New oil painting taking shape

Following my return from my extended trip to Thailand and having finally dealt with the last of my mail ive managed to make a return to the studio.I thought it best to ease myself back into painting and so chose the simple subject of a reed fox portrait.This is the very rough completed underpainting which ive just put to one side to dry whilst I work on a few ideas for new paintings.

Phichit,Thailand.a gallery of birds found in and around the areas paddyfields

my final destination on my Thailand tour is my wifes hometown of Phichit in central Thailand,a very large centre for rice growing with paddyfields the dominant feature on the landscape.for a lover of waterbirds this place is paradise and ive spent three days criss-crossing the fields in a 4WD gathering photo references.these are just some of the birds I encountered.

Sukhothai ancient thai capital

having spent a wonderful few days in Khon Kaen province of north-east Thailand I moved via the mountainous district of pechabun to Sukhothai city which is one of the original ancient thai capital cities.my brother-in-law resides here on the edge of the world famous sukhothai historical park and so I stayed here for several days and these photos show some of the ancient ruined city and temples of Sukhothai.I'm now on the last leg of my journey in Thailand to my wifes hometown of Phichit in central Thailand one of the main rice-growing areas of the country.the heat here is fierce but water plentiful as several large rivers feed the area resulting in wonderful landscapes of lush green paddyfields full of waterbirds.I will post some more images soon. 

Rural north east Thailand

For the last few days we have been enjoying the hospitality of our friends mark and aom in there villa in Khon Kaen province in the north-east of Thailand.we visited a local farm and found some beautiful water buffalo sheltering under a tree.i loved the rural landscape of a patchwork of paddyfields,some dried out and dusty,others bright green with lush rice growth.water is shared equally amongst the various farmers lands on a rota system it was explained to me so that everyone gets a fair share of the water in an area where temperatures can reach 42c in the hot summer months.

Khao Yai national park,thailand

after a short break on the island of Koh Samet we headed back to the mainland and headed north to the thai national nature reserve of Khao Yai,a huge tract of undeveloped forested land home to many native animals and birds.unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I only got to spend a night and a day in the park and so had to try and cram in a lot during that time.the scenes above show the forest and some of its inhabitants that we came across during a whistle-stop tour and a short jungle trek.the forest is home to elephants,deer,gibbons,macaques,birds of all sorts and last but by no means least tigers!.i will definitely be back to explore this amazing park at more length the next time I'm in Thailand.after leaving the park weve now headed north-east to a friends wonderful rural village retreat near Khon Kaen in Isaan area for a few days of R n R and wildlife spotting