Report Illustrations

Great Northern Diver
Pencil and Ink Wash. 130mm x 150mm.

Started work this week on illustrations for the 2007 Huddersfield Birdwatchers Club Report. After some deliberation I decided to have a change from my usual Pen line drawings and tried some monochrome wash drawings which hopefully should reproduce quite well. These are the first three completed drawings.

Male Red backed Shrike.

Pencil and Ink Wash. 130mm x 110mm.

Shelduck.
Pencil and Ink Wash. 130mm x 170mm.

Ash Tree

Shaped by the wind.
Pastel. 12'' x 9''

A pastel painting, worked up from the small pen sketch posted earlier and intended as a study for a possible larger work.

Hiraeth

Low Tide at Laugharne (detail).
Acrylic on gesso primed board. 335mm x 245mm.

This small West Wales town was my home for almost three years from September 1982 until April 1985. For an artist and naturalist it was ideal, with wide open views across the estuary of the River Taf south across Carmarthen Bay to Rhossili Down and Worms Head on Gower.

Inland the woodlands held breeding Buzzards, Ravens Badgers and Foxes. In winter Black Redstarts could be found on the castle ruins and all manner of wildfowl and waders on the estuary. I saw my first Hen Harriers here, hunting the saltmarshes during the winters and once came across a Grey Phalarope feeding on the mud flats.

Originally a Norman fortress, the castle passed through a variety of owners including The Lord Rhys. It was destroyed and rebuilt twice during the thirteenth century. In the late sixteenth century Sir John Perrot turned it into a mansion house with a formal garden but like many castles it was finally vandalised by Parliamentary cannon fire during the Civil War.

Wood Wasp

This female Wood Wasp Urocerus gigas was dropped on my desk at work by two of the fitters who had come across it whilst working in Manchester. Its the first one I've seen, shame it wasn't a live specimen.

Siskins

We spent the weekend in Galloway but the miserable weather gave little opportunity for doing any work. These Siskins drawn from the breakfast table this morning, are all I've got to show from the two days spent there.

Red kites

More images from yesterdays trip into Wharfedale. Driving down Lower Wharfedale, this young Kite was seen beside the road from Arthington to Weardley. Sketched with my usual Rotring Art Pen and tinted with Derwent Watercolour Pencil. Not a medium I use very often.

Wharfedale

Although not intended as a working trip, a day out in Wharfedale near Bolton Abbey produced some quick sketches. I don't normally work on such a small scale but I keep an A6 size sketchbook in the car with a few pens. It is ideal for doing quick sketches as the opportunity arises, (or as something to alleviate boredom whilst waiting in supermarket carparks or other such places). This skyline Ash tree attracted my attention, it is unusual to see such a large tree so dramatically sculpted by the wind. Carrying so much weight to one side must place enormous stresses on the trunk and root system. When sketched the tree was just a dark shape against an overcast sky. Shortly after I finished a brief shaft of sunlight illuminated the tree from the left.

If going out for the day I usually have my sketching bag in the car so having a little more time I did this in my normal 8'' x 10'' sized book. I was interested in the contrast between the different greens of the cut fields, the uncut areas and the grazed pasture in the foreground. Which emphasised the angular geometric shapes in the landscape. The overcast sky and dull light only served to 'flatten' the landscape even more, so I used simple flat washes of colour to lay in the shapes.