Udate on my latest painting

I have added the next element in my current painting. I've not put a lot of thought into the title yet, that will come later and I suspect its going to be a difficult one to choose a name for. Anyway I have painted a stem of Iris flowers up the centre if my cross shape. The Iris flower symbolises hope and is named after a greek goddess who carried the souls of women to the underworld. (Don't ask me what that has to do with my painting, just a useless piece of information to enlighten you.) The flower that I used for reference was one I stole out of my Mums garden. Such stunning colours and a fun challenge to paint.

Rabbit Shooting

I've been shooting lots of rabbits lately.....with my camera of course! Billy the Wonder Dog and I take a stroll in the evenings as its cooling down and visit the local rabbit warrens where Bill and the Bunnies play their silly bugger games.

He barks a warning to let them know he's coming (very sporting of him) and they all sit up and watch him running flat out towards them. Its the rabbit version of playing "chicken" - they wait to see how close they can let him get before they go bottoms up and shoot down the burrow.

Once or twice he has encountered a bunny with a bit more bravado, a rabbit that takes off in the opposite direction of the burrow then the two of them play Bullrush as the rabbit tries to get back to its HQ. Despite Billy employing his jet propulsion system, the rabbit inevitably wins.

Bill pokes his head down the rabbit hole and they hold a short dialogue, probably trading insults. Then its "Seeya tomorrow," and we wander back down the cow race in the fading light towards home and a cool drink from the trough (Bill that is, I prefer a wine.)

Sploosh pics

There was a freezing wind on the river this morning which kept the whitebaiters at home so the heron grabbed the number one fishing possie. Nice light for getting what I call "Sploosh" shots - the moment the bird strikes at shrimp, small fish or crabs. I call them sploosh shots cause if you were drawing it in a comic thats the caption you'd put with it! Timing is everything for both the bird and my shutter finger.

This is the painting I am working on at the moment.

Its 1.2 metres tall and the arms to the cross 25cm deep. I am not sure if the skull is from a goat or a deer, I suspect a deer. I have a handful of possible elements to include in the final design but I have to bear in mind the final composition so that they will balance the finished work. I had the whole design worked out before I started but got to this point and changed my mind. An artists perogative! I'm quite happy with it so far.

The sky tonight

A Moody sky over my house tonight!

Hounds and Herons

There were lots of people out enjoying a sunny morning on the side of the river yesterday. Below is "West" who brought his owner out to throw some sticks for him.

I think half the reason I can get close to the birdlife here is because they are used to the human activity which will probably increase as people utilise the awesome new walkway the council has put along the stopbank.

I have noticed very few herons on the riverbank in the last couple of months. This one is pulling out a big long mudworm to eat. Many of them have had chicks which are just now leaving the nest and I saw this family squabbling on the mudflats the other day. The herons with fuzzy hairdos are the juveniles. The smaller of the two young birds was hassling a parent for food and chased it until it gave in and regurgitated some food into the chicks mouth. EEEYEW! Makes you grateful you didn't have to rely on your mother to...er....nah lets not go there. Then the smaller chick chased the other chick off, the parent chased the bigger chick...it was chaos but very entertaining and made for some good action shots.