Bang Saen,Thailand garden visitors

sitting in the garden of our villa in Thailand we are surrounded by birdsong and so today whilst relaxing with a cold beer I took my camera out with me and snapped the visitors to the garden over a couple of hours.hope you like these beautiful birds.

visit to Amphawa floating market and village

I realise these are not wildlife orientated but I thought you might like to see my destination from yesterday Amphawa floating village and its surrounding area including a thai temple that we visited.i hired a long boat and driver for a few hours and we set off from our hotel in the heart of Amphawa floating market to do a little sightseeing and visit a couple of temples so that my wife who is thai could make some offerings to the monks and pray for good luck and happiness for us all.after thirty minutes or so navigating the waterways in the village we approached more open waterways and very quickly encountered a much more rural Thailand with plenty of lush vegetation and delightful little houses on stilts on the water margins.eventually we arrived at our first temple or Wat(in thai),along with my wife and brother and sister-in-law we all offered a short prayer and made offerings to the monks and buddhas.I'm not a particularly spiritual person but I do find the atmosphere of the temple very peaceful and condusive to contemplation.in the same evening I hired another boat for an hour long trip around the local waterways to observe the amazing firefly displays lighting up the trees and shrubs that edge the waterways,its a bit like a myriad of white-bulbed xmas trees blinking at each other and quite a staggering sight,i hadn't bargained on them being so bright,but a trip well worth making!

animal encounters at Sri Racha open zoo and amphawa district

Nearby to Bang Saen where we are staying in Thailand for the first week is the town of Sri Racha where,on the mountainous outskirts is a large open zoo.whilst not being a big fan of zoos this one has a great variety of local animals and is very large and so I decided to pay it a visit for the afternoon.one of the highlights of the day was coming a cross a four-year old orangutan being walked by her keeper between enclosures and having the opportunity,not only to photograph her very close up,but to hold her hand and have a few minutes to chat with the keeper about her and the rest of the zoos orangutans.he explained that this particular youngsters mother had had a new baby and so she was being neglected in favour of the new youngster and so the keepers adopted her and gave her the affection she was yearning for.
the next day I visited Amphawa district and photographed the famous floating market and also took a few snaps of some of the local birdlife.i hired a long boat for a daytime cruise of the area and its waterways and again in the nightime I hired the boat again to go and view the amazing displays put on at night by the local firefly population in the trees and shrubs that border the waterways.i have many more amazing photos than I can share here and it was a great trip out to both the zoo and Amphawa.the journey will continue shortly after a brief break on Koh Samet island.

Bang Saen,Thailand,first leg of my trip

The first stop on our Thailand journey is the coastal resort of Bang Saen where we will be for the first week of our trip.this first week will be a combination of relaxation on the nearby beaches and looking for opportunities to photograph some of the local wildlife and scenes.the photos above were taken shortly after dawn before the sun becomes too hot.the birds in the photograph provide the dawn chorus and are plentiful around the villa.hope to post more wildlife photos soon.visited a mountain just on the outskirts of town yesterday en-route to a restaurant for our evening meal and found lots of monkeys unfortunately didn't have my camera with me but i'll take it next time.

Upcoming overseas trip

On Sunday January 19th I will be departing these shores for a month-long visit to the Far East taking in Thailand and Laos for a combination of a well-earned break with family and friends who reside there and some reference gathering for possible new artworks;
I will try and keep my blog updated on my adventures internet access allowing,however some of my destinations will be well off the beaten track and therefore my updates may be a little more sporadic than usual.
I return on the 18th February when normal service will resume,i hope you'll all bear with me until then.
Best wishes Clive

Baby Giraffe drawing complete

My baby giraffe drawing is now complete and the finished image will measure approximately 38" x 10.5" once mounted up.i hope you've all enjoyed watching his progression,the next challenge is to get the drawing to my publishing house undamaged for image scanning and framing!

Baby Giraffe drawing nearing completion

My baby giraffe drawing is almost completed and as the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed the only bit remaining to be completed is the fourth leg!
this is where I left the drawing on Saturday night and before I start work on it today in the studio and so with a bit of luck I may be able to complete it in todays studio session.
yesterday I took the day off from the studio and ventured out to the annual MIWAS (Marwell international wildlife art society) Big 5 art workshop event where I was one of 5 wildlife artists tutoring and offering advice etc to a large number of talented and up and coming wildlife artists both amateur and professional.it was a great day and feedback already received from many of the attendees will ensure the event continues to be important in the MIWAS calendar.on a personal level it was lovely to meet so many enthusiastic artists interested in all the different aspects of the business and in turn it helps to re-invigorate ones own artistic endeavours.

Baby giraffe filling out

Here is todays update on my baby giraffe drawing,what little there is of him is starting to fill out now and you can see the angle ive deliberately portrayed him at to emphasise his tall and gangly nature.

Baby Giraffe drawing growing!

Another couple of busy days in the studio and you can almost see the full extent of this drawing,just a hoof to add to the giraffes front leg.I found the head and neck quite tough going as I had to work standing up,which is something I'm not used to when working in graphite but fortunately as I work down the giraffes body I can now sit making life more comfortable.

Baby Giraffe drawing update

A few hours more work in the studio and the baby giraffe is starting to appear.Most of the completed drawing so far is in shadow and next i'll start adding contrast in which should really bring it to life.

New large drawing in progress

Happy New year to everyone,i hope you've all had a fabulous festive break.Great to be back in the studio again after the extended break and working on another pencil drawing.This time the subject is a baby Giraffe and ive had to re-arrange my usual working arrangements to fit this large drawing into the studio in such a way that I can still work on it satisfactorily.the image itself is roughly 39" x 12" and ,as such,was too large for my usual draughtsmans board.ive created a new temporary drawing board from a piece of conte board cut down to precisely the right size for this one drawing.the whole board is then sitting on my oil easel so that I have to work on the piece standing up,its a little ackward but I'm getting the hang of it.I'm hoping to have it completed before I fly out of the country on the 19th of this month for an extended reference trip of a month in the Far East.