Wildlife In Art | Painting Of The Week
Through the seasons
This week by week collection follows some of the new original paintings I have completed this season and a look back at paintings from my fine art print collection. My choices reflect the wildlife you can spot in nature at this time.
December 15 2018
Hare Kiss
Wildlife Painting of the Week | Original Acrylic | £4,950
Image size: 19.75" x 12.75 " | Framed size: 23 1/2" x 29 1/2"
Hare Kiss, original acrylic painting Buy Now.I photographed these two hares during a severe snow storm named Beast of the East. These hares were courting in the cold, whilst other wildlife was simply struggling to survive. It was so surprising to see that they had time for love during such harsh conditions. This week that experience featured on TV, on BBC1's The One Show.
Click here to read more about filming wildlife during the Best of the East.
Click on the link below to watch how I painted this.
https://youtu.be/9678F5QVMfI
December 8th 2018
Avocet Pair
Wildlife Painting of the Week | Original acrylic | £5,450
Image size: 13.75" x 20.75" | Framed size: 23.5" x 31.5"
Avocet Pair, Original Acrylic Painting, Buy NowAvocets 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. composed when 19 perched on it at once.
December 1st 2018
King Penguin Pair
Wildlife painting of the week | Original acrylic | £6,950.00
Image size: 15 1/2" x 30 " | Framed size: 27" x 41 "
King Penguin Pair, Buy NowI travelled to Antarctica in 2007 and saw the largest penguin colony at St Andrew's Bay with over 1/2 million penguins. But the two in this painting were from the smallest colony we visited consisting of just 18 birds. We watched this colony on Saunders Island in the Falkland Islands. I chose to paint them together like this; the curve of one penguin's neck echoing the length of the other's beak.
November 24th 2018
Kingfisher
Wildlife painting of the week | Original acrylic | £5,700.00
Image size: 14.25" x 21.5" | Framed size: 33" x 27"
Kingfisher | Buy NowThis photograph was taken when I still had to finish the feathers along the back of this kingfisher and there was more detail to add to the claws and eye. These birds are so beautiful. I love the iridescence of their blue feathers. Visit my winter art exhibition at my gallery in Fotherdale to see the finished art work.
Click here to read about how I built an artificial kingfisher nest to watch kingfishers chicks as they were raised.
https://www.robertefuller.com/watching-kingfishers-inside-their-underground-nest/
November 17th 2018
Badgers: Two of a kind
Wildlife painting of the week | Original acrylic | £4,350
Image size: 11" x 15.5" | Framed size: 26.75" x 23.5"
Two of a Kind | Click to buyThese 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.
November 10th 2018
Barn Owl
Wildlife painting of the week | Original acrylic
Image size: 29" x 21.25" | Framed size: 41" x 33.75"
Barn owls are so graceful. I love the moment when you glimpse one as it soars over country hedgerows at dusk. This new original painting goes on exhibit today at my gallery in Thixendale. The event will celebrate my 20th year at Fotherdale Farm and this painting is a number of new originals featuring the wildlife that I watch from this beautiful spot.
Click here for more information about my exhibition.
Click here to read about the barn owls that I care for at Fotherdale Farm
November 3rd 2019
Leverets
Painting of the week | Original oils | On exhibit Nov 10th - Dec 2nd
I've just finished this painting of two young hares, or leverets as they are known. It will go on exhibit at my winter art exhibition, opening on November 10th here at my gallery in Thixendale. The painting is among a new collection that celebrates my 20th year of painting the wildlife at Fotherdale Farm and was inspired by watching leverets suckle their mother right here in the gallery car park.
