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Harlan
I wanted to add a couple of falconry/working dogs to my print store to compliment the birds. I was really taken with this lovely pose, and although there wasn’t a lot of detail in the reference I concentrated on tone and used the grain of the paper to compliment the fur.
Harlan
9 x 12 Graphite
Naomi Hayne
Grouse
Back onto my favourite subject-falcons!
One of my preferred methods of working is to roughly block out all the elements first before gradually working the tones over the whole piece. It’s a common method used for painting which is something I used to do. But with pencil or graphite this can be problematic, as your hand rests on the drawing and can cause some rub off, even when using glassine to protect it. This piece, however, is small enough to avoid smudging and the coloured pencils are quite robust so I was able to build up the tones.
“Grouse”
9×12 Strathmore toned grey
Mulberry
Another piece completed before Xmas – this commission was actually a leaving gift for a member of bird staff at Muncaster Castle and depicts their barn owl Mulberry.
I am quite fond of barn owls, but drawing their complicated plumage usually results in a sore wrist and lots of swearing!
12 x 16 coloured pencil on Clairefontaine PaintOn gris (grey)
Miley
This is Miley the frenchie who was quite interesting to draw. Although you may think that single-tone coats are straightforward, they are anything but! There are so many colours you wouldn’t initially expect, such as pinky-purples, orange, blues, and silvery hues that your eyes don’t really see at first glance, but they give a drawing more realism.
9 x 12 Clairefontaine PaintOn
Bonnie
A commission recently gifted – this is the lovely Bonnie who has sadly passed over the rainbow bridge but was very special to their owner.
A first time using the new Clarefontaine PaintOn range of coloured papers, this one is the grey, similar to the Strathmore I’ve been using, but handles much better and was very enjoyable to draw on.
Dunnock
Another wildlife piece recently completed – the Dunnock is often overlooked as a rather humble brownish bird, however, up close their plumage is rather lovely and full of patterns. Drawing in graphite has allowed me to emphasise this more and I am pleased with how this one has turned out.
Lancelot
Taking a break from a rather complicated colour piece I am working on, to sketch some local wildlife in graphite. I am lucky to have 2 small nature reserves within walking distance of my house so I thought why not use the residents as inspiration!
5×7 graphite on paper.
IUCN Signs Gentleshaw
Briefly going back to my ‘old’ job – I was asked to create some signage for gentleshaw wildlife centre for the IUCN red list species that live there. Printed on aluminium panels the first few have gone up, looks like Siren the cockatoo approves!
Nimbus II
The second of my Nimbus series – tried a slightly different technique this time getting all the whites & light tones in first to speed up the process and to avoid it going ‘muddy.’
Working over the whole piece instead of just sections it came together much better and I prefer this method of working – unfortunately when creating bigger pieces it is not always feasible to do this as you end up bracing your hand on areas you’ve worked, but for this size I was able to get away with it.
9 x 9 on Strathmore Toned Grey
Great Horned Owl
I first started this drawing a year ago! I put it away several times as I had other projects & commissions to complete, then forgot about it for a while until now. For the owl fans, hope you like it (he needs a name).
Original for sale. Prints available shortly.
Great Horned Owl
16 x 12 Coloured pencil on drafting film
Caroline Ebinger