Froggy Visitor

Over the summer we had another little visitor, one which thankfully didn’t need any intervention. Nemo begrudgingly donated his water bowl to this juicy frog found in our garden. I think I will paint him again much darker and tighter, I filled up the space on the paper with as much frog as possible.

I also was recommended a frog to paint by one of my dear commissioners, the bird poop frog! A tree frog like the name suggests disguises itself by imitating poop on a leaf. I would like to also paint a few more versions, frogs are gorgeous. The common frog and bird poop frog here are available in my shop.

Dunnock

This poor little dunnock, (also known as the hedge sparrow) booked herself in for an 11 day stay over the summer. We found her close to the promenade and didn’t want her plopping into the frigid North Sea so we took her home to release at a later point.

We bought her a cage and fed her meaty dog food every few hours until she was strong enough to fly and forage. As you can see, little fledglings grow fast and become completely wild with each day — a really good sign that she’ll be just fine.

We would have loved a wildlife rescue to raise her to full strength, but most rescue centres have closed down, so we tried to do the best we could for this brave, little dunnock.

I painted her adult form in watercolours, crêpe paper, pastel, Brusho and ink.

Blue Hare Work in Progress

I’m working on this blue hare for an exhibition entry, I have my other three also painted with Brusho and watercolours but I think I needed a blue one. I’ve gotten so far and feel like it’s ready for recycling, the fate of many of the paintings I make. At least it is posted here, where it can live forever.

I think I’ll have a go with powdered charcoal and Brusho instead, I’m sure that will be more interesting.

Grey Squirrel

With the lovely big blue eye which you never get in reality, here we are with another grey squirrel. This is another painting I managed to draw straight onto the paper with complete confidence. I love the bloom on his right facing ear. These things happen when you leave your paint alone and allow watercolour magic to happen without human meddling.

This little guy is waiting for a home in my shop.

Bird Trio Commission

These lucky birdies have a new home in Ohio. The trio features the red (northern) cardinal which is the the state bird of Ohio, the barn swallow and the American robin.

These were small A5, cold pressed watercolours painted mainly in Brusho and watercolour.

For fun I thought I would include a tragic photo of all the drafts to embarrass myself, why not?

Most of the time I just lose that ‘special feeling’ about artwork I make and just ditch it and make another one. I like to think I keep those kind people at *Canson and *St Cuthberts Mill in Rolex, haha!

*Not sponsored by the way, but highly recommended. They deserve their Rolexes anyway.

Rainbow Wolf

I’ve been working on a few paintings of wolves for a friend’s book trilogy, this one she’s really taken with, but it’s a little too simple for me to be entirely happy with. I used watercolour pencils for the fur texture instead of watercolour and used a watercolour block instead of a sheet which means this puppy dried really flat.

It’s taken a while, but not needing the lightbox crutch to transfer images and having the confidence to draw straight onto a surface is a huge deal for me. The constant buckling of watercolour paper pushed me into it!

Spring Epple Bay Finds 2021

Here’s a few teasers of the things I found in Epple Bay over the spring. For more art inspired by coastal bits and pieces check out my Nemo by Sea blog. Nemo is 13 years old this year, and still really loves the local bays and cracking open as many blue mussels as he can find and gobbling the slime, a true sea-foody.

Project Re-Think-Re-Wild

I was involved with an ambitious ecology project funded by the British Ecological Society to produce artwork to be animated to raise awareness about having specific controversial fauna and flora introduced back into Europe. Here is some finished and unfinished art I created for the project, along with the draft animation.

Re-Think-Re-Wild ran out of funding unfortunately, but it was a great experience which was made possible by brilliant ecologist Rob Lewis, Jens Christian Svenning, Ashley Pearcy with talented animator Denis Chapon and The Animation Workshop VIA.

Barn Swallow and American Robin

I’ve been working on a set of paintings for a trio commission featuring the red cardinal, barn swallow and American robin. I haven’t cracked the red cardinal just yet but a couple of these guys have been chosen to go on a wall overseas, which I’m so happy I could decorate!

Red Cardinal

I’ve had many attempts at the Red Cardinal during my arty practice. So many awful paintings that I couldn’t even put them on here, which is pretty sad actually as it would have been a wonderful contrast.

I’m not sure why this bird has given me so much trouble in the past. I think like always, I just went in too hard with colour and found there was no where for me to go with it.But by the power of watercolour, ink, crêpe paper and a huge dollop of luck, I’m happy with this one, at last.

Although I painted this little guy for a commission, a different red cardinal was chosen, so this one is in my shop.

Barn Swallow Practice Painting

This was a draft of a Barn Swallow I was working on, I think it came out pretty well! I really scribbled out the initial image hard in graphite pencil before going in with fineliner and Indian ink. I really love the scratchy, frenzied quality, even though I was surprisingly pretty chilled out whilst creating the painting.

I used Brusho for that instant pop of deep dramatic colour.

Beaver Drawing

I saw this image of a beaver, and I just wanted to draw his head on copier paper, nothing special. Drawn with a 4B and HB pencil.

February 2021 Bay Finds

I have painted a few of Epple bay’s treasures this month on my Nemo by Sea blog. I got around to painting this tiny little whelk shell, which I blew up onto A5 and used it as my NbS icon. I’m pretty happy with the simplicity — a weird feeling!

Marbled Newts

These green little guys are marbled newts, found in France and northern Spain. But one of these lucky guys is off to Ohio to join his other brethren.

A challenging two-tone animal, green on black or black on green? I made a few practice paintings to see what looked best.

Against all watercolour rules (as you’re supposed to paint light to dark), I went with black first, green on top.

Painting is not a science for me just yet, it’s still a bit of a mystery. Making little drafty paintings before hand is helping me not make so many mistakes.

January 2021 Bay Finds

Found a few interesting things to paint on Epple Bay this month, see more of my sea soiled hands on my Nemo by Sea blog.

More Watercolour Wolves

Here are some more wolves I’ve been working on for my friend’s book, trying to nail a style for what she’d like for her characters and front covers.

They are much simpler and more fun than the giant wolf heads I was painting before. I mainly used Brusho pigment to paint these and you can tell by how strong the colours are.

December 2020 Finds

Here’s a taster of the things we found in December in Margate Sands. I’m really annoyed about how brittle the crab carapaces get, but so thankful that the seagulls leave something intact to paint! Learn more about these finds on my Nemo by Sea blog.

Honey Bee

Winter is quickly approaching, and we’re not going to see our lovely bees pottering around much now. They are probably chewing their way between the brickwork of our houses to snuggle up waiting out the cold.

I thought I’d do a sweet, simple little painting of one, it can be found in my shop and was painted with Brusho, watercolour, and a bit of crêpe paper.

Wolf Work in Progresses

Here are a couple of wolves I’m working on for my friends book. The colours are significant to the story, so I get to exaggerate them a little, which I’m very happy about.

I used masking fluid to keep some of the fur streaks protected from my enthusiastic ink and Brusho usage, and white pigment to draw in some fluff and highlights.

Salty finds in September

Unusually coloured shells and fragile carapaces found in September on Margate Sands, back to numb fingers on the Nemo by Sea blog.