Red Breasted Nuthatch in acrylics

This one was fun to paint - everything just worked. 

Red Breasted Nuthatch measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

Many thanks to Michael Pazzani for the reference photo.

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River in the Forest in Acrylics

This  is my acrylic version of the earlier watercolour painting I did a while back.  I cropped the reference photo so that it focused more on the waterfall, opened up the river on the right hand side and  extended the background trees.  I am really pleased how the painting turned out.  The hardest part was coming up with a title - much easier when I paint an animal or bird as they name themselves.

River in the  Forest measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord Panel.

Many thanks to Robyn Lovelock for the reference photo.

Spring Cottage in acrylics

I enjoyed painting this one.  I changed the reference photo a bit by adding the pathway to lead the eye into the painting and a added a few more flowers.  Really pleased with the final painting.

Spring Cottage measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

Many thanks to Steve Lyddon for the reference photo.

Lion Cub in acrylics

So this is the very cute lion cub that I was working on last week. I really enjoyed painting him.  I have a tiger cub lined up next to paint.  Just didn't get around to it this week.  Just been one of those weeks were other things have come up  so didn't mange to paint all the paintings that I had planned to do. 

Lion Cub measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

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Many thanks to Glennis Weston for the reference photo.

American Lady in Acrylics

I finally got around to painting this one.  Rather pleased how it turned out.  Took a while to paint due to the pattern on the wings - much easier and less complicated painting birds. 

American Lady is measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

Many thanks to Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren for the reference photo.

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Tiger Swallowtail in acrylics

So here is the butterfly.  I really enjoyed painting this one  - the wings took a lot longer to paint than I thought it would as it took a while to get the wings right.  Really pleased with the final painting.  I am thinking about  painting  a few more butterflies so will see how I go with finding same suitable reference photos.

Tiger Swallowtail measures are 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

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Many thanks to K Brooks for the reference photo.

Superb Fairy Wren in oils

I painted this one a week or so ago - was just waiting for it to dry before listing it.  I have been thinking of painting a female and male bird fairy wren together.  I have a few reference photos that I could use - just have to work out what size and if I should paint them on watercolour paper or a canvas board.

Superb Fairy Wren measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

Many thanks to Wayne Butterworth for the reference photo.

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Flame Robin in oils

I loved painting this bird. I decided to paint it in oils.  These robins can be  found in the coolest parts of south-eastern Australia as well as in Tasmania.  They are about 12 - 14 cm  long.   I have a few other Australian birds lined up to paint in the  larger format as opposed to the aceo's - I will paint some in oils and others in acrylics on paper.

Flame Robin measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

Many thanks to Patrick Kavanagh for the reference photo.

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Eastern Bluebird in oils

I decided to paint this lovely bird in a larger format.  I just love its colouring.  Some interesting facts about the Eastern Bluebird is that it can live for 6 - 10 years and the longest recorded livespan of a bluebird was 10 years and 5 months. 

Eastern Bluebird measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

Many thanks to Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren for the reference photo.

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Superb Fairy Wren in oils

I decided to paint another wren but in a larger format.  I am really happy how it turned out.  I thinking about doing a series of birds with the same neutral background colour as I think compliments the bird rather well. 

Superb Fairy Wren measures  6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord Panel

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Many thanks to Wayne Butterworth for the reference photo.

Western Tanager in oils

I love the colours of this bird.  An interesting fact is that the red pigment in the face of the bird is rhodoxanthin, which is apparently rare in birds.  It is believed that the bird must acquire the pigment from its diet of insects which have eaten plants containing the pigment.  Amazing how nature works.

Western Tanager measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

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Many thanks to USFWS for the reference photo.

Dawn Sail in oils

I love the colours of this one and had fun painting the sky and sea.  The most difficult part was painting the sails and the little boat but I eventually got there.   

Dawn Sail measures 5 x 7 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

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Many thanks to Ruth Archer for the reference photo.

Red Rose in oils

This one was rather challenging to paint - usually I can just add white to lighten a colour but I couldn't do that this time as white turns the red to pink.  I used yellow and a bit of white to lighten the red.  I found it easier to work from a black and white reference photo which I have never done before for a painting - it was easier to determine the tonal variations using the black and white copy.  Also,  it was easier just to paint one petal at a time - was to confusing otherwise.  I am really pleased how it turned out in the end.   

Red Rose measures 6 x 6 inches and is painting on Ampersand Gessobord Panel.

Many thanks to KJ Sieloff for the reference photo.

Cantaloupe slice in oils

It is interesting how many names this fruit is known by.  In Australian we call it Rockmelon, in South Africa it is called spanspek and in other parts of the world  it is also known as sweet melon, mushmelon and Persian melon.  I decided to name the painting cantaloupe.

We are still having a rather wet and cold winter here which is very unusual for Brisbane.  Today we had sunshine which was nice after the rain we had over the weekend.  Fingers crossed we will continue to have sunny weather.

Cantaloupe Slice measures 7 x 5 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

Many thanks to Lillian Bell for the reference photo.

Pear and Walnuts in oils

I saw a bag of walnuts while shopping the other day and thought they would make a very good still life prop so I ended up buying a bag.  Would  have been good if I could have just  bought a few loose ones but they only seem to come in bags - fortunately they have a  use by date to December.

Pear and Walnuts measures 5 x 7 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

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Lake with a View in Acrylics

When I used part of this reference photo as inspiration for my Little Buck aceo, I thought to myself that it  such a lovely scene that  I had to paint it in full.  So here it is.  I decided to paint it in acrylics for a change.

Lake with a View measures 7 x 5inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

Many thanks to Terry Krysak for the reference photo.

Nuthatch in oils

I love the colours of this one. I am very happy how it turned out.  The painting actually took longer  to dry than normal due to the rainy weather.  The last few days have been nice and sunny which is a lovely change from all the rain.   Fingers crossed it continues.

Nuthatch measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord panel.

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Many thanks to ChrissyM for the reference photo.

All Aboard in oils

I thought "All Aboard" was rather an appropriate title for this painting.  I really enjoyed painting it and I love the boats reflection in the water.

All Aboard measures 7 x 5 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord

Many thanks to Liz Jones for the reference photo.

Jug and Mandarin in oils

I visited the Salvo's store last week for a few still life props.  I felt a bit bad as they had a special on - you could fill a bag for $5. I ended up buying about 11 different items and this jug is one of the items. It was fun to paint.

It is a pretty miserable day here today.  Started off sunny but it has now turned cold and rainy. 

Jug and Mandarin measures 6 x 6 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

Daisies in Boots in oil

This one was rather fun to paint.  I like the texture I created with the flowers - I used a lot of white paint - just as well it was the fast drying white otherwise I would have been waiting forever for it to dry.

Daisies in Boots measures 5 x 7 inches and is painted on Ampersand Gessobord.

Many thanks to Gwen Card for the reference photo.