Bullfinch

Bullfinches are high on my list of favourite creatures. They are shy, yet sometimes tolerate human presence, as did the pair that nested in our beech hedge no more than 3 or 4 yards from our kitchen window. Both the male and the female are exquisitely beautiful but she, instead having a rose-coloured breast, is tinted like a plum.

Where you see one Bully you'll nearly always see their mate, who stays in touch with a soft whistle. Often all you'll see is a white rump disappearing into the shade.

Heron

Herons need to be painted in a loose way I think as they've got very loose feathering. I'll be posting a couple more images of these so-sculptural birds soon.

Mallard Duck

Another Baddesley Clinton inspired Mallard, this time a lady. It would be great to live in a place like Baddesley Clinton - a house with a real moat. Apparently it was a sort of writer's retreat in the 19th century which doesn't surprise me. It would be easy to be creative there I think.

If you've never been to this National Trust house it's an absolute must, if only for the excellent restaurant. And you can visit another fabulous Elizabethan mansion, Packwood House with its stunning topiary hedges and glorious mellow brickwork, just a couple of miles down the road.

Mallard Drake

Another long gap I'm afraid - Val's ankle is taking a while to heal and there's a lot to do. However, we did visit Baddesley Clinton, a fantastic Elizabethan moated manor house, and I was much taken by the very tame Mallards in the moat.

House portraits

Yep, I'm doing house portraits too now. I've just done this one of a fantastic ginger-bread cottage nestling in the woods near Silverstone. Sadly, this place is now derelict and I've had to recreate it from photos for the grand-daughter of the old couple who lived there 30 years ago.
I'll paint your house for a humble £150 inluding mount and frame!

'June Morning'

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I rose early on Sunday and wandered across the fields. The sketch for this oil was made at 7.45 am and it was the strange catherine wheel-like cloud that caught my attention. It seemed to be spinning away into the horizon.

'Maggie - our Appenzeller chicken'

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Maggie, our Appenzeller bantam, is not entirely sane. She actually crows like a cockerel every morning and squawks constantly until she is released into the chicken run. We worry that the neighbours might complain but they seem to love her as much as we do. She is also a hero, the only chicken we have known to survive a fox attack! She prefers to fly up into a hedge to roost so we have to pick her up and put her in the coop every night to save her from Rufus.

'Ash Tree - Evening Light'

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It's my jolly green giant again, this time still in the mellow light of a beautiful warm evening.
The slanting sun is catching the main limbs of the tree in places but the general effect is to flatten the the colour. Ash tree leaf colour is at the blue end of green, if that makes any sense. The Elder flowers are past their best but some still provide a little interest in the foreground

'Lapwings - evening light'

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We visit Anglesey a lot and I've frequently sketched the birds on the mud flats in Red Wharf Bay. These lapwings were silhouetted against strong light one September evening. Afterwards we usually go for a pint at what must be one of the finest pubs in Britain, the Ship Inn.

'Mabel - our Black Rock hen'

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Moira yesterday and now Mabel. Slightly shyer than Moira, Mabel is still a friendly chicken - a pleasure to have in the garden. She laid a massive egg today which must be a double-yolker. I'll find out tomorrow at breakfast!

'Moira'

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Moira is one of our three chickens. She's only about twenty six weeks old but she's laying an egg pretty well every day. She's a Bovan Goldline which are egg laying machines, but are also probably the friendliest breed of chicken known to man. She likes to be picked up and will always run to us to beg for scraps. She's a delight.

'Blackbird & May Blossom'

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An evening Blackbird, from a sketch made a couple of weeks ago when the May blossom was as thick as snow on the hedges.

'Intensity'

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Like all cats, lions are models of concentration when they are stalking. I watched my cat Spencer behaving just like this the other day when he was trying to catch a Bank Vole! They gaze intently at their prey, never looking away, whilst taking infinite care not make a rustle with their paws.

Lionesses usually hunt at dusk apparently, and this young lady was stalking Wildebeest in the gloom on the Masai Mara. There had been a fire so she was ghostly pale against the blackened grassland.

