Farmyards, seals and flu

Segments of new farm painting (untitled)* - © Tracy Hall 2009 20" x 28" watercolour

Well, it doesn't do to try and paint miniatures with flu. I've started and abandoned two in the past week. Oh well. I am getting on fine with the larger works though, one above for a puzzle company. Must be a focusing thing :) Not a great deal to say just now, so some seals to enjoy instead from the beach here last week:

*Note - sadly I am not able to show the complete painting just yet, so have shown a few snippets instead. Sorry.

Flowers, butterflies and birds

Red Admiral and Cone Flowers © Tracy Hall 2009

2" x 2" watercolour on rag board

This week seems to have flown by! Above is my latest miniature of purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and a Red Admiral Butterfly. It was very enjoyable to work on despite getting lost in the foliage more than once. Below is the completed commission of the lapwing - in a particular field with geese flying overhead :)

Lapwing and Greylags © Tracy Hall 2009

10" x 7" watercolour on Arches

I was pleased to learn that 'Common Eider' and 'Whistling Duck' (both 2" x 2" and shown below framed) have been selected for the upcoming Royal Scottish Academy exhibition in Edinburgh - more details to follow when I have them. (Update - or not apparently! They have a rather bizarre selection process it seems, and I've now heard that they haven't been chosen after all. None of the 20 works from members of the RMS or Hilliard Societies were selected in the end) . Apart from that I'm still busy painting some larger works for licensing and hope everyone had a fun Halloween :)

Puppy portrait

'Henry' © Tracy Hall 2009

12" x 9.5" watercolour on Arches HP

Meet Henry - isn't he adorable?! I think everyone who saw him on the easel this week fell for him and I really enjoyed working on his portrait. Apart from Henry I have been drawing out two new larger paintings destined for jigsaws and working on another commission - not much to see yet but here's a progress photo with the lapwing emerging in the foreground:

What I don't have on the go just now is a miniature, but since the weather is foul I am hoping to rectify that over the weekend.

Whistling Duck miniature painting

'White Faced Whistling Duck'© Tracy Hall 2009

2" x 2" watercolour on board (shown with 'ghost penny' for scale)

This is the finished painting I was working on in the photo last week at the gallery, and below framed up ready to go off to Edinburgh this week. I fell for these ducks as they are really beautiful - their latin name is Dendrocygna viduata and they seem to also be called white-faced whistling tree ducks - but they were pretty noisy anyway as their name suggests! I liked the preening pose in this shot (which they seemed to do alot of) but altered the background a bit to suit myself - you can see the ref pic I was working from in the previous post.

A family show and the RMS

Saturday was the opening of a joint exhibition with my dad, ceramicist John Struthers, at the Loft Gallery in Orkney - 'Paintings & Pots' runs until November 10th. Its really lovely for us to get the chance to exhibit together as we worked out the last time was nearly ten years ago! If you're in Orkney I hope you'll be able to pop in.

We were both at the gallery on saturday afternoon and I worked on my portable box easel for a couple of hours which turned out to be a good excuse to be able to chat to folk about miniatures and show how I work. This is a wonderful little box that I treasure, designed for plein air painting back in the early 1900s and given to me some years ago by a magnificent lady artist of 101. It just so happens to be perfect for painting miniatures anywhere too.

The Royal Miniature Society Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London opens this coming week, running from Tue 13 - Sun 25 October 2009 and featuring around 700 works by artists from all over the world. Admission is free, and if you have the opportunity to visit it will be a feast of some of the finest miniatures anywhere. Special congratulations this year to Geoffrey Herickx, winner of the Gold Memorial Bowl. Unfortunately I can't be there this year but am eagerly awaiting reports from luckier souls!

Western lowland gorilla miniature painting

'Pensive' (Western Lowland Gorilla) © Tracy Hall 2009

3.25" x 2.25" watercolour on rag board

This week I managed to finish this miniature of a western lowland gorilla, Effie, who we encountered in the summer at London Zoo. Painting her portrait was very enjoyable and also quite moving as they are critically endangered in the wild. Somehow her eyes spoke volumes. It was very interesting and heartening to learn about the conservation work the ZSL are doing in the field, especially at the Mikongo Conservation Centre in Gabon. A percentage from the sale of this painting will be donated to help support their work there.

Thanks to Mona for helping with a title suggestion :)