The Stoat & Weasel Collection
This collection of paintings was inspired by an intensive five-year study of the stoats and weasels. I followed six-generations of the same stoat family and got to know each stoat & weasel by sight. The paintings are portraits of some of my favourites. Click here to read more about my stoat & weasel studies
Crackle Standing Proud | Original Acrylic Painting | £7,950
Image size: 29" X 20" Framed size: 41" x 32.75" | More InfoThis is a portrait of Crackle, a stoat born in my garden this year. Despite her mother trying to push her out of the territory, she has gone on to raise five kits of her own here this year. I wanted to capture her inquisitive, cheeky character in this painting. Crackle is due feature in a BBC Natural World documentary.Click here to read the full story of watching Crackle in my garden and see the photographs that inspired the paintings.
https://vimeo.com/342049747
Play the video above to watch as I add the final touches to Crackle's portrait and find out how tricky stoat fur is to paint!
Mrs Two Spots Mousing | Original Acrylic Painting | £1,950
Image size: 9.5" x 6.25" Framed size: 19.5" x 17" | More InfoWeasels are tiny, but tenacious. I chose to paint this weasel carrying its prey because the scene gives you a sense of scale. Even a mouse is a mouthful for a weasel! It was the sight of this weasel making off with a wood mouse more than twice her size through my garden shrubbery, that inspired me to begin my intensive garden studies of weasels. Click here to read about the sighting that launched my intensive weasel studies & find out what I learned
https://vimeo.com/342034139
Click on the video above to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting of a weasel
Original Acrylic Painting | Framed
Two Weasel Kits Branching Out | Original Gouache, Acrylic & Pencil Painting | £2,750
Image size: 11" x 8.5" Framed size: 21" x 19" | More InfoIn this painting I wanted to capture the playful nature of weasels - as well as their phenomenal climbing skills. I had seen these two kits chase one another along an impossibly thin twig, and it made me laugh when they reached the end because all of a sudden there was a squabble! I hadn't realised what incredible poise and balance weasels had until I started watching them closely. Click here to read more about my weasel studies
Fidget Standing to Attention | Original Gouache, Acrylic & Pencil Painting | £2,350
Image size: 8.25"x10.25" | Framed size: 17.5"x20.75" | More InfoThis is Fidget, an abandoned weasel that I reared by hand. He was a character. I had asked a friend to hold up a titbit to encourage him onto his hind legs so that I could photograph him. But Fidget was too clever. He jumped onto a sideboard, then leapt onto her shoulder and ran down her arm to snatch the morsel right out of her hand. Click here to read Fidget's story
https://vimeo.com/341775613
Play the video above to watch as I add the finishing touches to this original painting
The Weasel's Secret Chase | Original Acrylic Painting | £2,150
Image size: 9.75" x 7" Framed size: 21" x 19.25" | More InfoThe way that weasels can manoeuvre their long thin bodies through tight spaces has always fascinated me. I built a perspex maze for Fidget, a weasel I kept as a pet. I was intrigued at how his body became almost fluid as he negotiated the twists and turns. The studies I made of him became the inspiration for this imagined underground vole chase. Click here to read the full story of Fidget
https://vimeo.com/342035328
Play the video above to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting
Bandita's Trio| Original Gouache, Acrylic & Pencil Painting | £3,250
This is Bandita, a stoat that is due to become a TV star. The story of how she raised a litter of kits in my garden is to feature on BBC Natural World. In this painting I wanted to capture how protective she was as a mother. She would move her kits whenever she sensed danger - making it a challenge to film her. Click here to read more about Bandita, and find out how she turned out to be a rare ermine stoat
https://vimeo.com/342036416
Play the video to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting
Fleck The Inquisitive Stoat| Original Gouache, Acrylic & Pencil Painting | £2,750
