect I was looking for. These magnificent animals have such huge paws, an adaptation for their natural habitat.

Now back to my Christmas commissions.

The Supreme Cat Show Experience

We had to get up at 4.00am to be sure of arriving at the NEC in time to set up. Only the younger dogs bothered moving at that time in the morning and even they only went out briefly before going back to sleep.
The only possible benefit I could find in leaving my warm bed at such an hour, was the almost traffic free M1.

Sales were almost non existent in the morning so I wandered about taking photographs. Thank you to all the owners who got their cats out of their pens for me to get up close and personal with.
I did meet a lovely lady who lives close to my home and has invited me to go and photograph all her cats in their own surroundings. I will be arranging that visit over the next couple of weeks and can't wait for the chance to add some different breeds to my portfolio.
Around lunch time the sales started and I ended up taking more than last year. Card sales were down but print sales were definitely up.
I think my new display stand helped as customers could pick the prints up for a closer look.
I had a new range of smaller, less expensive prints available but it was the larger ones that sold.

The highlight of the day came when the owner of the cat I'm in the middle of painting recognised it was her cat immediately, so did several family members and friends, including a little boy. This wasn't a commission, I had just been allowed to use the photograph. However the owner liked the painting so much she is going to buy it when finished.

I had been wondering if I should book a stand next year, but after having a fabulous afternoon, all being well in 2009 I will be back.
Now back to the Snow Leopard, I've got an extension to the deadline until this afternoon!

Snow Leopard at the Supreme Cat Show

Well only this one, at least I hope so.

In order to meet my deadline I'm going to take this to the Supreme Cat Show which is being held at the NEC tomorrow. I can work on him in between running my stand and walking round to look at all the fabulous felines who will be on show.

It will be a very early start as I need to be there for round about 7.00am to set up my stand, so I will not get a lot more done today. I'm going to have a dress rehersal later as I have bought a new display stand and had a new sign printed.

Snow Leopard in Coloured Pencil

I realised that I was not going to finish the large Snow Leopard painting in time for the weekend, which is my deadline. I've started another one which is smaller and on blue colourfix which I find slightly faster to work on.

It will be about 14 x 12 depending how much of his body I draw.

Demonstrating for the UKCPS at Art Materials Live

I spent Thursday and Saturday helping the UKCPS with their stand at the Art Materials Live show which is held at the NEC. I was demonstrating the use of coloured pencils on various surfaces.
I was joined by several other demonstrators all working with coloured pencil but producing very different effects. I have to mention both Peter Woof and Suzy Herbert as I spent more time with them , I absolutely loved the pieces they were working on.
I think the demonstrating role was far easier than running the workshop, the members there worked non stop helping people have a go using coloured pencils. Hopefully those people will go on to become members of the UKCPS and create art using coloured pencils.
Once again I lost count of the number of people who were astonished at the effects you can achieve with a "crayon"
A special mention for Rachel who I never saw stop throughout the whole time I was there, and she was attending for the whole four days.
Hello to all the people who stopped to talk to me, I really enjoyed meeting you all.
Thursday was a major disaster for me as my husband managed to spill a full cup of coffee over the commission I was working on. Not only did the pristine white background suffer, so did my legs, feet and bag. I'd spent around 10 hours on the work up to the coffee incident so I was ever so slightly upset. However my husband was so sorry that he bought me the entire set of Luminance pencils so I recovered a little after that.

I thought that on the whole there were slightly less people visiting than last year which some of the traders agreed with. However they felt that individuals were spending more per head than last year so didn't think takings would be down.
I hope to be helping again next year as I really enjoy it.

Hitting or Missing Deadlines

Next year I want to make sure that I meet all my deadlines, or make a conscious decision not to enter exhibitions/competitions. Although I'm reasonably well organized I did end up missing one or two things I'd wanted to try.

So I've bought an academic planner that started in September and runs all through 2009. I've entered all the dates that I already know. I've split them into deadlines for sending images for catalogues and absolute final deadlines. I've also entered closing dates for dog shows if I know them. It's amazing how many dates are already filled. Now I just need to remember where I've put the planner.

I need to finish my Snow Leopard so I got it out of my portfolio and painted a background in acrylic. This is quite large for me around 24 x 20 on heavyweight Arches Hot Press paper.

The cat on pastelbord is half finished probably to the point I want to leave it for working on at the NEC.

Maine Coon Cat on Pastelbord

I've had to put everything to one side to try to paint a couple of new breeds for the Supreme.

This is the first, a Maine Coon cat who is an Imperial Grand Premier. I met him walking round a show in his harness looking down his nose at the other cats as he strolled by their pens.


He is a stunning cat and I hope I can do him justice.

I wanted to use pastelbord so that I can take it to the NEC next week. Last year people seemed interested in using coloured pencil on board.

The background is done in neocolor and needs a little more work to smooth it out.

Size 12 x 16 and I'm using the sand coloured Ampersand Pastelbord.

More Watercolour Cat

I've been carrying on with my watercolour cat, more layers to do but I can see where I'm going now.
I'm also trying to do a couple more cat breeds to offer as prints at the Supreme Cat Show, time is running out though.
I will be at the NEC on the 13th and 15th demonstrating for the UK Coloured Pencil Society and then back there on the 22nd for the Supreme. If you are visiting either event come and say hello.

Coloured Pencil cat and Birds

I've decided to try to exhibit more often next year and a couple of places I'm looking at would require more bird art.

So yesterday we went to Martin Mere which is about an hours drive from us. It is run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and is a fantastic place to visit. At this time of year it provides a roost for thousands of geese and swans. Yesterday there were around 10,000 Pink Footed Geese arriving to roost from early afternoon.

I got some nice photographs of various species of ducks, geese and swans with beautiful reflections as the sun was quite bright.

We also watched several stoats darting about in the grass, but they were far too fast for my photography skills.

At home I am lucky enough to have quite a few different species visit my feeders. This afternoon however was exceptional. I was trying to get some shots of a flock of Goldfinch which visit every day when I spotted a Goldcrest on the waterfall right in front of the window. As it flew away my husband spotted a Treecreeper on one of the Silver Birch Trees. Five minutes after that flew away we got a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the nuts.

I've seen a handful of Goldcrests in the garden over the 20 years we've lived here but it was only the third time I've seen a Treecreeper actually in the garden. The Woodpecker used to be a regular visitor but I hadn't seen it for a couple of years.

The next time I'm at home all day I'm going to set my camera up on the tripod which will help with the poor light later in the day.

Moving from birds to cats. This is the study I did for the watercolour cat I'm painting, 2.5 x 3.5, coloured pencil on Arches Hot Press.

Click here to bid.

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.