Projects

For obvious reasons, most artists (including me) paint and draw subjects that are conveniently available to them, such as still-life, landscape and figures. Many artists settle into a comfort-zone where they become focused on one area alone, such as portraits, and they can be quite uncomfortable about tackling other types of subjects.

In the belief that an artist ought to be able to tackle any subject (famous last words!), I’ve begun working on a series of collaborative projects with some interesting individuals in order to tackle some exciting and unusual artistic challenges. In return for these new artistic opportunities, my plan is to create a variety of paintings and drawings that they can use in their businesses and professional work.

Falconry Centre – Birds of Prey

Sadie Shepherd is the founder-owner of the "Feathers and Fur" Falconry Centre near Maidenhead. She has a splendid collection of Hawks, Falcons and Owls on display which she takes out to local schools and groups for educational visits. A chance family visit to the Falconry Centre revealed that Sadie had been thinking about finding an artist to create some images of her birds that could be used on cards, prints and other merchandise. Consequently, I prepared some drawings of Sadie’s Tawny Owl, "Ash", which she was pleased with, and this began our collaboration to create a series of drawings and illustrations of her amazing and beautiful birds. Here we are with "Echo", one of her Harris Hawks – click on the photo to see more...

Dance and Ballet

Dancers are always terrific subjects for an artist, with their inherent strength, grace and poise, but it’s difficult to find opportunities for sketching and drawing dancers in action. By chance, one of the Life Drawing classes that I attend featured a professional dancer, Helen, with formal ballet training and considerable experience, and she has agreed to work with me in between her professional performance commitments (no images yet).