Arts for Conservation Botswana

Just a week before I depart for Botswana to lead a wildlife painting workshop with children from a little village on the edge of the Makgadikgadi National Park. We will be using acrylics to produce paintings of wildlife and wilderness and then mounting an exhibition of the work in Maun. I am so looking forward to being back in Botswana and working with the children. It will be an amazing experience and I hope I will be able to inspire them with a love of painting wildlife and developing their art into careers. This project aims to encourage local artists and support the development of an arts community in a very remote part of Botswana. There is great potential for some amazing art to come out of this region, inspired by the wilderness landscapes and the wildlife living here. It is an incredible place, remote and vast and shaped by the hand of nature, not man.

National Exhibition of Wildlife Art

Two of my paintings of owls will appear at the NEWA event at Gordale garden centre on The Wirral. The owls are a matching pair and a favourite subject of mine. I have watched both of these birds whilst dog walking and riding around the countryside in West Sussex. The Tawny is more usually heard rather than seen as it lies low during daylight and emerges at dusk, hooting and patrolling its territory of field edge copses and stands of oak amongst the farm land. Patient watching and listening will often bring a glimpse amongst the branches and hooting back to his call might even get this curious owl to come and check you out.
One evening last summer, when walking my friend's German Shepherds, I spotted a Barn Owl  softly quatering the fields, it's wings turned blush pinky apricot as the sun was setting. That low evening light, slanting through the green nettles and seedy heads of Cow parsley seemed  a perfect setting for a Barn Owl, resting between hunting trips on the entrance to a farm yard.

For more information about NEWA please visit www.newa-uk.com

Prints of the Barn Owl and Tawny Owl are available to buy. Please email me if interested

Nature in Art

I will be returning to Nature in Art near Gloucester May 1-7th and very much looking forward to being there again for a week as artist in residence. I am currently working on some new paintings, experimenting with oils rather than acrylics. Having had another intensive period of book illustration it is nice to have some time to focus on new ideas for my own work. Nature in Art is a great place to get inspiration as you are surrounded by beautiful countryside and have a wealth of amazing art to look at in the museum galleries.
For more information about Nature in Art please visit their website. http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk/

New challenges on the easel

The trek to Everest Base Camp over Christmas was an incredible experience and I have returned with so many ideas for paintings. Also great respect for those who take on the massive challenge of actually climbing this mountain. Apart from the obvious demands of the climb on muscles, the rigours of altitude and freezing temperatures is something I could not imagine coping with for longer than a few days.
Nature definately has the upper hand here. Snow Leopards find sanctuary above 3,500 metres where endless scree slopes and glaciated valleys keep man at bay. I hope the Himalayas will always watch over this big cat. When you stand gasping for air beneath the snow capped peaks, watchful and menacing in their icy silence you feel that the Snow Leopard has a formidable ally.  I am looking forward to painting one in the habitat I have now experienced.

Destinations Travel Show

I will be exhibiting work at the Destinations Show at Earl's Court in London, February 2 - 5th  2012. Come to the Made in the UK section of the show and visit stand MU64 where I will be working on couple of paintings. I will be sharing the stand with Wildlife Sculptor Wendy Hunt who will also be working on a new piece during the event. Originals and prints will be available for purchase.
For more information and to book tickets please visit:

www.destinationsshow.com

Trip to the Himalayas and Everest base Camp

This Christmas I will be travelling to Nepal to trek to Everest base camp, a journey which I hope will provide plenty of great reference for future paintings. Snow Spirit, shown here, was painted some time ago and I have always felt uneasy about painting rocks and mountains I have never seen. It is the little details of lichens, dead grasses and the way rocks tumble together which you cannot invent or take from other habitats. I shall be studying these with as much interest as I will the amazing views in the Kumba. Just hope that with temperatures of -10C to -30C I will be able to hold a pencil and sketch!

Wildlife Expo

The spring and summer were extremely busy with various illustration projects including a big book about bugs (see Stag Beetle illustration opposite ) and two exhibitions. Now I am preparing for the Wildlife Expo at Alexandra Palace 14 - 15 October. This is a new event and looks set to be a great day out for anyone with an interest in all things wildlife. I will be teaming up with two other wildlife artists, sculptor Wendy Hunt and pencil artist Jamie Boots and Simon Trapnell from Nature in Art who will be giving a talk at the event. As well as original artwork I will also have a selection of prints available on my stand and will be painting during the two days of the event. If you are planning to come to this fabulous event please come and visit me on stand 92. It would be great to meet you!

For more information or to book tickets please visit www.wildlifexpo.com