Tuesday 16 November 2010

16/11: WILDLIFE PICTURES

Our garden visitors are costing an absolute fortune at the moment.  The hedgehogs are shovelling in as much food as they can in readiness for hibernation.  A month ago they were eating 1/3 tin dog food each evening with some peanuts, raisins and grated cheese for interest.  Now we've increased that to 2/3 tin food and extra 'bits'.  They really are gaining weight and looking very 'portly'

We have 7 bird feeders hanging from branches of the fruit trees in our garden.  I replenished all the fat balls on Sunday and they're almost empty again just 2 days later ... I blamed the starlings who arrived in droves yesterday - but now I know who the real culprits are.   3 of the little' tree rats' were raiding the feeders this morning.   I managed to get several pictures of this little beastie as he wasn't worried about the camera




and my final 'wildlife' episode ....

David suggested I should produce a small 'contemporary' picture to include in the upcoming exhibition based on Zebra stripes.    We recently bought some  frames and mounts from Hobbycraft as we were attracted to the shape - they are square rather than traditional oblong shape.  So his bright idea was to draw something to fit one of the frames.  

I cracked on with this cropped study using pastels on Pastelmat for speed.   It didn't meet with his approval - he'd been thinking of something more abstract and done in graphite (I had to 'educate' him that graphite is not a 'fast option' and I am not an 'abstract' kind of woman)!!

The silly thing is, we'd both forgotten that when we purchased the frames and mounts, we didn't purchase the glass.  It was a deliberate decision to keep costs down at the time and facilitate storage at home until the frames were needed.    We don't have a Hobbycraft store close to us so .... here's the 'nearly finished' drawing but it won't be hung with the other pictures tonight.



2 comments:

  1. Ah, the old husband trick of him telling you what you should be! lol Glad you educated him and if he doesn't remember, next time just use the whip!

    I really like your crop and am liking the square formats more and more. It looks great and I'm sure will be a good seller. Too bad David didn't have his bright idea a little sooner so you could have hung it with your exhibition!

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  2. Good advice Jan!!

    I've provisionally booked space at the next exhibition in January so will have it ready by then.

    I like the square frames and bought a couple of black ones and a light wood one ... just have to find suitable subjects to fit them now.

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