watercolour painting Archives

halophytes Coastal seaside plant flowers

Halophytes: Salt Tolerant Plants

Posted on 6th March 202029th September 2022 in Biological terminology: Definitions, botanical terms

Halophytes: Salt Tolerant Plants Halophytes are plants that tolerate or thrive in salty conditions. I recently finished the illustrations for a chart of seaside flowers, and got to wondering how these plants can survive in these hostile habitats? Another job, illustrating stamps for a Seaside flowers issue, added to my interest. This blog had me […] Read more

Coastal Flowers: Illustrating a Flower Guide

Posted on 21st February 202016th March 2022 in Current projects and news

I’ve recently completed a series of thirty three botanical illustrations of coastal flowers for Field Studies Council Publications. What I love about these jobs is the enormous amount you learn about species you may never have noticed before. In this blog, I’m going to showcase a few of these lovely plants, and what seaside habitats […] Read more

Mixing Neutral Tints and Colours

Posted on 10th August 2019 in Illustration techniques, Uncategorised

What are Neutral Tints? Neutral tints (or colours) are grey hues which don’t carry any dominant shade. They are, as the name suggests, neutral. In 1887, a neutral tint was defined by Winsor & Newton as, “‘A compound shadow colour of a cool neutral character.” So a blue-grey or a grey with a pink […] Read more

Deer illustrations, watercolours, ducks, and snow!

Posted on 21st January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

Tweaking the Deer illustrations There were some alterations required on the Whipsnade Zoo finals, oh the joys of process white gouache. Here are the “before and after” shots; see if you can tell what’s been changed… For more on this job, check out my blogs on the deer, the mara, and painting a hog deer. […] Read more

Botanical illustrations, coccolith, and a peacock

Posted on 14th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

I have finished the last of the illustrations for ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, and am just waiting to hear if any alterations are needed before sending them off. By far the hardest illustration in the set was the pair of peacock, whose complexity dwarfed any of the deer and antelope. Peacock trouble I think the problem with […] Read more

Deer scientific illustrations and a sparrow

Posted on 7th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

This is a half week of work, but I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve got done. I’ve finished the last of the deer for ZSL Whipsnade; a grand total of eleven animals. If you’d like to see them all in one place, I’ve popped up an album of them on my facebook site: Deer and Antelope […] Read more

Botanical illustration of hawthorn berries y Lizzie with her paintbox

Step by step Botanical illustration of Hawthorn berries

Posted on 1st January 201317th October 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

In this blog I’ve broken down the steps involved in painting the berries of the Hawthorn Craetegus monogyna. This approach works just as well for any red shiny berry, although you’ll need to take care with what hue of red you mix. The real secret to getting these berries looking properly shiny is to ensure you […] Read more

Christmas botanical illustrations

Posted on 19th December 201211th January 2019 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

I’ve not been working this week, it’s the holidays. There are five illustrations outstanding for the Whipsnade Zoo commission, but the deadline isn’t for a fortnight so I’ll have plenty of time to complete them ahead of schedule. Instead, I’ve assembled a variety of seasonal illustrations, done over the years. Christmas plants There are lots […] Read more

Mara, wallaby, and a christmas illustration

Posted on 19th December 20123rd December 2018 in Zoological step by step

Christmas is coming! This week has been rather more to do with preparing for Christmas than illustrating. However, I have completed the remaining four roughs of deer for Whipsnade Zoo, and painted a mara and a Bennet’s Wallaby. Mara The mara is an animal that I’d not heard about until this commission came through. I took […] Read more