Thursday 6 May 2010

Challenge Gillian - again


Well, the challenge is still going well. At this rate I will actually have a choice of things to put into the Summer exhibition. This is the first fox I have drawn in a long, long time. The last time I painted one was for my number one fan who later died tragically young. Although I always wanted to do another one I never found the right circumstances where I could do it justice. In short my heart just wasn't in it. I am hoping this one would go down well with my biggest fan.

This woodpecker is actually taken from a book written an illustrated by one of my favourite artists - Elaine Franks. I trawled her book, The Undercliff, hour after hour, dissecting her illustrations and marvelling at her work. My one is a combination of graphite (for the black areas) and coloured pencil. It hasn't scanned quite as well as I had hoped though.
The squirrel is still work in progress and the cat beneath is actually a reworking of an earlier piece I did for Challenge Gillian. I just thought the flower pot and grass added enough to make it a proper picture.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautifull Gillian!

The fox is wondefull, but I have a very soft spot in my heart for birds, I think he's perfect. Hey Gill, do you teach drawing?? I would take a class from you in a heart beat!

Gillian McMurray said...

Wow, Lori, what a compliment. I am glad you think my drawing is worthy of such high praise but I'm afraid I don't teach drawing. I have too much to learn myself - LOL. Most of my art involves high blood pressure as I try to be the best I can be and I am hardly ever satisfied with the end result. The curse of a perfectionist - LOL.

Seth said...

I am always blown away by your animal drawings...and these are as incredible as ever. You really seem to capture the essence of the animal and showcase their unique personalities so well!