Image size: 12" x 9 Framed size: 22" x 19.34 | More InfoFleck is Bandita's brother. He gets his name from the white flecks between his eyes. It was a joy to watch him as he scampered through my garden. He wasn't afraid of the camera and would often pose for his photograph. I was able to get some great shots of him to paint from. Click here to read more about the six-generations of stoats I have followed in my garden
https://vimeo.com/342050038
Play the video above to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting
Run Rabbit Run| Original Acrylic Painting | £4,310
Image size: 21.75" x 7.75" Framed size: 32" x 20" | More InfoAs a boy growing up on a farm on the Yorkshire Wolds, I've watched stoats take on rabbits twice their size. After witnessing their fearlessness during my latest studies of stoats in the garden at Fotherdale Farm, I felt inspired to paint this scene from memory. Click here to find out more about stoats learned during my five-year garden study
The Cairngorms Collection
This collection was inspired by a trip to the magnificent Cairngorms in Scotland. I stayed close to the Queen's Balmoral estate and climbed Lochnagar during an unseasonably early snow storm to look for Scotland's elusive wildcats. I didn't see wildcats but I was rewarded with so much other wildlife. Click here to read about my visit to the Cairngorms & see my photographic and video studies
Royal Stag of Balmoral | Original Pencil Drawing | £2,450
Image size: 12.5" x 10.25" Framed size: 22" x 20.75" | More InfoI watched this handsome red stag commanding a herd of more than 30 hinds on a snowy mountainside in the Cairngorms in Scotland. I chose to draw him poised as he skirted the edge of his harem. I think he looks magnificent in pencil, with the details picked out in acrylic paint. Click here to read about my wildlife-watching adventures in the Cairngorms and see the photographic studies
https://vimeo.com/342034564
Play the video to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting
Whooper Swans of Lochnagar | Original Acrylic Painting | £5,250
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- Image size: 18.25" x 13" | Framed size: 29.25" x 25"
I watched this flock of whooper swans after coming across them on a high mountain loch during a lull in a snow storm. There were 32 swans in total and the sight of them against the white landscape was so dramatic I felt compelled to paint it. Click here to read about the sighting and see the photographic studies for this painting
https://vimeo.com/342035840
Mountain Hare in First Snows | Original Acrylic Painting | £2,700
Image size: 12.25" x 7.75" Framed size: 22.75" x 20" | More InfoAs I climbed a shoulder of Scotland's impressive Lochnagar, a heavy snow storm began to fall. It was very early in the season and I noticed a number of mountain hares hunkering down in the drifts. Some had white fur, others had yet to undergo the transformation. The hare in this painting was sitting out the storm, it's coat caught my eye as it was just turning white. Click here to read about my Cairngorm sightings
https://vimeo.com/342049578
Play the video to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting
The Salt End Collection
The following painting is an addition to a collection inspired by watching a pair of peregrines nesting on a vast industrial chemical plant in Hull. A live camera link from the site 50 miles away relays images of the peregrine family inside the nest and I also have a hide outside the nest on a 100ft grain silo. Click here to read the story behind the painting
Glance of a Peregrine
Original Acrylic Painting £3,625
Image size: 14.75" x 9.25" Framed size: 24.5" x 19.5" | More InfoThis is a portrait of the female peregrine living at Salt End Chemical Park in Hull. She and her mate are raising four chicks on the industrial site run by Vivergo Fuels. I am particularly fond of her because she has a very steady gaze. In this painting I wanted to capture the intense way she looks at me when I'm in my hide. It's as if she can see through the camera lens.
Wildlife in Spring
There's so much to see in the countryside in springtime and so many of my paintings are inspired by the behaviour of animals and birds at this busy time of year. Below are a few of my latest original paintings.
