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A Year of Change

2020 A Year of Change

This has certainly been a strange year for us all and one full of changes for all the strange reasons.  

Following several requests, to make my art more available to purchase online, as well as wanting to do more with my designs, I will continue updating my blogs here, along with info about my art, workshops and other news, but my illustrations and products based on those designs, will be posted over at GildenWren, my new website blog.


COMING SOON

 

20th October 2020

 





 

 

Popular Posts from this Blog

British Wildlife Watercolours

British Wildlife Watercolours. British wildlife, birds and flowers are carefully painted using watercolours, based on the wildlife and botanical subjects from the garden and local woods. Wildlife such as small British woodland animals (badgers, foxes, squirrels, mice, bats, deer, otters, wild cats, stoats, weasels - even wild boar, pine martens, beavers and, one day, lynx may return to the wilds of Britain!) and UK garden birds, butterflies and bees, along with ladybirds and dragonflies, add to the joys to be found in the garden, or just beyond, all year round. Watercolours can be used to capture the beauty in the animal or plant subject using the fluidity of the paints. Everyone's favourite! A beautiful owl resting amongst the bluebells.   British Wildlife Watercolours : Watercolour Owl and Bluebell British Wildlife Watercolours : Watercolour Bird Painting of a Sparrow and Worm Watercolours can be used in a variety of wildlife paintings for different effects bas
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Drawing Hares

Drawing Wildlife. When asked to present a wildlife art demo in March, one animal sprang to mind! The month has been all about March hares! Here's a work in progress study of a hare using coloured pencils. Getting ready for an art session. As preparation is key for any art demo, several images of hares were selected to be used as reference material - and so the wildlife sketching and drawing was ready for working on the easel at home. Drawing Hares and other Wildlife. Planning time to a hare's hair's breadth! The aim of the art demo was to go through the stages of completing a pencil drawing of a hare using coloured pencils. The demo was scheduled for about 2 hours' drawing time... Detailed, realistic coloured pencil drawings can take a very long time to complete, even in the comfort of an artist's usual studio or dedicated art space. Natural nerves in drawing a hare, or any animal, in front of members of an art group (in this case, consisting of
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British Wildlife Coloured Pencils

Drawing wildlife using coloured pencils Coloured pencil wildlife art paintings and drawings.  Detailed wildlife and botanical drawings and paintings can be gained using coloured pencils which range from student grade to professional grade. The following animal pencil paintings were achieved using a mixture of coloured pencil brands but mainly Faber-Castell Polychromos and Caran D’ache Swisscolour. Detail is captured as realistically as possible whilst retaining the creative style. Realistic British wildlife art by wildlife and botanical coloured pencil artist. British Wildlife : Coloured Pencils : Mouse and Apple British Wildlife Art : Coloured Pencil Drawing of a Robin Snow Leopard : Coloured Pencils Coloured Pencil Drawing : British Bird : Owl Wood Avens : Coloured Pencils Coloured Pencils : Grape British Wildlife Art : Squirrel
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Wildlife Drawing Classes

  Wildlife Drawing Classes   Wildlife art classes in drawing wildlife. There is more to be gained from drawing British wildlife than drawing and sketching alone – with wildlife art classes, there can be enjoyment in discovering about some of Britain’s favourite animals and birds in the company of other artists and nature enthusiasts, through drawing wildlife classes which bring together like-minded individuals in a pleasant setting. Drawing animals and birds from life is an excellent way to engage with the natural world around us. An understanding of wildlife anatomy, behaviour and environment, through observations and sketches, can help build the skills and knowledge necessary for more detailed graphite or coloured pencil drawings of British wildlife and birds. Drawing class subjects include the familiar favourites such as: foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, mice, deer and birds, plus some of the more elusive characters from the British countryside – badgers, otters, wildcats, newts
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Traditional Bee Drawings

Honey Bee Illustration Traditional Bee Drawings at wildlife workshops. Enjoy a wildlife art workshop drawing bees! Beginner artists and nature enthusiasts can explore the world of bees and bee art through bee drawing workshops, alongside artists wishing to improve their art skills and discover more about the wildlife world of bees! This wildlife drawing of a honey bee was initially created as a quick sketch in preparation for a bee show. The original rough sketch had been done and, with a few colours applied to give an impression, it was left only partially coloured and a very rough version of what had been planned for a complete drawing of a bee. Before it was completed, however, several enquiries had been made, asking to purchase the rough bee drawing and, eventually, this bee was created but not before several hours of research into the anatomy of bees had been carried out! It was a good experience, though, because it provided the necessary information to get on and
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Bird Drawing Workshops