Click here to find out more about the exhibition
Click here to read about watching leverets suckling in the car park at Fotherdale
October 24th 2019
Tree Sparrows
Painting of the week | Original acrylic | On exhibit Nov 10th-Dec 2nd
https://youtu.be/fWEHX7UoaFk
I'm just finishing off this composition ready for a new art exhibition opening here at my gallery in Thixendale on November 10th. The exhibition will mark my 20th year here at Fotherdale Farm and this painting will tell the story perfectly. When I moved in 1998 the garden was a barren, windswept site. There was just one pair of breeding tree sparrows living in the roof space of the house. In 20 years I have transformed the garden - digging ponds and streams, planting a woodland, wildflower meadows and hedgerows - and put up nest boxes under the eaves. There are now 35-breeding pairs here. Read more about the exhibition here:
https://www.robertefuller.com/wildlife-art-exhibition-celebrates-20-years-on-the-yorkshire-wolds/
October 17th 2019
Fox Cub
Painting of the week | Original acrylic | Private commission
I've now finished this fox cub painting. It was a private commission for a customer. I'm happy with the composition, with the cub looking around an old tree stump. Sometimes less is more and so I have left the rest of the background fairly simple. What do you think?
October 10th 2018
Waved Albatros
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size 21x21cm | £70 for loose print
Waved Albatross, limited edition print, Buy NowToday the Galapagos Conservation Trust hold their annual Galapagos Day conference to discuss innovative conservation breakthroughs at this unforgettable archipelago. This painting follows a visit I made there two years ago. Take a look at the rest of my Galapagos collection and read about my experiences here:
https://www.robertefuller.com/a-trip-of-a-lifetime-to-galapagos-inspired-new-paintings/
And watch the video too!
https://youtu.be/4wIu7hzdQHg
October 2nd 2018
Blue Tit on Lookout
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 23x15cm | £55 for loose print
Blue Tit on Lookout, limited edition print. Buy NowHave you noticed how the hedgerows are laden with berries just now? Rose hips, sloes, pyracantha, guelder, hawthorn and honeysuckle berries hanging heavy from the trees and sparkling in the low sun like jewels. This year 's bounty is particularly rich - a response to the long dry summer we've just had. I like to go out and photograph these berries at this time of year to use as studies for my backdrops. This painting of a blue tit perched on a hawthorn branch was developed in this way. I have had a flock of bullfinches in my garden one year feeding on a similar glut of berrries. I planted the plot specifically to ensure plenty of colour year-round for my painting backdrops - and of course for the birds!
Click here to read more about my garden and see the photographs of bullfinches I took feeding on the berries and the paintings I developed from these studies;
https://www.robertefuller.com/what-to-plant-to-attract-bullfinches-and-how-i-persuaded-one-to-pose-for-its-portrait/
September 26th 2018
Squirrel of Formby
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 23x15cm | £55 for loose print
Squirrel of Formby, limited edition print. Buy nowIt's Red Squirrel Awareness Week! But how many people have actually seen a red squirrel in the wild? According to the Red Squirrels Northern England there are only 15,000 left in England. Within 10 years there could be none at all. The picture above was painted after a visit to Formby, in Merseyside, where the National Trust protects an isolated colony of reds. There are only a handful of refuges left for red squirrels in the UK, of which Formby is one. There is another at Snaizeholme in the Yorkshire Dales.
Click here to read my blog post about watching the red squirrels at Snaizeholme and see the photographs I took when I visited.
September 19th 2018
Hedgehog in Autumn Leaves
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 30x21cm | £70 for loose print
Hedgehog in Autumn Leaves, limited edition print. Buy now.As the evenings draw in and the leaves on the trees begin to turn gold, I thought this painting was the perfect choice this week. I loved selecting a palette of yellows, oranges, greens and burned golds for it. It is said that hedgehogs have an estimated 5,000 spines - painting the tangle of lines to represent this wasn't as much fun! Click here to read my blog on how I persuaded this particular, rescued, hedgehog to pose for its portrait here.
https://www.robertefuller.com/how-i-persuaded-a-hedgehog-to-pose-for-his-portrait/
September 12th 2018
Peregrine of Saltend
Painting of the week | Original in oils | Framed size: 34.5 " x 26.5" | Sold
This peregrine posed against an industrial backdrop is a completely different setting for me. I normally venture into remote, rural places to watch wildlife, and set them, accordingly, against countryside backgrounds. But I watched this peregrine at Saltend Chemicals Park in Hull, a vast industrial site on the banks of the Humber Estuary. It was an extraordinary experience. The peregrine in the painting, a female, successfully raised her chicks amidst the noise and smells of heavy industry with the support of staff at Vivergo Fuels, a bio-fuel company based on the site. I was so inspired by the conservation project at this industrial site! Click here to read more about my experience and find out what I learned about these extraordinary birds that have learned to survive in the heart of British industry.
