It's Showtime

Summer brings a raft of cattle and agricultural shows which affords me a wealth of material and reference photographs. Logistically, I can only visit a few and as they tend to follow on it's a busy and expensive time but I love it.

I'm usually found with my nose in the show catalogues marking off entrants which help me identify them later or behind the camera lens. I have found that by dressing like a photographer the handlers/owners tend to think I'm an official press/show photographer and are happy to encouarage the animal to pose!

I'm impressed with the enormous amount of work behind the scenes preparing the animals for the shows so they look their best...and at how patient they are whilst being preened. I can remember having to have my face wiped as a small child with spit on a hanky and not liking that..it's not something you ever see these days but it used to happen to us all!

There's a good natured rivalry between owners/handlers and I think it's great to see the children learning the job at such an early age especially when they are so small and even the tiniest white show jackets still skim the grass!

It takes a certain amount of skill, experience and I daresay bodyweight to be able to handle some of the cattle. I have to admit I do love it though when something kicks off and unrehearsed chaos unfolds in front of me (well, I do when I'm sufficiently far away as the Pamplona experience isn't for me) as the following photos demonstrate. The first shows an Ayrshire at Great Eccleston Show ending up in the hoardings after eventually doing the splits - she was fine and went over to take first in her class.

The second shows a Highland at the Royal Welsh where I thought the handler was going to be tossed in the air!

The Highlands look so cute when they are calves but when they grow to that size with those giant horns I think they are quite a feisty breed.

I will be joining the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society next year which will mean that not only will I have "free" entry each day but I will have access to the members areas. More importantly this means I will be able to visit the member's bars and get a beer. Previously I was only allowed access to the bar in the small and noisy Welsh Black Cattle pavillion, the type of which you can see behind the Welsh Black in the photo below.

I am grateful for the chance for a chilled beer but it is rather like being involved in a cross between a scrum and a raucous Young Farmers stag do. It's possibly the only place I've ever been wear I could be semi clad wearing nothing but a strategically placed rosette and wellies doing the "down in one" atop a table and no one would bat an eyelid...but then those Young Farmer types know how to party!

Out With the Old

I had wanted to redo this acrylic painting which I originally completed some years ago and also as I needed to submit a suitable wildlife painting for the National Exhibition of Wildlife Art. It's been a few years since I have entered a wildlife painting as livestock falls in to the domestic category and is therefore ineligible. At the time of the original painting, aware that I invariably worked from a darker palette I decided to make an effort to paint a light background. It seemed okay at the time although I was never really happy with it so I thought I'd give it a completely different feel and repaint it in oil instead. I mixed up a dark green background colour of acrylic to cover quickly and began to obliterate the background. As I was now at the point of no return I decided to photograph it and chart it's progress which you will see below.

Inspired by the dramatic change to the background I sloshed quite a bit of a mix of generally dark acrylic to the foreground obliterating hours of work in the original painting but it needed doing.


I did get a bit carried away here adding lighter areas in acrylic which I thought a subsequent layer of oil paint would cover more easily than it did. I think that I actually mixed up a greater quantity of acrylic than I needed and was too tight to throw it away so I kept daubing it on!

At this stage I've started to define some of the background area to indicate foliage using oil paint and also you can see where I've roughed in the shapes of the grassy vegetation in the foreground using acrylic.

Here I've worked in oil on the background and discovered that some of the greens, which is not a colour I normally use were not as opaque as I'd hoped so it has taken quite a lot of glazes to cover the lighter acrylic areas underneath so they appear less harsh.

By using oils I have been able to make the fur appear much softer than when I first painted them in acrylic. You can see the effect in the following photographs of the lionesses heads.

This is the completed painting "The Opportunists" ready to go in to it's frame and be submitted to The National Exhibition of Wildlife Art. See http://www.newa-uk.com/ which also has an online catalogue. The exhibition runs from 16th July - 1st August with the preview evening on the 15th July.

Branded Goods

Some time ago I decided that I would like to have a very small branding iron depicting the monogram motif with which I sign my paintings. If it's a small canvas I don't always use my full signature and use the monogram on it's own as I feel that it is less obtrusive. A search of the internet found that it was possible to have such an item made although they are more readily available in the US and they are certainly not without their cost especially if it's an electric one.

