'Avocet and chick' 15" x 10" oil on canvas

Ive always admired artists who produce lovely loose oil sketch works that seem to say everything necessary in a quick work and not get carried away with 'unnecessary' detail.
I thought I'd have a go at producing a little oil sketch from some of my references obtained at Titchfield Haven NNR of an Avocet and chick.Its all been completed in one layer of paint over two sessions and I have to say that I'm really pleased,not only with the results but also with the painting process itself which I found very liberating after my usual heavily-worked pieces.

'Portrait of charlotte' oil on board 12" x11"

After an absolute age working in graphite without a break I found myself stuck for ideas and feeling a little unmotivated and so in an effort to get the creative juices flowing once more I picked up my oils and prepared a board for a small painting.
The subject of the painting is very close to my heart as this is charlotte a little vixen that visits my studio daily for a bite to eat and seems to like hanging out with me.I thought attempting this little oil portrait might fire up my imagination and because its relatively simple it allowed me to get back to grips with oil paints.It seems to have done the trick and I now have lots of ideas for some smaller paintings,which are the sort I prefer.

'Avocet and chicks' 10" x 12.5"

Last month I took myself off for a day out to my local National nature reserve Titchfield Haven a few miles down the coast from me.Armed with my camera and binoculars I had hoped to get some nice shots of birds with young on the scrapes.Apart from the plethora of black-headed gulls and noisy youngsters as well as a handful of ducklings and Canada geese goslings the Avocets were the highpoint of the day for me.They are such graceful and beautiful birds that whenever I see them I am thoroughly enchanted so imagine the thrill when I came across a pair of adults and four chicks.The adult birds were naturally very wary with hordes of marauding gulls nearby and so a close watch was made of the youngsters as they foraged on the scrape.eventually as the heat rose in the afternoon the chicks sought shelter under one of the adults and in this drawing,apart from the obvious chicks in the open,there are a further two hidden underneath the adult,the legs of which you can see protruding.

Newly framed pencil drawings

                                                                     Old Warrior

                                                                      Amur Leopard

                                                                      Alert Impala

These are three examples of my latest pencil drawings presented for sale.I wanted to show how much thought and preparation goes into presenting the finished drawing to the market.I am often disappointed to see how other artists spend so little time and invest so little money in ensuring that there wonderful drawings and paintings get the framing and presentation they deserve in order to achieve a sale at a decent price and to demonstrate pride in there product.
All my drawings are presented in hand-finished frames that complement perfectly the image within and glazed with ARTglass which not only ensures minimum reflections with no colour distortion but also offers a high degree of UV protection to the image.
I firmly believe that the commitment to quality and excellence of the imagery must be reflected in its presentation if the artist wants to trade on the quality of there work.