My painting of the week | summer 2020 – Robert E Fuller

Welcome to your weekly update of all my latest wildlife paintings. I paint in a realistic style and spend many hours watching a bird or animal in its natural habitat in order to make each composition as lifelike as possible.

Click here to meet the wildlife models that inspire the paintings

Wildlife Painting of the Week August 2020 - European Bear

Bears only emerge from thick forests at night, when they venture into clearings to forage on berries and other food. Luckily in Finland, where I watched this bear, it stays light for much of the night in summer since it is so close to the Arctic circle. The light was very soft and magical there.

European Brown Bear | Original Oil Painting |30x21" | Buy Now

Wildlife Painting of the Week July 27th 2020 - Puffins

I've now finished this puffin painting. A departure from my usual, highly-detailed, style, I hope this painting captures the nature of these cheeky birds. I was inspired after watching a particularly sociable group of birds seemingly having a good old gossip on a rocky ledge at RSPB Bempton on the East Yorkshire coastline. Puffins gather here in vast numbers to breed each summer and it is fun watching them catch up with one another after months out at sea. Click here to read more about the puffin models for this painting & how I watched them

Puffins | Original Acrylic Painting | Buy Now

Wildlife Painting of the Week July 20th 2020 - Mrs Kes Guarding her Nest

I've just finished this new original painting. It is a portrait of the female kestrel living in my garden, nicknamed Mrs Kes. I was inspired to paint her after watching how she fought off several raids on her nest this year. I was so impressed by her courage and determination to carry on caring for her chicks. I've posed her at the entrance to her nest, guarding it from further intruders.

Click here to read the full story of this kestrel & watch her defend her on my nest cam blog

Mrs Kes Guarding her Nest | Original Acrylic Painting | Available Here

Wildlife Painting of the Week July 14th, 2020 - Three's Trouble

The fox cubs featured in this painting lived under a wendy house in a suburban garden and I enjoyed a week photographing them for this painting. They were full of mischief and fun to watch.

Read more

Three's Trouble | Limited Edition Print | Available Here

Wildlife Painting of the Week July 7th, 2020 - Great Crested Grebe

I watched this great crested grebe nest at York University. It was amazing to see just how relaxed it was, just 10 metres from a busy footpath. It hatched three stripy chicks and took them out onto the main lake, but they kept coming back to the nest to rest and roost. I chose pencil and acrylic paints for this sketch, and have posed my subject head on to really emphasise the drama of this bird's feathered crest and beard.

Great Crested Grebe | Original Pencil & Acrylic | Available Here

Wildlife Painting of the Week June 29th 2020 - Curlew in Wildflowers

The sound of a curlew calling as it rings out over moorland is an inextricable part of summer here on the Yorkshire Wolds. This painting was inspired by just that sound.

Click here to read more

Curlew in Wildflowers| Print Available on Request

Wildlife Painting of the Week June 22nd, 2020 - Swan Preening

This week's painting is from my archives. I've chosen it because swans seem such an integral part of summer and last night it was the summer solstice. Swan necks make such graceful shape for art compositions, and of course, those fluorescent feathers are a challenge to get right in paint.

Wildlife Painting of the Week June 16th, 2020 - Nuthatch

The way the steel-greys and blues contrast with the pinky-orange plumage on a nuthatch inspired me to paint this. And of course the fact that nuthatches have the habit of walking down tree trunks gave me the ideal composition. Look out for nuthatches in woodlands - you know you've spotted one if it marches down a tree trunk rather than up it!

Nuthatch | Original Painting | More like this here

Wildlife Painting of the Week June 8th, 2020 - Bandita in Ermine

Shortly before lockdown, I received a commission to paint Bandita in her ermine coat. I really enjoyed working on the composition and used both acrylic paints and coloured pencils to pick out the detail of her fur. Bandita is a wild stoat living in my Yorkshire garden. She became famous after she featured in a TV documentary on weasels screened in both the UK & US. I've watched her slowly turn from her typical chestnut brown to pure white over three winters now and I found the transformation inspirational. I've noticed that the change starts when a white band appears just above the black tip of her tail.

Click here to meet Bandita, the model