Mute Swans miniature painting

Swans on Stenness Loch © Tracy Hall 2009

1.75" x 2.25" (shown enlarged) watercolour on board

My latest miniature painting is of a mute swan cob and signet. The family were enjoying the sunshine on Stenness loch - and we enjoyed our picnic lunch on the bank watching them. We have a resident pair on our local loch as well, but if you're ever in Orkney, Stenness and Harray lochs are almost always guaranteed to provide wonderful 'swan-watching' opportunities.

Once I figured out how to record videos with my camera on location (I know, you've probably all been doing it for years but I'm a bit slow with technology) I have been finding them a great help back in the studio. I thought you might like to see a bit of one from that day which I was able to use to help me create this painting. Along with sketches, notes and photos it is just another very useful tool when you're trying to recapture a moment. As you can see, they were far more interested in the pondweed than us!

Swallows - miniature watercolour

untitled (Swallows) © Tracy Hall 2009

1.75" X 2.25" Watercolour miniature on board

These young swallows were learning to fly with their parents and taking frequent rests on the roofs between spurts of enthusiasm. They really are such beautiful birds. At the end of the summer they will make the long journey to South Africa for the winter, before returning here next spring to nest. They were particularly fond of the plastic guttering on the house for their breaks - which did provide some excellent photo opportunities and a terrific view of the proceedings, but not quite what I wanted for a backdrop, so for the painting I moved them to a byre. I also added in their mother (on the right) who was a woman with a mission flying between her various offspring and trying to keep everyone together. Sounds familiar. I have no title for it yet.

Rose painting in miniature

Roses © Tracy Hall 2009

2.25" x 1.75" watercolour on board

I don't often paint roses, but for this miniature I couldn't resist these and felt like trying something a little different. A quick post, but I had another go at a video and you can watch it below or click on the picture above to see it full size (I suggest selecting 'HQ' to watch in high quality). I hope you like it - it was much easier than my earlier attempt...and its shorter :) The black shape you can see in the top right is the magnifying glass.

Opium Poppy and miniature roses

Opium Poppy © Tracy Hall 2009

16" x 12" watercolour on Saunders Waterford

Flowers large and small today! This is the time of year - here anyway - when the opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) are out in force. They seed themselves everywhere in the garden and seem to require only the merest suggestion of soil to grow. They are in the pathways and sand as much as the flower beds. Those in the poorest situations grow in miniature....tiny, but perfectly formed replicas of their more fortunate siblings. This is a commission drawn from the garden, so the timing was good. Almost as if it was planned that way :)

I've also been working on a miniature painting of roses from my parents garden. Hopefully I will have it finished in the next couple of days. Its 2.25" x 1.75" and I have no idea what variety of rose it is. Shown about half way through below:

Roses in miniature © Tracy Hall 2009

(work in progress)

Gannets in miniature - completed

Gannets © Tracy Hall 2009

3.5" x 2" Watercolour on Board

Just a quick post to show the finished Gannet miniature painting (enlarged with a penny shown for scale) .

Also as a footnote, our internet has been down for the last 24 hours so apologies if you have emailed but not heard back. How very odd it is to be without - perhaps a lesson on modern living there! Not that I was indoors today anyway; out battling the horseflies to mow the grass and getting sunburnt instead. I can report that Jungle Formula doesn't work with horseflies (or 'clegs' as they are called here) and I'm all out of Skin so Soft which seems to work with everything - including midges - and smells nice too. Its not sold as an insect repellent but trust me, it works.

Gannets & Crossbills

Gannets miniature painting - work in progress

© Tracy Hall 2009

Watching Gannets diving is a spectacular sight; they fold back their wings and plummet at speeds of around 90mph, hitting the water like a bullet. It seems astounding that they manage to come back up again, but they have a skull like a crash helmet. I haven't had much luck getting decent pictures of them, diving or otherwise (apart from the occasional dead bird washed up on the beach) but really wanted to have the chance to paint them again so it was great to get the opportunity to use some of Brian Hewitt's photos for my latest miniature. Brian got some amazing shots of them diving too. The painting is 2" x 3.5" watercolour on board and shown above in progress. Lots still to do. One day I hope to get to Bass Rock where you can take a boat trip to visit the gannetry.

Orkney has played host to flocks of Crossbills recently and I enjoyed a magical moment amongst the trees at Kirbister surrounded by these beautiful birds. The males look almost parrot like with their distinctive large bills and bright plumage, and I'm reliably informed that they were searching for aphids in the leaves. They seem remarkably at ease with onlookers. I have been trying to add a little video (just to see if I could!) and after several failed attempts using IE, switched to Firefox and it finally worked :)

'Brush - Paper - Water' Feature

Chris Beck is an artist I admire enormously. Six months ago she started a blog called 'Brush - Paper - Water' to celebrate, in a typically generous fashion, the versatility and incredible range of watercolour through the work of other artists. I'm very honoured to be featured with my miniatures this week, if a little humbled by the stunning company! It's really worthwhile to browse through the other artists she has chosen to highlight to date, and really does serve to illustrate what an amazing medium watercolour is. Thank you Chris!