So I had to look at a cheaper alternative and started to look at pyrography equipment instead. A wood burning pen would do the job and it was much cheaper! I did buy such a wood burning pen some months ago and haven't had the opportunity to use it before so today I "branded" my latest two canvases which had been drying.

This is the matching "brand" on the wooden stretcher bar of the box canvas and will be how all of my work will now be marked regardless of whether it's a painting of cattle or sheep etc as that is how the work is signed on the front.

Gavin, Stacey, Coo and Bill Too

I'd wanted to paint a picture of two lambs cuddling very close together although in all of the photos I had there wasn't a suitable image so I had to invent the scene. Working from photos which I felt would fit together I found a number with a similar light source which I thought might look convincing. The lamb on the left (as we see it here) has facial markings which were too similar to the other one and I felt they would appear to merge together so I used a third image for that face.

This shows the acrylic underpainting and it gives me an idea of how the final painting might look.

Still working in acrylic but using thinner washes of umber this shows the body shapes being defined and the addition of browner tones in the eye - but it's still an underpainting.

Whilst working on this painting I was aware of the feeling of being watched and I discovered my audience was a pair of collared doves sat on the fence outside the studio window. Everytime I turned around, Bill and Coo, as I christened them were craning their necks for a better view. It didn't matter which window I looked out from they were there and locked into my gaze. I can confirm that two doves can't sit comfortably on a satellite dish either so if my neighbour wonders why it's consistently snowing when watching Formula 1 that's the reason. Maybe that's why Dastardly and Mutley had an aversion, after all..pigeons are probably just doves with less dress sense. Since the time of painting Bill and Coo are "with egg" in the conifers and so I have had to reconstruct the event.

At least they couldn't be responsible for this "accident" which greeted me one morning from a top floor window and managed to strike every window over all three floors. Judging by the fishy aroma and great quantity I think the culprit was one of the seagulls which wheel above periodically. It's said that we live in a multi cultural society and perhaps the gulls prove this by depositing a litre of prawn bhuna from 500 ft - though maybe it was instant fear at failing to negotiate a 3 storey house and it's wedged in the guttering instead. We shall never know.

Ah well, back to the work..where were we? Yes, at this stage I've switched to oil and painted the blue "sky" background.

Continuing in oil I've started to paint the fur of the lamb on the left concentrating on keeping the soft feel as I wanted to emphasise the fact that they are young lambs.

The body fur practically completed, I've now moved to the darker area of fur on the face of the lamb on the right.

Same treatment here for the lamb on the left.

The final piece on the easel is shown here completed and can't be varnished until it is has dried and then it will be prepared and ready to go to a gallery.

If the Flaps Flutter for Another

The Valentines Day messages in the British press are a source of joy and inspiration for me as I delight in some of the pet names people have for each other. Last year I came across one from "Rascal Flaps" and I kept a note of it imagining that it might suit a suitably floppy eared subject. Last year at a show amongst the pig pens, I found my Rascal Flaps!

It's not that easy getting good pig reference even from the shows as access to them is only granted after they have been judged. Most often, by then, they are sleeping in their pens and invariably have their heads buried under the straw. I wouldn't be surprised if Nytol or Mogadon sponsor the trophies for this show!

The acrylic underpainting was put in first. The straw is now completed in oil here

The body is practically completed here and that was how I left it at the end of this session

You can see here that I have continued the dark colouring around the canvas but I haven't continued the painting around it. When I first approached WG with my work Glyn pointed out that it cheapened an image to wrap it around the canvas and I have to say I do agree although to leave it white in this case wouldn't look right.

The nose still needed to be added at this stage

The final image although needs varnishing to bring out all the tones properly

I do actually have an idea for another pig painting but that does involve me visiting the party section in Matalan and I'm not sure I can face that just yet. It never ceases to amaze me that in all the recent snow and ice which has resulted in the closures of some schools, businesses and roads that a number have battled their way throught to Matalan. That they have even considered this a journey of necessity to purchase own label clothing/housewares/luggage etc and then queued with the others to be invited to "till number three" astounds me.

