Great Grey Owl.

 This was my last painting that I have now completed. That of a Great Grey Owl, this took some days tro paint and although only A4 size it held a lot of detail. I find everything is centered around the eyes, if they don't look right the rest does not flow. 

Hawk Owl.

Who doesn't like owls! Mind you it seems most of the paintings I am now venturing into are new territory, this was my first owl painting and I added a light snow effect to the backdrop using a splash effect with a brush.This was greeted with complimentary words from my wife Sarah and was promptly placed on the bedroom wall straight away!

Back to the Birds.

I must admit that in between paintings that you see on this Blog, I do start on some with all good intentions but if something does not look right or seem to be progressing, then it is deemed for the bin or fire, if I'm not happy how a painting is progressing I have to leave it! After the Hare painting for Sarah I went back to birds and started with a Hummingbird, I then tried a new technique I have not used before.

For the background on this Blackburnian Warbler and Yellow Browed Warbler below, I made a wet colour wash and then placed clingfilm over the wet areas. It took some time to dry but gave a totally new and radical effect to the backdrop. This is a method I shall use again but with perhaps a few tweaks to gain a more pleasing effect.

My first Hare painting.

 This was my first attempt at a Hare painting. I knew my wife Sarah wanted me to do one so I gave in. I'm quite happy with how the detailing finish came out.

Silhouetted Paintings with a difference.

 Here I tried a group flight effect, with the Hoopoe and Wallcreeper portrayed as silhouette's before revealing itself as the last bird.

Start of something new...well old really!!

Here we go. Back in my teens I used to enjoy painting/artwork etc and every week I used to go with my Aunt Brenda to a artists club in my home town of Waltham Abbey. I must say that I enjoyed my time painting there but I didn't like the art they taught me at school. Hence I never progressed in that field, I didn't like the modernistic style they instructed you with. Every now and again I tried my luck with starting it up again but it normally took a back seat all too soon. My real interest was with the Birding and addictive photography side of Birding. 

Now in my late 40's, I once again have started painting again, but with more of a passion this time, and I find myself really chilling out in my spare time when painting and listening to some relaxing music. I will portray the paintings as I go along, I use watercolour as a medium and I am finding all different techniques and styles to use all the time...I would never of thought I would be using clingfilm in a painting!

Here is a collection of the first paintings I have created.

If you follow my Blogsite "Back In Birdland" the you will know of my interest in moths and butterflies, so I thought I would try to capture that love as a watercolour. With the butterflies I went with something totally different with plenty of fine detail and then with the edges running with colour as if leaving a vapourising trail when rising. My wife Sarah said this type of painting was like marmite....you either like it or you dont!

A study of a Death's Head Hawkmoth.

This was my first attempt at a sea scape painting, not entirely happy with this painting, my step-daughter promptly snapped it up for display in her home.

 This is a painting of a White Stork at Trujillo in Spain, I decided to paint from one of my photographs that I took when I was on a holiday in Trujillo.

Who doesn't like Kingfishers? I had to try from one of my photographs taken locally, here you can see the progression from the original image.

Okay, now for something different. This was a new aspect for me, and the next 2 paintings were both constructed in the same medium, that of painting with a ...toothbrush.

I had an outline template as such and then used a tooth brush to give the platter effect! It was fun trying something different, I also produced a painting of a Bee-eater using the same technique and gifted that to a friend in Spain, Neil Renwick.

On this Winston Churchill splatter painting I shaped it to that of a Union Jack pattern.

There you have it, my re-start into watercolour painting, with hopefully many more to show.