Coloured Pencil Kitten - Part 2

A little more work.

Dipper

The bird for the day is a Dipper which I photographed on the river near home yesterday.

Hopefully back later to share some artwork.

Pheasant and Phantom Pregnancy

It was a nice sunny afternoon so I decided to have a quick tour of the local lanes to see if I could get some photographs of Curlews. I can hear them from the garden, I love their long bubbling song as they glide above the fields.

On my way up to the moor I spotted a Pheasant standing on a wall in the sunlight. He allowed me to get near enough to rest my camera on a wall and we enjoyed a ten minute photo shoot.

I will definitely be painting this one.

Back home Roma is having a phantom pregnancy, she has adopted a burst football which emits a horrible squeal when she picks it up. Trouble is she picks it up, drops it in horror when it squeaks, looks horrified that it rolls away, so picks it up again. This has been repeated all day except for the few minutes when she hides it and forgets where it's been hidden. Then we all have to rush round finding it because she stands there crying, very, very loudly. Roxie asked for earplugs, Clinton has retired upstairs, Juno is sharing childcare and Rio is going to kill her.

Kitten in Coloured Pencil

I've started another of the 2009 cat series, this time a tabby kitten.

I'm going to add a feather or butterfly at the end to give the kitten something to be reaching for.

This is all coloured pencil on Arches hot press watercolour paper.

Burmese Cat - Finished

I just need to make a few small alterations and then he's finished. The title is 'Moody Blue'

I will post a demo of the eyes, but I don't have time today.

Burmese Cat part 2

More work on the Burmese, hopefully I'll post the eye demo tomorrow.

We have two ponds in the garden, the smaller one is about 5 x 3 feet. Imagine my surprise when I looked out of the window to see a pair of mallard enjoying themselves splashing about. I'm not sure the fish appreciated them quite as much as I did. Fortunately by the time my husband came home the water had cleared, he would have had the same impression as the fish. If they come back I'll take a photograph of their antics.

Burmese Cat in Coloured Pencil

I've started another in the 2009 cat series.
I took the photograph of this beautiful male Burmese in quite strong sunshine so the light on him is nice.

It is quite large, around 16 x 12 on Arches hot press. This time I'm burnishing between layers as he has such a dense plush coat.

I haven't started the eyes because I intend to do a mini demonstration showing how I complete them.

We visited Martin Mere again yesterday because I was hoping to see the Kingfishers. Sure enough they were visible round the hole they are hopefully going to nest in. I couldn't take any good photographs as the windows in the hide have been nailed shut to minimise disturbance. Once the birds have settled the windows should be opened again.

It was still a wonderful experience to watch these birds starting to excavate their nest hole.

I did take some nice photographs of a Heron in the sun.

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

Cat on Pastelmat continued (again!)

I'm almost finished, just a little more on the right side then I need to decide how I want to crop him.

I've been experimenting with Claybord, watercolour, coloured pencil and then scraping the fur in. I'll share when I've a little more to show you.

Cat on Pastelmat continued

Todays bird is a Pied Wagtail which was having a drink in the river, for once the sun was quite bright on the water so I lost some detail.

More on the Tabby on white pastelmat, I still like the appearance of the fur on this surface,

Pastel cat on Pastelmat

I wanted to compare pastel and coloured pencil on Pastelmat. I also wanted to see how colours worked on the black as I always feel that black Stonehenge has a deadening effect on colours.

Here's a few stages in a little demo I did.

I like the pastel, the colours stay vibrant, at least for now, I'll revisit in a few days

Back to the Mallard and a Goal Achieved.

Earlier in the year I mentioned that one of my aims this year was to enter more competitions and/or exhibitions. So far I've entered three and I've been successful in the first one. One of my pieces has been shortlisted for Wildlife Artist of the Year. It will be on display at the Mall Galleries in London in June, more details later.

I've done some more work on the Mallard, mainly the boring bits, the background. The photograph isn't very good as today has been a day of really heavy showers so the light is poor. The little bit of colour I've added isn't showing up very well so I'll do a scan tomorrow.

Maine Coon Cats Continued

I'm working on the cats and the mallard so I'll show you thye update on the Maine Coon Cats today.

I'm painting an undercoat in watercolour then using the coloured pencil on top.

More Tabby Cat on Pastelmat

This morning we took all the dogs on the moor just as the sun was rising. I walked along the moor road looking for birds, I saw a couple of Curlews and then met the hounds going for their early morning walk.

Here are a couple of photographs.

Juno waiting for the ball to be thrown andthe hounds.

Macro Cat on Clairefontaine Pastelmat

I have been wanting to try my new Clairefontaine pastelmat. I cut a small piece and drew a macro tabby cat as I wanted to try the surface more than worry about drawing. So far I'm really liking it, it feels like a cross between velour and colourfix. It takes layers well, you can blend and burnish and the fur has a soft look to it.
I'll be doing a more detailed review when I finish the piece.

Avocets and the Mallard

The Avocets are back at Martin Mere so we decided to have a trip to see them. First though we visited RSPB Marshside which is a mile from Southport to see if I could spot the Black Tailed Godwits. I've never seen Godwits but had been told that they were easy to see at Marshside. Not only did I see the Godwits but right in front of the hide were two Avocets posing for the camera. We also saw a Snipe and 2 Little Egrets which made up for the extremely cold wind blowing in our faces the whole time at Martin Mere. The hide at Marshside was nice and warm, with comfortable chairs and windows at a really convenient height for photography.

I'm continuing working on my female mallard but will post an update on the cats soon. I've added the touch of blue on the wing and a little colour on the breast feathers.

I'm still not sure if Roxie is in whelp but I am leaning towards thinking she is, she certainly thinks she is.

Mallard in mixed media

After my graphite and coloured pencil Woodpecker I decided to do another bird using the same technique. This time a Mallard, 16 x 12 on Arches. It is the first of (hopefully) a trio of Mallard drawings.

I've used a combination of two photographs that I took last year at Martin Mere.
I will post an update of the cats tomorrow.

Maine Coon Cats

I've been working long hours the last two days so not much time for art.

I have done a little bit though, here's a bit more of the three cats.

Crufts dog show is taking place over the next four days. I'm going on Sunday, Juno and Roxie are both entered but Roxie is staying at home just in case she is in whelp. I'm having doubts though, she's not really showing any signs so I think she's fooled us this time. I might have to resort to plan B, I just need to decide what plan B is.

The 2009 Cat Series

I decided I'd better make a start on my cat series which will be aimed at the SOFA exhibition in September.

This is watercolour and coloured pencil on Arches, approx 18 x 14. The finished picture will be a mother and two Maine Coon kittens. You can only see the bit that fit in my scanner.

I ordered some Fisher 400 paper today together with some Clairfontaine pastelmat in three colours. Artists who use pastelmat describe it as being in between colourfix and velour to use, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Graphite Woodpecker - Finished

Now I've posted him I can see one or two tweaks that I need to make. You need to ignore the blue cast from the scan it isn't there in real life.

Today a female Woodpecker visited the garden so at least there are a pair in the vicinity.