Judging by the recent news stories there seems to be some confusion in Essex about what a lion looks like.
My rather elderly cat was slightly confused on this point too. Here he is inspecting my painting, “The Coalition”, while I had it propped up outside in an attempt to take a quick photo of the painting before it was framed.
Cat inspecting lion painting.
Three of my paintings have been accepted for the selected exhibition “Essex in Mayfair” run by Essex Art Club at Gallery 54, Shepherd Market, London W1J 7QW. The exhibition runs from Monday 7th March to Sunday 13th March.
The paintings are ‘Summer in Newmarket’, ‘Dappled Stripes’ and ‘The Watcher’.
‘The Watcher’ is a very recent (fresh off the drawing board last week) watercolour painting of a leopard watching from a high vantage point on top of a termite mound.
'The Watcher'
The exhibition is well worth a look if you’re in London this week, there’s normally some great stuff from other artists as well, and a good selection of unframed works if you’re looking for a bargain.
I’m definitely having a wild dog phase at the moment… Latest addition to the website is this new portrait of an African Wild Dog in watercolour. The dog ‘posed’ nicely for us on the base of a large termite mound so we got a great eye to eye view instead of looking down on the dog from the higher level inside our vehicle. This was part of the same sighting from a recent trip to Botswana that ‘The Return’ painting was based on, there will probably be some more to come from that too as the packs’ puppies were having a great time chasing each other around the termite mound. Another wild dog subject just crying out to be painted!
EDIT UPDATE: Sorry this one’s sold! Check out all my wild dog pictures on my African Wild Dog paintings page.
I’ve finally gotten around to updating the Landscapes page on my website – hurrah!
I only paint landscapes or townscapes occasionally as a break from painting equine or wildlife subjects. I do paint local (Essex) scenes sometimes but they are normally sold through local galleries and don’t often make it onto the website at all.
The available paintings now on the scenes page include the results of my trips to Somerset (Porlock Weir), Wales (Llanberis Pass) and Venice, as well as the painting shown below of Kersey in Suffolk. Kersey is a very quaint old village with a ford that frequently floods across the main street and which is populated by geese and ducks. The resulting scene is extremely popular with artists and tourists alike.
One brand new and two recent African Wild Dog paintings have just been added to the website. Two of the paintings are based on a wonderful evening we spent viewing four young adult dogs playing like puppies. That sighting and the one of the wild dog pack with pups shown in the painting below were both made at the Kwando Lagoon concession in Botswana, which has always been our luckiest spot for finding the dogs.
 ‘The Return’ – watercolour painting of Wild Dog Pack |
 ‘Wild Dog Play Time’ – watercolour and ink |
 ‘TseTse Trap Demolition’ |
Check out all my wild dog pictures on my African Wild Dog paintings page.
My oil painting “Mares and Foals” shown below, will be auctioned in aid of the BHS’s responsible breeding campaign, “Drawing the Line on Indiscriminate Breeding”. The auction takes place at Cheffins, Cambridge in October.
Mares and Foals - oil painting
There’s lots of other great lots to bid for including celebrity contributions. Check out the list of donations here. Or on their facebook page here.
UPDATE: The original oil painting sold at auction raising £1200 for the charity. Limited edition prints of the painting are now available from
Conversation Pieces
Last portrait class of the term yesterday and we had one of the other class members posing in his sailor’s gear – complete with steering wheel (no boat though)….
It was a great pose but a bit difficult to cope with the red puffy jacket and everything else within the two hour slot! Photo of my effort below:
Portrait Class - Sailor Pose
More wildlife paintings – as have just heard that I’ve had work accepted for Obsidian Art’s “Out of Africa” exhibition. The exhibition at Obsidian Art, Layby Farm, Old Risborough Road, Stoke Mandeville, Bucks runs from 15th July to 22nd Aug. The two paintings below will be there as well as “Showing Off for the Girls” which I posted previously. Do try to get to the show it’s a lovely gallery (which looks much better inside than out) and always has a great variety of work.
 Fellow Travellers |
 Sable Antelope |
The wildlife painting of a male Red Lechwe below is a medium sized watercolour just completed called ’showing off for the girls’.
Showing off for the Girls
I’ve been taking a short break from painting horses after panicking to try and get paintings ready for the Society of Equestrian Artists’ Exhibition, so have completed a couple of wildlife paintings instead.
The Red Lechwe were seen in Botswana on safari a couple of years ago, they’re great fun to watch if a little difficult to photograph or draw. They prefer to stay in knee deep water and marshy areas where their speed through water gives them an advantage over predators (and photographers / artists).
They are most spectacular when they all take off together if startled, they move very fast splashing through the water in a series of leaps and bounds.
I have now completed the oil version of the London scene painting project I started working on here.
Wellington Arch
The oil painting isn’t quite as loose as I was first aiming at, but I’m quite pleased with it. I’ve invented a viewpoint that’s much closer to the cavalry horses than could easily be achieved with photography. And have concentrated attention on the quadriga at the top of the triumphal arch.