New Bird paintings

Over the last few months ive been working on a series of oil paintings based on encounters at my local nature reserve Titchfield Haven NNR on the Hampshire coast.The breeding Avocets and there young have fascinated me and its a subject I have returned to many times over.I have started working closely with local Galleries and many of my small paintings have found new homes and made it into limited edition print form.All my available paintings and prints can be found on my website www.clivemeredithart.weebly.com
I am now actively pursueing new gallery exposure for my oil paintings.
Hope you like the new paintings,i would love to hear your thoughts.

Fur,Feathers and Fetlocks Exhibition 25th june - 3rd july 2016

So here I am back again like a bad penny!
I wanted to let everyone know about a forthcoming show at the fabulous Haddon Galleries in Torquay,UK
The exhibition is a celebration of the british countryside featuring original works by some of the UK's top artists including yours truly and I will be exhibiting seven oil paintings.On the opening day Saturday 25th june there will be a 'meet the artists' event when all participating artists will be in the gallery for visitors to meet.

'Autumn Lapwings' 13" x 16" oil on canvas

 

 

 

 

A return to my favourite subjects here with this painting,birds and water.The image is based on observations made at my local nature reserve here on the south coast of England last Autumn and depicts a pair of Lapwings sheltering in the lee of a shingle bank on a chilly but bright autumns day.I deliberately painted this in a looser manner than I might usually do and thoroughly enjoyed seeing what I could accomplish with this approach.
Despite having this studio blog for many years and attempting to keep it up to date with studio goings on and details of my exhibition etc and although it apparently has over 700 followers i could count on the fingers of one hand the numbers of people that interact with me which I find very disappointing after all the time and energy I put into it.I have never once had a single enquiry about an original piece featured here let alone a print or even a card sale.Therefore I feel that as an exercise in generating business it has proved to be a waste of my time and energy and  I will be abandoning the blog in the near future.Should there be anyone  out there interested in purchasing wildlife art originals,prints or cards all can be found on my website www.clivemeredithart.weebly.com   I wont however be holding my breath.For those of you who have taken the time to comment here over the years I thank you.

Winter Hare 20" x 16" oil on canvas

 

 

These are the progress shots of my latest Hare oil painting as it came together in my studio.The subject was first sketched onto my prepared stretched canvas and then,as is my usual practice,i started work on background elements.I prefer to paint my backgrounds first to ensure I make a good and convincing job of the animals surroundings as my interest can begin to wane in a piece once the main focus of the piece has been completed,so doing it this way round ensures a quality piece throughout.Having completed most of the background with a single coat of oils I made a start on the quick blocking in or underpainting of the Hare itself.I like to use sturdy short flat brushes for the underpainting stage as they are great for scrubbing oil thinly into the canvas.I don't use any thinning mediums except for a dash of liquin to help paint move freely during the detailed painting stage.Once the underpainting is complete and after a day or so to dry I started on the detailed top coat of oils,applying the paint a little thicker and utilising liquin medium to help lay on fur details.Having completed the Hare it was then just a case of completing the foreground snow and adding in the dry grasses.My favourite oils are the hand-made Michael Harding paints but I also use Winsor and Newton artists oils and Old Holland paints for some of my favourite colours.

'Feeding Snipe-The Haven' 17" x 32" oil on canvas The making of a painting

 

 

Last Autumn on one of my regular visits to the Titchfield Haven National nature reserve I watched a group of Snipe feeding in the shallows on the scrape.The day was still and a little overcast and very peaceful as the birds,who normally skulk away in the undergrowth or amongst the reeds,emerged and busied themselves with foraging for food.Snipe are very cryptically coloured to blend into there environment and are very difficult to spot when not in the open and so the opportunity to view and photograph them was too good to miss.In my painting I wanted to try and describe the tranquility of that day and the rich variety of browns and ochres in both the birds plumage and the dry vegetation and reflections.

New Elephant oil painting

 

 

 

 

 

My latest oil painting is now complete.This is a record of an encounter next to the Chobe river in Botswana when a small herd of elephants crossed the sand that edged the river to drink.Once they had slaked there thirst they crossed the river into Namibia and slowly disappeared out of sight and I hoped that all would return unscathed to Botswana once more.The painting measures 15" x 30" and will be available for purchase shortly on my website www.clivemeredithart.weebly.com

New Fine art card collection online

I'm pleased to announce that my latest collection of fine art cards are now available to buy via my website www.clivemeredithart.weebly.com  Each beautiful card measures 7" x 5" and comes cello wrapped complete with envelope.The cards can be dispatched to any UK address.Prices etc can be  found on my website.For overseas orders cards can be shipped worldwide from my Fine Art America website  www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-clive-meredith