Javan Langur, at the zoo

Here's my latest effort, another zoo-based painting from my photos from Twycross Zoo.

This is a Javan Langur, who had an irresistibly wise and somewhat world-weary appearance. This was painted with no preliminary drawing, and is in watercolour. I really enjoyed this one, and it's got me itching to go back to the zoo to do some sketching... I see a day out in my near future ;-)

Watercolour, quarter sheet.

Missy

A few weeks back I went to an acrylic portrait demo, invited by fellow arty blogger Pat Elliot. As it was a bit of a drive for me and the demo was in the evening, Pat and her husband were kind enough to feed me and put me up for the night. I painted Pat's dear little dog, Missy, as a thank you.

Acrylic on paper, 14" by 10". No preliminary drawing, straight in with the paint - good fun!

YOP 4

Here's the next in the Year of Painting challenge on the Painting Friends forum.

This was from a lovely but busy reference photo from mr sandbanx on Wet Canvas.


My aim with this YOP ref was to try to imagine I was on holiday (if only!) and that I was in situ with pen and watercolours, sketching the scene. I have seen a lot of beautiful journal-type art along these lines, and I am always impressed - there's a real sense of being there, a unique capture of a moment, or an afternoon perhaps. So for this YOP I sketched in ink (no pre-drawing with pencil) and tried to capture the scene as if I was actually there...


...I think I need a holiday!


12" by 9", ink and watercolour.

Portrait

Here's my latest painting, painted from a photo I took a few months back of my beautiful niece...


Acrylic on acrylic paper, 10" by 14"


I'm pretty please with how this has turned out in the end. I was getting a bit frustrated with it at one point - it was looking a bit bleugh - then I mixed up some purples and started slapping the colour on, and it gave the whole thing a much punchier feel. The likeness is ok, and the anatomy has some issues I think, but really I was having fun trying out the colours.

You can click on the pic for a closer view, as always.

I must admit, I'm stumped for a title for this one. Though maybe 'My muse', as I always seem to be painting the poor girl!

Giraffe, at the zoo

In super-quick time, another little pastel from the zoo residents appears (can you tell I'm having fun with these!)

Another 9ish by 6-ish inch pastel painting on pastelmat paper, from a photo I took at Twycross zoo at the weekend. It's a bit bright, a bit soft, and a bit comical, but it makes me feel cheerful and puts a smile on my face ;-)

Prairie dog pup, at the zoo

Now for something a bit cuter than the last post!

I went last weekend for a visit to Twycross Zoo, in the beautiful English Midlands, and took loads of photos of fab animals. I decided to try out some pastels that I've had lying around for ages, and used a ref of a Black-tailed Prairie Dog pup, almost too cute for it's own good... Pleased with how this turned out, as it was really only an experiment to try out the pastels and some newly acquired pastelmat paper.

I haven't used pastels very much but I enjoyed this, so no doubt I'll be adding some more zoo animals along the way.

Pastel on pastelmat paper, approx 6" by 9"