New Work and Rewarding Sales from Glandford.

 It has been a while since posting my latest work, gratefully it has been non-stop and a lot of my work has been sold or was a commission piece. I had some wood art pieces on show and for sale at Birdscapes Gallery in Glandford Norfolk, I was very pleased to of sold 5 of the 7 pieces there indeed.

So lets get onto what I have been painting. Firstly I did a couple of works of a bird I saw along at Salthouse last year, a Stejneger's Stonechat which had to await a DNA result to confirm it was of this species, a real rarity of a bird with only a few records for the country.

 I next painted a quick portrait of a great bird seen in my own village, a Richards Pipit.

 It was straight back to dog portraits again, with a 2nd Sussex Spaniel for the same owner as the previous one and then a Springer Spaniel due to so many people asking for a card design of one.

 I then ventured back to using cut pieces of wood with bark edging. Because I did so well at the Birdscapes Gallery I now needed to get some more work completed to replace them. 

This first small piece is of a Bank Vole. 

 This is a bigger piece of a Red Kite, the shape of the wings fitted just right around the knot.

 This Kingfisher was snapped up straight away when I had finished it.

 The Grey Partridge was a tricky one with its complicated wing feathering.

 Back to Kingfishers again, this was a bigger piece than the last one, I set about making it look perched on the knot.

 Bringing me now to my latest finished piece, a commission piece of a Robin painted on a specific piece of wood supplied by Anne & Ivan whom commissioned me to do it, so different and fun painting on the wood, and I have lots of prepped wood to carry on with more.

Hawkmoth Project Completed.

 As I said in my last post, I was going to start on a project depicting Hawkmoths, and it is now complete. It was a decent sized piece of wood I worked on so I painted the moths a fair size.

 First up was the Convolvulus Hawkmoth, a very large moth that I only saw for the first time this year.

 Next up were two Hawkmoths but of the same species, the Elephant Hawkmoth.

 It was then onto a Poplar Hawkmoth.

 Followed by a Privet Hawkmoth.

 Just 2 more to go, Lime Hawkmoth up next and I love these cammo coloured moths.

 And last of all the Pine Hawkmoth.

 And here is the finished piece, really enjoyed painting these moths, before completing the Pine Hawkmoth I moved onto a commission painting of a Sussex Spaniel, once that was prepped and started I switched back to the Pine Hawkmoth. Sussex Spaniel is coming along well, check out my Instagram account to see the progress : Hairyartist67

Fur & Feathers

Wryneck

 Here is the finished Wryneck piece that I mentioned I was going to do in the last post, really intricate feather patterning on these birds but such a lovely bird. My latest finished drawing/painting of "Ella" the German Shepherd, I used mixed media on this piece, but mostly coloured pencil. A large wooden artwork is presently being prepped for the next piece, this one will comprise 6 different Hawkmoth species.

Ella

Taken Over By the Wood

 All of the recent work has been completed on some lovely pieces of wood. I have kept the subjects varied but centred around being popular birds/animals. The Privet Hawkmoth (above) was hot on the heels of the other moth paintings which really went down well and sold.

I used a similar shaped piece of wood as I did for the Bittern, to complete the Great Spotted Woodpecker (below), I used the knot on the wood as part of the image and placed the woodpecker as it were clinging to it and then a slight shading underneath to give it a 3D sort of effect.

 I used a "cheese cut" piece of sycamore, sanded very smoothly by wife Sarah ( Sarah prep's all the wood I use). The paint seemed to soak in quite a lot in some areas, but each piece of wood is different to work with, but the Grizzly came out really well and fitted perfectly to the shape of the wood. 

 I had had this idea for a owl to be peering around a tree, using the bark on the wood to imitate a real tree, the eyes were tricky but I think they represent the big glossy eyes of a Tawny Owl.

Moving back to animals I got to paint 2 separate Red Squirrels, and once again using the knots of the wood as perches for the squirrels.