Just Before the Storm

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This is the view from my studio window. The giant Ash tree in our neighbour's field is a constant, but variable, part of the scene and today it billowed in the breeze in between thundery showers. The Elder bushes are in exuberant growth and their creamy flowers seemed to be flinging themselves into the air as they swayed in the blustery atmosphere.

Baby Elephant

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We visited the Masai Mara in Kenya a few years ago and cannot wait to go back. It provides the most fantastic wildlife spectacle on Earth in my view, with it's huge migrant herds and large predator populations. It is also stunningly beautiful and wild.

Baby African Elephants are always cute, whether they are bathing or, like this little guy, trudging through the dust behind mum.

Pheasant's head

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As part of Bucks Open Studios fortnight this year, I've committed to painting a new picture every day for my blog and this is the first.

Pheasants are very beautiful but very dim. They loiter on the road-side, waiting to hurl themselves under passing cars. Mind you, most have been reared by hand and are as tame as chickens - until someone tries to shoot them.

Pheasants always look startled and neurotic. This is a ring-necked bird but pheasants are variable in the UK, with new strains being reared for shooting all the time.

Large White Pig

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What a privilege! BPEX, the UK's official pork marketing body, has asked me to paint a watercolour for their annual awards ceremony.

The painting of a Large White will be presented to the winning producer in the Rare Breeds category.

I must say I was delighted with the way this one turned out (modest) but it's a fact, some paintings just work better than others. I used a large sheet of Arches paper and painted it very quickly. Brevity IS the key to successful watercolours, but why do I have to keep re-learning that truth?

This image will be available as a limited edition print soon, the latest print in my Pig Breeds Collection

I've got great sympathy for Britain's pig producers. Their animals are raised, quite rightly, under strict welfare rules and the meat they produce is of a high quality. But, our supermarkets prefer to import cheap pork, often falsely claimed to be British simply because it's packed here, produced from animals frequently raised under poor conditions. I don't know why we tolerate this. Pigs are far too intelligent and sensitive to be treated without care.

Rant over! The fact is pigs are great - especially our own fabulous rare breeds.

Longhorn Heifer

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Longhorns are all the rage around here at the moment and there are herds everywhere. I believe the meat is lean and good and is popular with the posher kinds of butchers.

The calves are very cute and the adults seem to be gentle and tolerant, which is a good job as their long down-curved horns look like they could do some damage.

This first-year heifer is just showing her horns.

Alpacas

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What strange animals Alpacas are. There's something 'sheepish' about them but they mew to each other and are as nervous as rabbits. They are, of course, camelids from South America and are much valued for their super-fine wool.

Every year an Alpaca Show is held near to us at Purston Manor, and breeders from all over the country bring their animals to sell and swap. This has become a permanent fixture in our calendar.

They are remarkably variable in colour, from almost pure white to a deep chocolate brown, but most seem to be a rich cream colour.

As timid as mice, they don't like being petted, but can be trained quite easily on a halter. They look like recently domesticated creatures to me, always gazing at the horizon as if searching for the gravelly wastes of the High Andes!

I will be painting Alpacas a lot more I think.

Tamworth Pig Portrait

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I think, on balance, the Tamworth is my favourite pig. Gloucester Old Spots and Oxford Sandy and Blacks come close, but Tamworths are full of spirit and character. Their long straight snouts betray a wild boar ancestry more than many modern breeds.

I've worked this image up from the sketches and photos I made at last year's Royal Show. Sadly, 2009 is the last Royal I believe, and last year was certainly quieter than I remember when I was a kid. There weren't many pigs, mainly due to Blue Tongue travel restrictions.

However, those pigs that were there were thoroughly entertaining - especially the younger animals that ran their bowler-hatted, white-coated minders ragged.

Sleepy Woodpigeon

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This tubby Woodpigeon was sitting in my neighbour's tree yesterday, asleep! It was enjoying the late evening sun which was making the normally muted colours glow. This species has become much commoner over the last few years, especially in gardens where they are often quite tame.

I particularly liked the way the breast feathers engulfed the bird's perch.

I said it was asleep, but in reality like all wild things, it was only cat-napping and the slightest noise caused a little yellow eye to open.