Maybe, these are the types who have virtually stripped nearby Sainsburys of milk, salt, grit and sliced white bread - the very stuff of life (apparently). Survival, it would seem, must have it's price and 69p for a twin pack of Pain Rustique or £1.15 for a "Taste the Difference" ciabatta is the point at which siege mentality ends. Jamie won't be happy!

As to the real Rascal Flaps I can only wonder if romance has survived the year or if the flaps now flutter for another. I can only hope that he isn't sitting on a stockpile of salt and white bread.

Heeland Coos

I'd wanted to paint a black Highland cow for a while but not had the opportunity until spotting this beauty at the Royal Welsh Show last year. Most of the entrants for this category were the usual red type including one which was making his debut and then it all kicked off in the arena. Haven't a clue what started it but it was like a town centre on a Friday night (I know - I've seen the Bill..well, it did lose it's appeal when it was on more than twice a week but you get the idea)

Mr Debut, probably high on sniffing that stuff they spray on their coats to make them shine which smells similar to the stainless steel and chrome cleaner from Lakeland...oh I'm digressing again, disgraced himself running amok and was promptly disqualified. But, I'll give the handler some credit - she did hang on and I bet she has a new personal best for the 100m now! The picture below doesn't capture the excitement of it and the speed they were advancing out of the arena but I didn't think about taking a photo when it first happened as I was a little too close, guess I'll never make a photo journalist!

Anyway, I liked the look of this black one which I painted at a demo and have named him "Dirty McFlirty" as he has that kind of look about him. I had the finished piece float framed in a black contemporary frame and it sold soon after. Unusually for me, I've included the nose ring and that's because I wanted to break up the dark colouring and draw the eye to it.

I have also painted one of my favourite subjects - a Highland calf which is shown below. This is one of the youngsters from an award winning fold not far from me which I paint regularly. "Wee Bairn" is oil on a 24"x24" canvas and float mounted in a chunky contemorary frame.

From Ice Palace to Snow Cow

The new house is extremely warm and I am a convert to new builds and modern insulation although I do think an extra inch or two of soundproofing would not go amiss sometimes especially as baby Stanley (I know!) wails through the wall..still..we're sleeping through the night now but I think teething has started. There are however, less cows on the door step and I will miss being able to see the Limousin bull whilst walking up to the pub but I have spotted a herd of what may be Devon reds six or seven minutes from the house. They've gone in for the winter now so it will be a while before I can assess it but no doubt they will be appearing on a canvas in the near future.

Just before Christmas, for the first time in almost six years the snow fell here and I was able to achieve an ambition to build a snow cow. A rather pleasant hour or so was spent creating a Highland cow as I've painted a few of them recently although the horns proved the most difficult. Despite next door leaning out of the window (not Stanley's dad - the other side) asking if it was a dog (phillistine!) I actually think it turned out quite well. A slight thaw during the night meant it was polled by breakfast as it's horns lay in bits on the grass but not to worry.

If the Flake advert did removals..

Considerable time has elapsed since I last updated this blog but as I have recently moved both house and studio it wasn't up there on my list of priorities. I was under the illusion that I only had a few things and that these could be easily scooped up - think Dick Whittington and the knotted hanky on a pole - wrong!!

The dogs in the previous post were completed in between moving which had been designed to be a leisurely stress free affair - sort of, if the Flake advert did removals! An accelerated and unplanned moving date did mean the packing up became a trolley dash and it wasn't really helped by the lovely couple who owned the bakery near me and insisted that the entire move was done in their van. A kind offer this was but it meant that the logistics had to be masterminded to fit in around their pie deliveries. Stripping the empty pie trays from the van in increasingly record times became akin to the pit stops in Formula 1 especially with the added pressure of avoiding the school run chaos. Fortunately, I did finish the dogs before the move and I showed them to the owners before tempting fate with any varnish however temporary. Hubby wanted an extra highlight in the eye where there would have been none (everyone's a critic!) but other than that they were very happy. It's always traumatic doing commissions and I don't know an artist who enjoys them as people generally know what they don't want (usually when it's done) rather than what they do want. So off it went for framing and I returned to packing.