 It was straight back to birds and next a Green Woodpecker as an addition to the other woodpecker already done, it was at first awkward trying to get the correct tone of greens for this woodpecker as they are such a lovely colour, but I believe I got a realistic shade for the bird, and the shadowing on this one seemed to really make it stand out.

And my final piece completed has been our very own little girl Elka the French Bulldog. Really chuffed with how she turned out but now it means I have to paint one of our other French Bulldog, Tucker using a similar looking piece of wood. I am loving painting different stuff on these pieces of wood, it's different and each piece has a unique grain and pattern which only gets better when the painting is finished with a varnish. 

New subjects are being sorted as of writing, including hopefully Wryneck (as part of the woodpecker group) Tucker (obviously) Grey Partridge and more Hawkmoths.

The "Hairy One" has been busy!!

 Swallows

Following on from the other wooden art pieces for Cley Spy, the work just rolled from one piece to another!

I completed 3 birds and then dived into painting moths, this was a change of subject and really enjoyable, the first one of a Lime Hawkmoth was duly snapped up by Tim at Cley Spy.

 Long-tailed tits

 Lime Hawkmoth

After the Lime Hawkmoth I next completed ones of a Elephant Hawkmoth, Privet Hawkmoth (which I have forgot to photograph!! bugger!!) a Grey Dagger and Burnished Brass. With so many lovely species, and stacks of photographs also, I think the moths will definitely be getting worked on a lot.

  Elephant Hawkmoth

 Grey Dagger

 Burnished Brass

My wife Sarah, has a craft fair coming up in Mundesley and so I then moved onto some smaller wooden art for her to show. She already has the Oystercatcher and Common Gull along with the Puffin, so I decided to add a Barn Owl, Sanderling and Hare. 

Barn Owl

 Sanderling

 Hare

And finally my most favourite piece yet, one of a Bittern. I had some beautiful wood that was still edged with its bark and knot hole in the middle, I placed the Bittern stretching its neck alongside the knot and curved the bill over the hole, the patterning and colours all seemed to work together, I can't wait to start on the next cut of wood.

 Bittern

Bittern

"Skye, fur, wings and Wood" New additions.

I completed a few pieces on the go recently, the first is a portrait of "Skye" and Welsh Blue Collie, and at the same time I had started a Red Deer stag commission piece which is coming along slowly as I fit it in with other jobs etc.

 "Skye"

Red Deer

House Sparrow

Sarah and I have been busy completing some more of the wooden bird art too, after showing our previous pieces (Common Gull, Puffin, Oystercatcher) to Tim at Cley Spy he commissioned us to make a selection for use in the hide at the shop in Glandford. House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Blue Tit was the set and hopefully some more to be made, with the hope of starting some moth ones too.

 Goldfinch

 Goldfinch

 Blue Tit

Blue Tit

A busy month brings in some new artwork.

 It's been a busy month since my last post. I have been finishing work for the Holt Gallery and then completing work with my wife Sarah for her craft fair which was last weekend.

After the Wolf eyes I moved onto these 3 pieces below, the Tiger, Cheetah and Leopard.  Smaller than the usual size work I do, I wanted to focus on just the intent stare of the animals.

I have started on a couple of new pieces of art, one is a commission of a Welsh Blue Collie and the other is a Red Deer stag, these were put on hold for a while whilst Sarah and I made some wood wall art for her craft fair she just had in our new village hall in Trimingham. This was something totally different but great fun doing, Sarah would prep all the wood then it was over to me to do the painting. The first was a Common Gull followed by Blue Tits and a Puffin and finally a Kingfisher, we were both really pleased how they came out and have been well received by everyone, some new pieces will be winging their way to the Cley Spy store for display which is great. 

The array of different subjects on the wood is exciting too, can't wait to try some them, pics to follow as soon as completed, and if your'e interested in purchasing any then just drop us a email.