It has been 1,321 days since my last post. I never said I was consistent.
So after about 3.5 years of not painting at all, the urge suddenly returned, and I’ve been gradually getting the hang of it again and remembering the joy of painting.
I think part of my motivation is that I’ve also become slightly obsessed with wildlife photography. Last year we moved to a house with a garden that attracts plenty of birds, bought a decent camera and zoom lens, and I’ve been busy trying to learn how to use them. You can check out my efforts at https://dans.blog if you’re into that kind of thing. Spoiler alert: it’s mostly birds and foxes!
(You’re also very welcome to use my photos as art reference. If you do, please let me know so I can admire your work!)
So now I have my own source of wildlife reference photos, and I find there’s something special about painting wildlife from photos you’ve taken yourself. Knowing that you’re painting a bird or fox that was in your very own garden gives the painting a sense of meaning that you don’t really get when using someone else’s photos.
Having said all that, I recently painted the 3 small paintings below, and only one of them (the blackbird) was painted from my own reference photo. Ah well, it still helps that I have seen both starlings and blue tits in our garden recently, I just happened to find these reference photos that I really liked (by TheOtherKev).
By the way, the Starling painting is currently on auction with a starting bid of just £50. You can bid on it here. What are you waiting for?!
This painting is now sold, but you can check out my other available paintings.
The other two will be available to buy once they are dried and varnished. Let me know if you’re interested in buying them, otherwise I’ll auction them too.
Until next time (hopefully it wont be another 3.5 years this time!)
P.S. If you’re wondering what has been occupying my spare time for the last few years, I’ve mainly been learning how to make point & click adventure games! I’ve released 7 short games, which you can check out via https://mostlydecentgames.com if you’re interested.
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