Rain, Birds and Greg Poole

It is a bit of a birdy post this week. It took quite a while to get the colours right for this one. The colours seen on the screen are often not the colours you see when the piece is printed.

I am always thinking up new ways to decorate trees. I really like this pen and ink with digital colour.

I used some hands from a magazine picture for this pen and ink drawing. I think I have mentioned before that I cannot draw hands to save my life. This is entitled "Falling Leaves".

This is a digital piece called Ladder Birds for obvious reasons. I so liked the design of the birds with the pink tree in this post that I decided to use them for this drawing as well.

I thought you might like to see these delightful ceramics by ceramicist and sculptor Paul Smith. Lovely quirky items.

I found another very old and deliciously gnarled tree for those visitors, who, like me, love trees. This reminds me of the trees in Fangorn Forest in LOTR.

I have a great love of winter ploughed fields in the landscape. This is a local scene and a great draw for dog walkers.

We have had some beautifully misty mornings lately. They may be decidedly awkward for driving but they are great for landscape photography. The following images are all the work of UK artist and illustrator Greg Poole. He has a lovely and huge website here. You can find more information about him at the bottom of this post.

Apparently we are having the wettest winter in the UK...ever. Not sure how far back "ever" extends, but it certainly sounds as if it is unusually wet. Being a water sign I don't mind water on the whole. I am not too keen on walking in it if I haven't got a waterproof on though. A nice warm waterproof jacket, waterproof over trousers and a pair of sturdy walking boots and you can walk for miles in the rain. It does amazing beautiful things to winter trees. Sparkling drops on the ends of dark branches etc. The only trouble with photographing them is that the camera is likely to get a bit wet. It also brings a huge number of wild birds to the garden bird tables and grass. The blackbirds are particularly amusing - chasing each other out of the garden when there are worms aplenty for all.

My featured artist this week is a multi-media English artist called Greg Poole. I have seen Greg's work exhibited for many years at the Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. He has a huge interest and love of birds and nature in general and especially conservation. He has also illustrated books and magazines. Whenever I visit the SWLA exhibition, I always make a beeline for the printmaking section where his work is usually to be found.

His website is here and you can find a huge amount of his work there. I have posted a selection of his work but mainly prints. He produces silkscreens, monoprints, paintings, drawings and collages. His work has a lovely graphic spontaneity. He admits to creating bird art as an aesthetic rather than a scientific appreciation. Whatever he does, he does beautifully anyway.