Avocets Perfect Pair | Original Acrylic Painting | £5,450
Avocets are so graceful to paint. I love the symmetry of their black and white plumage. I set these two birds against a simple backdrop of blue water fading into the blue of the sky. I liked the way the curve of their beaks are juxtaposed against the curve of their necks in this composition.
https://vimeo.com/342282384
Play the video above to watch as I add the final touches to this original painting and hang it on the gallery wall
Two Of A Kind | Original Acrylic Painting | £4,350
Image size: 11" x 15.5" Framed size: 26.75" x 23.5" | More InfoThese two badgers are members of the same clan. One is only a year old whilst the other is an adult female. I placed a number of twisted logs artfully around their sett so that when I photograph these badgers there they are perfectly posed against my props. I then paint directly from my photographs. Click here to read about how the wild badgers I watch for my paintings have accepted me as one of their own
Great Crested Grebe Incubating| Original Pencil & Acrylic Painting | £2,950
Image size: 10.5" x 12" Framed size: 20.5" x 22.75" | More InfoI watched this great crested grebe sitting on its nest at York University, just 10 metres from a busy footpath. She had three stripey chicks which she would take out to main lake on short trips before bringing them back to rest and roost. Grebes are fascinating birds to watch. Click here to read about their courtship dance & see more paintings of grebes
The Winter Collection
These paintings form part of my winter wildlife art collection, inspired by watching animals and birds in snow. Click here to see more from the collection
Hare Kiss | Original Acrylic Painting | £4,950
Image size: 11" x 15.5” Framed size 23.5" x 29.5" | More InfoI photographed the two hares in this painting during a severe snow storm in March, named the Beast from the East. Surprisingly, these hares were courting in the cold, whilst other wildlife was simply struggling to survive. I wanted to capture the concept of affection blossoming despite adversity. Click here to read about watching hares courting in snow and see the photographic studies for this painting
https://youtu.be/9678F5QVMfI
Play the video to watch this original painting come to life
Snow Patrol | Original Oil Painting | £6,950
Image size: 19" x 13.5" Framed size: 27.5" x 22" | More InfoI love to see pheasants strutting around over Christmas when their plumage is at its best. This one had been hiding in some grasses and rushed out as I approached. When it realised that I wasn't a threat, it held its tail aloft and marched off, keeping its beady eye on me!
Pheasants Flight | Original Acrylic Painting | £8,950
In this painting I wanted to capture the essence of the Yorkshire Wolds, with its criss-cross of dale sides and its abundant wildlife. I wanted to capture that moment when you turn a corner on a walk and come across a wonderful wildlife scene like this.
The Wildlife Worldwide Collection
Each year I travel abroad to watch wildlife. Below are my original paintings inspired by these travels.
King Penguin Pair| Original Acrylic Painting | £6,950
Image size 15.5" x 30" Framed size 27" x 41" | More InfoI travelled to Antarctica in 2007 and saw the largest penguin colony at St Andrew's Bay with over half a million penguins. But these two were from the smallest colony we visited - just 18 birds - on Saunders Island in the Falkland Islands.
European Brown Bear
Original Oil Painting £ 7,750
Image size: 30" x 21" Framed size: 38.5x29.5" | More InfoI travelled to Finland in 2008 to photograph European Brown Bears. Bear watching happens at night, when the bears come out of the forest into clearings to forage on berries and on other food. But, as they were only just south of the Arctic circle, it was light for much of the night.
On the Easel
I am always working on new original paintings and often have a few on the go at once. Below is what's on the easel right now.
Cautious Crackle
Original Acrylic Painting £2,350
When it is finished this will be a portrait of one of my favourite stoats, Crackle. The pose captures the moment she returned to the garden a week after having been pushed out by her mother, Bandita. She skulked about the territory cautiously for a while until Bandita eventually softened and began to tolerate her. I watch the stoats in my garden via 60 surveillance cameras hidden in purpose-built habitats.
Click here to watch the tension between Crackle & Bandita as captured on my Stoat Nest Camera
Visit My Exhibition
Wild About Stoats & Weasels | June 15th- July 7th | Thixendale
Open Weekdays 9.30am-4.30pm | Weekends 10.30am-4.30pm
My gallery is set in the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds, a half-hour drive from York. On display are paintings, sculpture and the photographs, films and live nest cams that inspire my work. A selection of art gifts & homeware are also on sale and we serve complimentary coffee. Entry is free and there is disabled access and free car parking. Click here to read more about what to expect to see at my exhibition.
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