Day 14 - Otter!

I apologise for the blue tinge to this one - photograph was taken in our blue tent and it has cast a blue tinge on the photograph!  We're away for 4 days camping in the Lake District but trying to keep up with the painting challenge so did this one quickly on Friday night from a photo by Brian Rafferty (hope that's ok Brian if you're reading this!) 

Otters are secretive and elusive animals - we hoped to spot some while on our recent trip to Skye but unfortunately despite staking out some otter 'hotspots' we didn't get to see any.  In the early 1960s they were on the verge of extinction due to river pollution, habitat loss and hunting. Now they have full legal protection and with cleaner rivers and habitat management their populations are returning.  

I can't say how wonderful it feels to be out and about walking the fells again.  We're in the Lake District this weekend for Gary's birthday and had our first walk in a long time around from Martindale up on to Beda Fell, Angletarn Pikes, and Brock Crags, then back down through Bannerdale where there are wild red deer roaming - a bit of a clue there on what my next painting will be for the 30 day challenge!  Here is a photo of Angle Tarn, one of the most picturesque tarns I've seen so far.....  and hidden away up in the mountains, absolute heaven!

and an updated version of the otter - minus the blue tent tinge!!!

Day 13 - Blackberries

It's that time of year when the blackberries are ready to be picked and lots of us are making blackberry pies.  I love picking blackberries, it's something that brings back childhood memories of collecting blackberries and mum making a blackberry and apple pie for tea.  The birds in the garden have had a good share of mine! I've done this little sketch of the blackberries in my garden for the 30 day challenge.  I'm away camping in the Lake District this weekend and may not have internet connection but I'm taking my paints with me and will try and keep up with the painting a day but probably won't be able to post until Tuesday!  Have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing!

Day 12 - Puffin!

© Sharon Whitley

Puffin

Probably my favourite seabird - how can anyone not love these birds, often called 'clowns of the sea', or 'sea parrots'. They spend the majority of their life out at sea and only visit our coastlines to breed and raise their young which are called 'pufflings'.  I have seen them on the Farne Islands and on Skomer Island which they use for breeding between March/April and leave again mid August.  It amazes me to think of all those seabirds living out at sea throughout the winter! The little pufflings will be raised in burrows being fed a diet of sand eels until they are ready to leave.

After about 40 days, the chick is deserted and stays in it burrow for 7 - 10 days, without food, whilst its adult feathers develop.

Leaving the burrow is a dangerous time for the young puffin, so it emerges at night to avoid hungry gulls. It cannot yet fly, so it tumbles down the cliff face and swims as far out to sea as possible before daybreak. It then starts learning to fly and fish. The following year, the young puffin returns to the colony, although it does not breed until it is four or five years old.

It's difficult to imagine the puffin without the brightly coloured beak but they only develop these bright colours on their beaks for the breeding season.

You can find out more about puffins here

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Day 11 - Red Fox

© Sharon Whitley

Red Fox watercolour

from a photo by Lucy Swinburne

Red foxes have overtaken grey wolves as the most widespread canines in the wild and is the only wild member of the dog family to still inhabit the UK.  They are very adaptable and occupy our inner city areas as well as our countryside.  More can be learned about the red fox here. Beautiful animals!

Day 10 - Wild Boar

Hmm not sure how I feel about this one - this was done late last night and is a bit fast and loose - not to everyone's taste I know but someone out there might like it - I've still not decided lol!  But at least it's still a painting!  I also did a pencil sketch of a wild boar, also from a photo by Dave Webb to get a bit more of a feel for the animal before painting it as I've never drawn one before.

British wild boar became extinct many years ago and they have recently been reintroduced to Britain albeit accidentally!  This wild boar was painted from a photo by Dave Webb who photographs them in the Forest of Dean where there is a population of free living wild boar. There is a bit of controversy over their reintroduction - you can read more about this on the British Wild Boar website.  So what do you think - are you happy for this native species to be reintroduced or do you think it was a mistake?  You are the Judge

Day 9 - Pine Marten

Pine Marten

© Sharon Whitley

A quick sketchy of the beautiful pine marten - still trying out salt effect backgrounds!  The pine marten is another of our native mammals which is sadly virtually extinct from most of England and Wales but can still be found in Scotland. 

Here is some more information about this gorgeous mammal.  The small painting above was done from a photo by Dave Webb who recently photographed these gorgeous creatures in Scotland.  Here is the photo I used as a reference. As you can see I only did the head for speed and will probably do another with the whole body. Isn't he gorgeous?

© Dave Webb

 Dave Webb is a trained tracker and offers wildlife walks on Exmoor through his website with all proceeds going to charity. Gary and I plan to take part in one or more of these walks in the Autumn.  You can find details on his website here.

Day 8 - Red Squirrel

Day 8 of the challenge is another of our favourites in the UK - the red squirrel.  Such beautiful animals, which I rarely see as they are non existent in many parts of the UK and certainly don't exist where I live in Wales.  I occasionally see them in Cumbria when I visit the Lake District where there is a local population of red squirrels.  They also survive on Anglesey.  The grey squirrel was introduced into this country about 130 years ago when a Victorian banker brought a pair back from a trip to America and decided to release them into the wild - there are now a few million of them compared to only 160,000 red squirrels. This is due to competition for food, the transmission of the squirrel pox virus which does not effect the greys but is fatal to the reds - and of course us humans have our part to play in their decline, loss of habitat, deforestation and persecution as they were considered as pests.  Greys are far more adaptable than reds and have thrived.    Although they are an alien species to the UK, they are now part of our wildlife, like rabbits (see last post) and I enjoy watching the grey squirrels doing acrobatics in the garden - the one I have in my garden is a cheeky little chappy but I would dearly love to see the red squirrel thrive again particularly where I live in Wales.  You can find more information about squirrels in the UK here and recommendations to help the red squirrel population here.

In the painting above I tried using salt effect again, and like the effect it has given on the tail but elsewhere didn't work as well!  I also struggled with the face area and ended up touching it up with a bit of pastel pencil so it's a bit overworked but I hope you like it or parts of it anyway!

I hope you're enjoying my little tour around our British Wildlife through these daily paintings - I'm certainly enjoying painting them and learning a bit more about each animal as I go, please feel free to leave your comments below.


To see what other artists are up to for their 30 day challenge take a look here