wren in miniature and birds in general

'Morning Call' (Wren) © Tracy Hall 2011

1.75" x 2.75" watercolour on board

Above is my latest miniature of a wren (shown enlarged with a ghost penny for scale). They are such lovely little birds and what they lack in size they make up for in volume! It was fun to paint.

This weekend is the latest Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the RSPB, one of the largest wildlife surveys in the world and now in its 32nd year. Just take an hour if you can on saturday or sunday to make a note of the birds you see in your garden or local park then visit their website to record your results -

"With results from some 280,000 gardens helping us create a 'snapshot' of bird numbers in each region, we've been able to see that some of our birds are disappearing in scary numbers. We've lost more than half our house sparrows, and three-quarters of our starlings, and your results have certainly helped highlight these dramatic declines. However, it isn't all doom and gloom - these surveys might help us spot problems, but more importantly, they are also the first step to help aid a species recovery."

I think the birds must know about this event as they usually seem to stay away from our garden in their droves for the entire hour, but I'm going to do it earlier this time when they will (hopefully) still be busy at the feeders.

Finally, some birds that will definitely be in the garden over the weekend, here enjoying the sunshine this morning...although I don't think they really count:

miniature paintings - a common coot and a rare dove

'Coot' © Tracy Hall 2011

1.75" x 3.5" Watercolour on board

Two new miniatures to get me back into the swing of them after a longer break than I would have liked. One is a fairly common coot (sadly not showing off its amazing feet here) and the other a socorro dove which is now extinct in the wild, although a programme is underway to reintroduce them. Both paintings are show enlarged with the ghost penny for scale. It felt good to be working little again...but I'm not sure either of these are actually finished yet now I look at them with fresh eyes!

'Socorro Dove' © Tracy Hall 2011

2.25" x 1.75" Watercolour on board

miniature art society of florida exhibition

Tomorrow is the public opening of the MASF annual Exhibition in Dunedin Fine Art Center in Florida. This is one of the largest Miniature Art exhibitions and an important event in the miniature art world with over 800 juried works on display from artists all over the world. I'll have five paintings there and was delighted to receive 3rd place in Birds & Animals for Chillin' (Sumatran Tiger).

Chillin' (Sumatran Tiger) 2" x 2" watercolour

All the volunteers work extremely hard behind the scenes to put on a tremendous show which is always very popular with both artists and buyers. There are demonstrations and most of the work on display is for sale (excluding the permanent collection). One year I will get to go - but meantime am looking forward to hearing all about it from those lucky enough to be there!

I received a copy of Pratique Des Arts this week, the leading French art magazine, who kindly included one of my paintings in their Hors-série Aquarelle Spécial. I must confess I rarely get to see any art magazines (I am never sure which one is worth subscribing to, even if I did get round to it) so its always a treat. There is some truly outstanding work included in this issue and I was completely blown away by the work of Stan Miller in a feature on his portraits - they are simply breathtaking. He works in watercolour and egg tempera and you can see more on his website, but here is a photo from the article as well: