Brown paper packages?....

Although I have been toying with making a print of barn owls, I also wanted to use a medium which I haven't used for some time......brown paper! 

The problem with it of course is that it isn't light fast but I love the texture and it is a perfect background for the ghostly image of a barn owl about to attack his prey.

I'll continue to work on this even though
I know that it will have to be placed somewhere out of the sunlight.

I really like the way the gouache paint creates a strong contrast and is easy to work with.


Perhaps my work output will increase once I've got rid of the cold which has descended on me so hopefully I'll have a finished painting to share with you before handing over to Val next week......?????!

 

Ugly chick to beautiful bird.....

 

Looking at Val's beautiful paintings and drawings of pigs I can't imagine how anyone could not like them.......but ugly ducklings often turn into something rather special in the world of beautiful beasts.........

 

Do you know what it is yet?

 

 

 

Yes, of course, you guessed it, a one week old barn owl!

 

Just as it was getting dusk we spied one of our local barn owls perching on a fence post and then soundlessly taking off to check the hedges and headlands for something to eat. I think it's too early yet for a brood although the mild weather we've been having might be confusing some of our feathered friends

 

 

 

By 7 weeks the owl chicks are looking a little more appealing and feathers are beginning to form.  This barn owl chick was born with an insulating layer of down to keep it warm, and when fluffed up makes him look like an old fashioned  powder puff! Whilst we're reaching for the warm coat, it's strange to think that keeping cool on a hot summer day is quite a challenge for  birds who have one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal.

 

 

 

 

Finally, the beautiful owl is revealed and is ready to delight us with ghostly white flights over the hedges and pastures.  I've got it in mind to use this image in a larger picture together with other owls but this quick sketch with watercolour is my starting point. 

 

Although I do rather like the idea of doing a print of the 7 week old ball of fluff.......perhaps I'll be able to reveal my final decision later on this week!!   

 

 

 

Pig Progress

Because I am planning a series of pigs I wanted to see what they would all look like together and spent some time making a page of coloured thumbnails. I think it’s a must when considering a set of anything. It helps clarify how they look and to some extent their characteristics.
It is the first time I have really looked hard at pigs. How lovely they are, with their different colours, and ears and shapes.  There may be more than 12 in the end.

Twelve pig breeds

12 Pig Breed sketches for Salute The Pig.

The Splendid Pig.. (working title)

I am also planning one larger piece of work in black and white. I am so inspired by the wonderful old breed paintings of those gigantic, oversized and much exaggerated prize beasts. It is going to take some time as I am hoping to include quite a few details and it will be a pen and ink piece. I am pretty rusty with fine detailed pan and ink work so will need some practise.

Roughs for “A Splendid Pig”

 

And a pen and ink study for a bit of practice.. only another 9,998 hours to go.

More pig progress when I am back in week’s time.

Saddleback Pigs

My next page of sketches for Chris’ Salute the Pig blog. They are so very design-y..with their smart black and white colouring.

Chris has written about them here; “ Fattening Fast… 

 Sketchbook pages A4

On the board…

Watercolour on Fabriano. Image 10 x 8 “

"A Certain Sleepy Perfection of Contour”

What can this be?.. Why, a pig of course!

“To begin with, pigs are very beautiful animals.  Those who think otherwise are those who do not look at anything with their own eyes, but only through other people’s eyeglasses.  The actual lines of a pig (I mean of a really fat pig) are among the loveliest and most luxuriant in nature; the pig has the same great curves, swift and yet heavy, which we see in the rushing water or in rolling cloud. “

GK Chesterton liked pigs.. this is from “Rhapsody on a Pig” published in the The Illustrated London News, 8 May 1909.

I think it would be fair to say that G K Chesterton himself had some of those very same luxuriant contours.
And he is so right about the pigs. Those gorgeous soft curves and that wonderful spread of weight as they lie down….

 Sleeping pigs…well, most of them.

Pencil on A4 sketchbook

Skeleton Sketches

I do like to understand a bit more about the structure of pigs so spent some time looking at the skeletons of pigs and wild boars. The high vertebrae at the top are Interesting at the top..more so in the boar which accounts for its “crest”. There is so much info about animal skeletons muscles and structure on the internet.. Fabulous!

Pigs… Beautiful Pigs

My partner Chris started writing a blog about pigs, Salute the Pig  a little while ago. He likes pigs but also likes pork so as a part time project we look for local ethical pig breeders and pork producers. Happy pigs are our first requirement.
So far we have met very happy pigs and very caring pig farmers. It has been a delight and we are looking at the different breeds of pigs as we go.
I have been doing some sketches with an idea of something more finished later in the year and to date I have sketched The Gorgeous Curly Coated Mangalitzas,  see blog post: "The Complete & Utter Gorgeousness of Pigs Ears" with their amazing curls.

 

Check out those ears!

The gentle and rare Lops. See blog post “The Big British Lop Pig”

And the feisty Duroc. See blog post “A Gorgeous Ginger Pig”

Sketches in pencil, pen and ink and watercolour in A4 sketchbook.

You can read much more about these pigs and pigs in general over on Chris’ blog

It’s time for the next pig, so for my Beautiful Beasts week I am going to be looking at the very smart Saddleback Pigs and pigs in general. 

As always with my printing, things never go according to plan. I was clear in my last post that I would not be making a reduction print so of course you can imagine what happened - I ended up making one!

I was quite pleased with the first print of my 'Thought Fox' as the moon added mystery to the scene and there was a tension point between the nose of the fox and the twig.

 

As always though, I thought I could improve on it by adding more definition to the head of the fox.  This meant cutting out all the area which would remain as yellow ochre and leaving the dark blue shadows to do their work.

 

 

 

The block itself looks great at this stage as the texture of the stained, printed areas highlight those which have been newly cut.

 

 

And the final result........

 

 

I will be keeping prints of both  images as I like the different 'feel' of them, and I hope that Ted Hughes would approve of my version of his  Thought Fox.

 

Val's turn next week, but I'll be back soon.....