January 2022 Animal & Wildlife Challenge

Viv - Beautiful and expressive. Really nice tonality of colors in the background, gives a sense of delicacy.
Hawkmoth - Wow, three entries! Each amazing by itself, really well achieved your watercolors! The technique is impressive, like the swan's feet. My favorite is the sparrow.
Christel - The stone is such a cool surface to work with. I wish you set it in a very colorful spot full of flowers.
Anne - It does look very loose and fun. I have to try that water soluble graphite. Kind of give a digital feeling. The turtle is such a beauty.
Penny - It looks textured. It seems to me color is quite hard on paper surface after adding acrylics. I'm curious how it looks on person.
Joy - Lovely sparrow. The angle is tricky without a background. Is very nice detail the yellow tones toward the tail feathers.
KayK - Nice Sparrow. A bit small yet I think if you put it in a 15x15cm frame and add a big passepartout it would really grab the attention or curiosity.
Fede - Nice duck... is a goose...ups! :D
 
Thanks for your comments, Federico. The coloured pencils seemed softer than usual and laid down quite thickly. I do like texture. It’s a pity you can’t see it in person.
 
Vivien - The simple BG complements the subject beautifully.
Claudia - These birds are gorgeous, but you are getting to be a wee bit of showoff! ;)
Christel - Very nice, as usual.
Anne - Nice drawings, very confident.
Penny - That still came out well, esp. the eye area.
Kay - What an adorable miniature. Excellent idea for those of us who try to participate in many challenges!
Federico - Great smooth pastel. The warm colors in the dark feathers are an excellent choice. Thank you for hosting!
 
Morning all! Really good selection of work for me to peruse this morning. Thanks for your comments on mine!

Christel - the pebble painting is a great choice for that reference picture, nice work.

Federico - wonderful goose, I love your choice of colours, the whole thing really 'sings'.

Kay - love your tiny sparrow thumbnail, great choice of crop

Penny, this turned out excellent considering the problems you had with the paper. You managed to rescue it admirably!

ams - really nice couple of graphite sketches there, it sounds like you are enjoying the soluble graphite.

Joy, nice work with the new graphitint pencils. You've got the colour balance well. My sparrow was a second attempt and I went far too heavy with black BOTH TIMES!, and had to remove as much as I could, but you've balanced the lights and darks really nicely. What did you mean by your 'showoff' comment? :( I don't know what to make of it. Please explain, as I don't understand what I've done to prompt such a comment. It seems like a dig disguised as a joke.
 
Anne - those graphic pencils intrigue me! Lovely!
Penny - cool! Love the way you add cp to wc
Fede - cool goose!
Joy - well done!
Kay - love your miniature!
Thanks for all the great comments on my stone paintings. The surface is so rough that I first apply a layer of plaster of paris. Even then it's challenging.
 
Vivien - The simple BG complements the subject beautifully.
Claudia - These birds are gorgeous, but you are getting to be a wee bit of showoff! ;)
Christel - Very nice, as usual.
Anne - Nice drawings, very confident.
Penny - That still came out well, esp. the eye area.
Kay - What an adorable miniature. Excellent idea for those of us who try to participate in many challenges!
Federico - Great smooth pastel. The warm colors in the dark feathers are an excellent choice. Thank you for hosting!
Thanks, Joy.
 
Morning all! Really good selection of work for me to peruse this morning. Thanks for your comments on mine!

Christel - the pebble painting is a great choice for that reference picture, nice work.

Federico - wonderful goose, I love your choice of colours, the whole thing really 'sings'.

Kay - love your tiny sparrow thumbnail, great choice of crop

Penny, this turned out excellent considering the problems you had with the paper. You managed to rescue it admirably!

ams - really nice couple of graphite sketches there, it sounds like you are enjoying the soluble graphite.

Joy, nice work with the new graphitint pencils. You've got the colour balance well. My sparrow was a second attempt and I went far too heavy with black BOTH TIMES!, and had to remove as much as I could, but you've balanced the lights and darks really nicely. What did you mean by your 'showoff' comment? :( I don't know what to make of it. Please explain, as I don't understand what I've done to prompt such a comment. It seems like a dig disguised as a joke.
Thank you, Claudia.
 
Anne - those graphic pencils intrigue me! Lovely!
Penny - cool! Love the way you add cp to wc
Fede - cool goose!
Joy - well done!
Kay - love your miniature!
Thanks for all the great comments on my stone paintings. The surface is so rough that I first apply a layer of plaster of paris. Even then it's challenging.
Thanks a lot, Christel.
 
Claudia, please accept my apologies for any hurt feelings. I put a winking face at the end of my comment, which was sincerely meant as a compliment. I meant that you are posting such a quality and volume of work here that you are an inspiration to all. You know I admire and comment on your work in other threads, and would have no reason or desire to be nasty to anyone here. I am saddened my words were unclear.
 
I'll post my work and then return with comments:
8x11", directly in ink, with marker highlights.


cs_animals_jan2022.jpg


Cheers,
 
Claudia, please accept my apologies for any hurt feelings. I put a winking face at the end of my comment, which was sincerely meant as a compliment. I meant that you are posting such a quality and volume of work here that you are an inspiration to all. You know I admire and comment on your work in other threads, and would have no reason or desire to be nasty to anyone here. I am saddened my words were unclear.
Try not to worry, Joy. I am sure Claudia will understand.
 
EP - Always so creative! I like the marker highlights, and am amazed that you are able to incorporate so many refs into one cohesive piece.

Penny - Thank you so much for your kind words! I have joked with many of the other prolific artists (like Christel,Kay and Sanlynn) here and on other forums, but fortunately they were not offended.
 
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Viv - aww lovely b'fly
Claudia - three great ones - I'm drawn to the swan - how did you capture white with all those different subtle colours?
Christel - awww b'fly on a rock :)
Anne - great job with the water soluble graphite. The turtle shell in particular is lovely!
Penny - awww so fluffy the head of that goose :) Do you know that there is a group of three of those geese that hang around? Usually they are in pairs and this is a three-some ... puzzling ... "They mate for life with very low “divorce rates,” and pairs remain together throughout the year... Extra-pair copulations have been documented." from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Canada_Goose/lifehistory And thank you
Joy - oh what a joyful creature :) And thank you :)
Kay - yay for a mini closeup of the sparrow head :)
Federico - lovely shine to the bill and the eyes with the red and blues :)
 
Please let it be !

It does no good to keep rehashing it !

A person's feelings were understandably hurt due to a misunderstanding and there has
been an explanation and apology . I hope she feels better now.

Patricia
 
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Thank you, EP. Thats very interesting. We get Canada Geese here in the fields by the river. Thanks for the link. I saw a bird today which is relatively new to England, an egret, standing by itself next to a stream. i have heard they now live here but haven’t seen one before.
 
Morning all!
Fab medley of sketches as always eyepaint, your work is so distinctive and lively.

Claudia, please accept my apologies for any hurt feelings. I put a winking face at the end of my comment, which was sincerely meant as a compliment. I meant that you are posting such a quality and volume of work here that you are an inspiration to all. You know I admire and comment on your work in other threads, and would have no reason or desire to be nasty to anyone here. I am saddened my words were unclear.
No worries Joy, I wasn't offended as such - I just didn't know what to make of it. I was genuinely asking what I had done to prompt the comment. I'm not good at understanding social etiquette, so I often make mistakes and rely on other people to tell me. I don't want to unwittingly make myself unpopular, so it actually helps for people to tell me if I'm getting it wrong! I think I've figured this one out, so no problem - all is well!! :)
 
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