squirrel monkey painting in miniature

Squirrel Monkey © Tracy Hall 2011

3.5" x 2.25" watercolour on rag board

My latest painting follows on from a visit to Edinburgh Zoo where troops of capuchins and squirrel monkeys inhabit the Living Links field station. There is always something going on with squirrel monkeys and they are fascinating to watch. This little one was taking a break from the antics all around before shooting off after another piece of fruit. I love the way they sit with their tails wrapped around themselves :)

a bit of a catchup...

Sparrows © Tracy Hall 2011

2.25" x 1.75" watercolour on rag board

Doesn't time fly?! I hadn't realised how long it had been since my last post. I hope you have all been enjoying a lovely summer in the meantime and I will try and cover as much of the recent news as I can remember. Above is my latest miniature of house sparrows; I love watching these birds, probably our most common garden visitors throughout the year, and have depicted these on the 'feeding' tree right outside our kitchen window.

Some recently completed close up cat portraits (left) will be heading off shortly, together with some miniatures (including the Sparrows above), to Elford Fine Art in Devon who I am delighted to say will now be showing my work both at the gallery and at art fairs around the country. These paintings are not true miniatures but they are small, at only 2" x 3" in size, and a lot of fun to paint.

I've also been busy with larger work for jigsaw companies and below are some recent releases in the UK which will be available shortly from stockists nationwide -

Plus a series of shaped seasonal puzzles which will be released in the US soon -

The highlight of the past week for me was undoubtedly joining the helpers at the Creatures Great and Small exhibit at a local agricultural show - Nick Martin had travelled up from Inverness with a van full of rescued reptiles and went down brilliantly with the folks here, many of whom had never met a snake or lizard in the flesh. The charity receives no external funding, so Nick depends on talks and events such as this to raise both awareness and funds, and visitors are also welcome at the centre at Bogbain Adventure and Heritage Farm just outside Inverness.

Despite the fact that we were next door to the poultry, which made for some rather excitable snakes and a fair bit of background noise, the visitors seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. That's me below wearing Charlotte, the beautiful Boa.