September 5th 2018
Spoonbills
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 43x25cm | £110 for a loose print
These four spoonbills wading against a pink sky feature in my 'painting of the week' this week. I wanted to capture the way the water reflected the soft morning light. Spoonbills began breeding again in England in the 1990s, after an absence of 300 years. Although they are strictly waders rather than shorebirds, I chose to highlight them this week since it is World Shorebirds Day on September 6th and it is important to highlight the need to protect habitats necessary for birds that survive along shores.
Spoonbills, limited edition print, Buy now.August 29th 2018
Swallows - Time for Tea
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 30x21cm | £70 for a loose print
Swallows begin gathering along telephone wires at this time of year ready for their long flights back to the cape of Africa. The sight of them as they line up in noisy groups is a sign that summer is nearly over. This painting was inspired by the swallows that return to breed each year at Fotherdale Farm. One year two these birds had very late broods and I became worried that the chicks would not fledge in time for off. Click here to read about that experience.
Swallows: Time for Tea, limited edition print. Buy nowAugust 22nd 2018
Otter
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size: 30x21cm | £70 for a loose print
Although populations of otters have surged in recent years, these mammals are still very difficult to spot in the wild. I spent a fortnight in Scotland photographing a family of otters so that I could study them close up for a painting. The limited edition below is actually a composition from some years ago. I wanted to capture the inquisitive expression on its face as it looked back over its shoulder. Click here to see some of my recent research photographs and read about how I tracked down these elusive creatures. You may notice some similar expressions on the faces of the otters photographed!
Otter, limited edition print. Buy NowAugust 15th 2018
King of Savute
Painting of the week | Original in oils | Framed size: 37x29" | £8,950
To mark World Lion Day on August 10th I've chosen this original oil painting. I photographed this particular male lion in Savute game reserve, Botswana, in 2000. I was struck by the way it exuded power and presence as it prowled the dry savannah. Lion populations have decreased at an alarming rate and it shocks me that there are now just 20,000 of these magnificent creatures left in the wild. I hope my painting will inspire respect for the remaining population and inspire a desire to protect lions for generations to come.
King of Savute, original oil painting by Robert E Fuller. Buy nowAugust 8th 2018
Leopard on the lookout
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size 45x30cm| £110 for a loose print
It's the holiday season and this leopard, lounging lazily high in the tree canopy captures the mood. I like to watch and photograph animals in their natural habitat for my paintings and have crossed the globe to see some of its most elusive species. I usually make time for one wildlife watching trip each year. Click here to read about the time I watched a leopard for my paintings in Kenya's Masai Mara.
Leopard on the lookout, limited edition print. Buy nowAugust 1st 2018
Barn owl at Burdale
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size 27x34cm | £110 for a loose print
Today is Yorkshire Day and to celebrate I've chosen to share this painting of a barn owl. You get barn owls all over the UK but this one is a particularly local owl. I watched it in the Yorkshire Wolds valley of Burdale, which to my mind is one of the most beautiful places in Yorkshire. Click here to see more paintings of Yorkshire wildlife and a list of my top 11 favourite Yorkshire wild creatures.
Barn owl at Burdale, limited edition print. Buy NowJuly 25th 2018
Great Crested Grebe Incubating
Painting of the week |Original in Pencil & Acrylic | Image Size 10.5″x12″ | £2,950
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 stripey chicks and took them out onto the main lake. But they kept coming back to the nest to rest and roost.
Great Crested Grebe Incubating. Buy Now
July 18th 2018
Hare in Mayweed
Painting of the week | Limited edition print | Image size 30x15cm | £70 for a loose print
It's been a long hot summer and so I thought this painting of a hare in a clump of mayweed expressed the mood perfectly. The grass is so dry at the moment, but the wild flowers are thriving! Click here to read about how I planted a wildflower meadow in my garden to provide me with inspiration for my backdrops.
Hare in Mayweed, by Robert E Fuller Buy Now
2 comments
These pictures look so realistic that I can’t believe they aren’t.
These look so real is insane.