Leisure Painter — June 2017

about wildlife. Sketch and photograph

the birds at your bird table, animals in

a field or even your pets in action. Try

to build up a sequence of related actions

to make it more interesting, and if

possible inject some humour. Interactions

between different individuals and species

can provide rewarding material. It pays

to consider well what you wish to

achieve before you go out and how you

intend to approach the animal or bird

without frightening them away.

Always have an escape plan if they are

liable to turn dangerous. You will need

to work at speed to capture certain poses

so make sure all your equipment is ready

for action. Think in advance of some of

the varied poses, situations or interactions

of several birds or animals that you are

likely to record on paper. You probably

won’t get all those as you visualise them,

but it will help you bear in mind your

ideas as you work.

More ideas

You don’t need to stick to wildlife to

create a montage, of course. Buildings,

bridges, trees of various species,

http://www.painters-online.co.uk JUNE 2017 13

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waterfalls, people – the list is endless.

You can create ones of your own village

or town, and it makes an interesting

change from the usual painting.

You don’t need to fill the entire paper

or even put any background in, though

you might like to suggest the sort of

location, perhaps by painting a silhouette

shape of a cottage or tree. Practise with

various types of lettering, both normal

and italic, before committing yourself to

the real thing. Just keep it simple and

uncluttered, and enjoy using a different

approach to your artwork. LP

Bearded Seal, watercolour on cartridge paper, 8 x 111 ⁄ 2 in. (21x29.5cm). This is a watercolour sketch carried out on an A4 cartridge sketchbook,

which I tidied up at home by laying on a background wash and adding the notes in pencil. The seal reclined on the ice floe like some aquatic

Venus for a considerable time, watching us draw closer. I used binoculars to help draw the head details. Creating informative artwork like this

can enhance an exhibition, whether in support of paintings or by itself.

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Watercolour

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