Bird drawing workshops can be a good source of information for anyone who loves birds and wants to draw them, especially beginner artists and improvers. Drawing Workshops. Wildlife Art. Kent. Surrey. Sussex. London. Drawing workshops and classes are a great place to pick up advice and resources that can be used to discover more about birds in the local area. Workshops can help introduce the beginner to outdoor bird sketching and keeping a bird diary or nature journal that can be used to identify birds and develop the drawings to produce more detailed, realistic bird paintings. Regular sketching can significantly improve bird drawings and paintings whilst developing knowledge of bird anatomy and habitats. There are many strange and wonderful aspects to a bird’s body (skeleton, muscles, feet, feathers and beaks) that serve a function and it is often through sketching and detailed drawing that these anatomical wonders are closely observed and begin to be understood.
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Botanical Art

Traditional and contemporary, more playful, botanical watercolours of wildlife fruits and flowers from a semi-rural garden. From nuts for Winter storage to uplifting Spring flowers to shady hiding places beneath the Summer leaves to juicy Autumn berries – a garden full of wildlife fruits is very inviting to the local woodland animals and birds.   Botanical Art Watercolours. Paintings from the Garden, Local Countryside and Woods. Flowers and the Country Kitchen Garden. Contemporary Botanical Art : Buddleia : Watercolour and Ink Contemporary Botanical Art : Magnolia British Botanical Art : Daffodil Traditional Botanical Art : Hydrangea Flower Traditional Botanical Art : Rhododendron Leaf Botanical Sketches : Kentish Cobnut from the Garden British Botanical Art : Daffodil British Botanical Art : Natural History Watercolour Contemporary Botanical Art : Cyclamen Leaf Contemporary Botanical Art : Grape in Coloured Pencil Botanica
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Otter Painted in Stages in Pastel

British Wildlife Art from the Riverside. Drawing otters in stages using soft pastels : Wildlife Art Demo : Otter 1) Study the otter and gather reference material for painting Some otters were splashing around in the mud on an icy cold day, which provided the chance to watch them at play for a while and take a few reference photos for  later. British Wildlife Drawing :  Otters : Demos and Workshops 2) Sketch out the otter Back in the warmth, a rough sketch of the otter was done onto a neutral shade of pastel paper. The main features were added with soft pastels to create some form to work with. British Wildlife Drawing :  Otters : Demos and Workshops 3) Build up the layers More colour and depth were created slowly by building up the layers. British Wildlife Drawing :  Otters : Demos and Workshops 4) Add some detail The finer details, such as whiskers, were added using well-sharpened pastel pencils. British Wildlife Drawing :  Otters : Demos a
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British Birds Watercolours : Bluetit

Bird watercolour painting of a bluetit. Modern wildlife watercolours, such as this UK bird watercolour painting, can be based on original life sketches of birds from the field or garden. Such sketches, captured with an ordinary graphite pencil and sketchbook, are a great source of art reference material for contemporary watercolours, as with this bluetit painting. It is a fun way to capture the spirit of a bird in motion and a pleasant way to continue with art in-between the more detailed, traditional fine art paintings of British wildlife and birds. Washes of colour are applied wet-in-wet and allowed to flow and merge with other colours to create movement. Dry-in-dry watercolour paint is applied to define specific areas. A watercolour wash can quickly cover larger areas of a painting, onto which detail can then be applied before finishing off with further washes of colour. Popular British bird, watercolour painting Birds are constantly moving, whether f
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British Wildlife Watercolours : Garden Birds

Bird Art : from the Garden There are a number of British birds that visit the garden daily for the abundance of naturally growing berries and seeds - and it's a good way to get ideas for later watercolours and drawings of birds. The traditional garden bird, the sparrow, seems to have been replaced by the more colourful birds such as bluetits, goldfinches, long-tailed tits and chaffinches – although a few sparrows do usually manage to make a daily appearance – especially around their favourite bird table where additional nuts, seeds and worms tempt even the most reluctant visitors. A favourite garden visitor is our British National Bird – the robin redbreast – or rather three of them! Plus all the wood pigeons and doves, crows, blackbirds, thrushes, woodpeckers – green and red - even fieldfares – it can get quite a busy! That is the best time to make sure a pencil and paper is nearby – for the birds are always entertaining to watch and sketch – it’s a most enjoyable way to
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