Tiger in Water

Believe it or not, tigers like nothing better than to cool off in lakes and streams, and will even hunt in water. The most famous tigers to display this behaviour are those in Ranthambore National Park, India.

As tigers are incredibly threatened at the moment, I thought they would make the perfect subject for this years DSWF wildlife art competition.
This is actually my second attempt at this image. I did not anticipate how hard the reflections could be - they can very easily turn into a big watery and muddy mess! I kept them very simple, by wetting the shape of the reflection area, then adding loose blobs of either red, orange or blue/black. Once the area had almost dried, I added the surrounding water, letting some areas run into the reflection.
I put the most detail into the tiger's head. I used layers of fine 'brush splatters' to create a furry appearance, more so on the longer fur under the ears.
I have kept the background neutral, as this means the main focus is on the tiger and the water. Foliage or riverbank could easily make the image muddy and dull.
After some reassurance, I am now happy with this watercolour, and will enter it in the 'Endangered' category, along with the Red Breasted Geese. Wish me luck!

Eider Duck

I will be completely honest and say this painting was a pain in the backside to do! Usually my subjects are quite static, so this time I wanted to add a bit of action, and have the duck rising out of the water and stretching it's wings. I watched 2 Eider Ducks bathing in the late afternoon light at the WWT wetland centre, so had plenty of reference, but I just could not get the wings correct. I spent ages sketching out the lines in pencil, and even when I applied the paint the right wing looked pinioned and at an incorrect angle.
Even so, I perserveared and eventually produced an image I am fairly happy with. What I enjoy the most about this image is the water. Splashing the page roughly with blue and black ink created some great movement, and the colours on the bird are soft and warm.
My next aim is to produce something for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist competition. A Tiger will be the best subject for the Endangered category methinks.

Red Breasted Geese

On Saturday my mum and I visited the WWT reserve in Barnes, West London. It was a beautiful sunny day, and perfect for watching all the lovely wildlife there. My favourite wildfowl there were the Eider Ducks, and these colourful Red-Breasted Geese. They were lit up by the late afternoon sun, and just crying out to be painted!
This was quite an ambitious image for me to paint in watercolour. Water is one of the trickiest things to paint, especially when coupled with reflections. I took inspiration from Lars Johnson's watercolours of wildfowl. He uses simple loose brushstrokes on wet washes to produce a loose impression of the bird in the water. He also uses the white of the paper to illuminate the subject. I have a habit of covering even the white parts of my subjects with colour, so I wanted to try this method instead. I am quite pleased with this image as it is my first painting since the summer!
The red, black and white of these birds make a lovely contrast, and I will probably re-visit them again to paint, but first I am going to try some Eiders.

Poland Cockerel

Whilst visiting Wiltshire with my boyfriend last weekend, we walked past a farm and saw this weird but wonderful cockerel. This breed of chicken is called a 'Poland'. It's most eye-catching feature is the fantastic hairdo, which reminds me of David Bowie's character Jareth from the film Labyrinth (if you haven't seen this film already, watch it, it's amazing!).

Unfortunately the feathers over his eyes seemed to completely obscure his vision. Every time the wind blew and the leaves rustled, it ran around erratically not knowing what on earth was going on! However, I just had to paint him. I had to paint him in sections, otherwise the different reds and browns would have blended into each other. Looking at this painting has made me realise that I really need to do something with my backgrounds. I need to introduce more colour around the subject, instead of just a small area at it's feet. I think this will have to be my project going forward.

Kerry Landscapes

These are my first attempts at some new landscapes, inspired by my recent holiday to County Kerry in Ireland. The first is a view of the mountains overlooking Dingle Bay on the Dingle Peninsula. I am not quite as confident using watercolour for landscape painting, as it is very different compared to painting wildlife. I kept the image 'loose', using a wet on wet technique. I wanted the mountains to blend into the sky, to give the effect of clouds drifting over the mountain tops, so I added the mountains whilst the sky was still moist. For my first watercolour landscape in several years,
I am fairly happy with the result. It is very atmospheric and moody.
The second painting to the left are the mountains overlooking Muckross Lake in Killarney National Park. I painted this using my usual method in acrylic, using a palette knife to apply the majority of the colour. I only used a paintbrush to give the softer cloud effects, and to blend the reflections. I prefer to paint in this method, as it is far more expressive. Although, as my stepdad pointed out, I need to paint on canvas paper or board, so the acrylic flows better and does not create such harsh lines. This calls for a trip to the art shop to stock up tomorrow!

Welsummer Trio

Working in a school means that I luckily get some time off over the summer holiday period. I am using this time to get back into the swing of painting.
Today I focused on this small study of a Welsummer cockerel and hens. As it is a small study, I wanted to be be as loose as possible with my style. This is easier said than done! I couldn't help adding the little details such as the little grass stems and feather flecks.
What I like about this painting is that I have captured the 'action'. Cockerels are very attentive of their ladies. If they find a titbit on the ground, they will cluck excitedly. The hens will run over and grab the food, and the cockerel will sidle up to them, asserting his dominance.
Welsummers are my favourite chickens to paint. Their colouring is stunning, and a wonderful challenge for watercolours.

I recently bought a Windsor and Newton travel watercolour set in preparation for a holiday to Ireland. Before leaving, I decided to try them out by adding some colour to these two sketches. The first is a red-tailed Bumble Bee on a pink Cosmos flower. I have filled my garden with these wildlife friendly plants, and the bees and hoverflies cannot get enough of them! They make interesting subjects to draw from life. Even with a limited colour palette, I am pleased with the vibrancy of the pinks, reds and purples in this image.
The second sketch is of a chicken with attitude, called 'Nora Batty'. She was the boss of the chicken coop, hen pecking all the other poor girls. I think the best thing about this watercolour is the stance of the hen. I have been observing and drawing chickens since I was a child, and it has given me the ability to capture their characters, and the details of their feathering.
Overall I am impressed with the quality and colour range in my travel set, and I aim to use it a lot more out in the field. I look forward to using it to paint some Irish landscapes.