Flying

Hello my 3 blog readers (that's how many I know read regularly for sure - so who is everyone else?).

Now then - how's things?

Named this post as "Flying" due the fact that a new cyberfriend of mine - Claire - mentioned to me I had not posted for a while; my, how the time "flies" as they say. And ...... it does. No sooner had I settled down after writing last Tuesday's "epic", than here we are again. I mentioned when first setting up my blog that I had wondered what it was that I was taking on!

Do not despair for me dear reader. It's not that bad at all - honest; it's just like many other things, down to that old friend, time!

So, using the theme of flying - here are two of my earlier works. The one on the left is of a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, done in 2006, and is worked on plain cartridge paper, mainly done using pen and ink (yes, all the strokes are all individual and lovingly done using just an ink pen and not a brush in sight). Other media used in this are a couple of soft pastels, and a little touch of soft pencil.

Just to be on the careful side I sprayed it all with a pastel fixative just in case the pastel was smudged. Size wise it comes out fighting, measuring a massive 7"x5". Once done I simply put it under plain glass, backed with a small piece of hardboard, with no borders etc.

The right hand side work is of a Bittern, and is done purely using acrylics on pre-stretched canvas. These are very secretive birds, and I tried to capture it "blending" in among the reads where it lives in an Impressionistic, almost Abstract way. This one worked out being 16"x12" in size, again unframed or mounted, and was bought last year by a local lady.

In one of the earlier postings I mentioned that I was starting to have a go working on bamboo based paper - a "multi media" paper, and so far I am impressed with using it along with acrylic paints. Please be aware that this is only my opinion. Recently I purchased a small gouache set, and have used them too, but not in great depth. It turned out OK though, as did the brush and ink that I used. It's pastels and watercolours next, and I just know that you are on the edge of your seats!!

Paul