Zebra foal - experiment

I think I may have found my muse - about time too! After an awful long time since I last produced anything I am now getting some ideas as to what I want to do. I am thinking of a new direction but feel it is so easy to slip back into what I was doing before, not that there was anything wrong with that, just that I would like to do something a little different....sort of.

Still doing animals, but on a completely different surface, this young zebra is done on stretched canvas primed with white acrylic paint....I don't think this is what I should have used as it feels quite slippery, but I will finish it and try something else for the next one - gesso perhaps?

Coloured pencils: FC Polychtromps and Prismacolour.

Size Approx. A5

WIP

Lord Mayors Parade #2

I cant believe it has been such a long time since I last posted. Where does the time go?

This is the second commission of the Lord Mayor's Parade showing a slightly different view from the first. I think I prefer this one as it shows more of the horses and looks more impressive showing all of the horses, the carriage and the length of the whole wonderful procession.

The reference photo I had to work with was not good as the photo was very dark so a lot of detail was missing. I do hope I have done it justice.

Magpie in watercolour

As the most dominant birds around my garden at the moment (apart from seagulls of course) I thought I would post up a small watercolour of a magpie I did a few years ago. I love their iridescent feathers and think they are such handsome birds....pity they have such a harsh call and their feeding habits leave a lot to be desired, but hey! I guess we all have to eat!

Seasons Greetings

Wishing all my friends and followers a very happy Christmas and a successful and artistic 2013.

 

Landscape in coloured pencil

Here I have tried coloured pencil on Canvas board. It measures 10" x 12" and I have used solvents to dissolve the wax in the pencils and make a looser and more painterly picture. This method makes working with coloured pencils a little quicker but it was to achieve the looser style that really motivated me.

The canvas board was not coated with gesso but used as it came from the shop.

The ref photo was from one of my own taken on Dartmoor last year in March. As you can see it was a lovely sunny spring morning.

Gold Coach and 6 Horses

My last commission of the Lord Mayor's Parade in London, was a bit of a challenge for me, all that beautiful gold decoration and detail was quite daunting to start, but after doing a monochrome sketch, just to get all the legs etc sorted in my head, I approached the final piece with more confidence. This is the result.

Measures a full 20" x 16" on Fabrianno Artistico HP using Karisma pencils. For the the background buildings I used graphite dust blending with cotton buds and fingers.

Passion for Pencils Workshop

Pauline Longley and I are holding another pencil workshop on Saturday 15th September at Mark Village Hall (just off the M5). This time we will be including all pencil media, from coloured pencils, graphite, pastel pencils to tinted charcoal, so if you live in or around Somerset and are interested in picking up useful tips and tricks or learning more about pencils and having day out with like minded people, please contact Pauline or myself and we will get a form to you.