Summer Bears

As you might be aware, I often infuse my work with some underlying concept, based upon a love and concern for the environment and the beasties that dwell on our planet. My recently released 'Summer Bears' series was no different. Habitat loss and increasing temperatures threaten many species around the planet.

Black Bear 2013
ellaquaint

The series was partially inspired by my cat, who has hyperthyroidism. The first summer, just before she was diagnosed and put on thyroid medication, I noticed that she wasn't coping with the heat particularly well. Placing ice-blocks in her drinking water seemed to alleviate her discomfort.

Panda Bear  2013
ellaquaint

From that spark of an idea, I started thinking about what could be done to help other animals, who were used to cooler climates, to cool down. It was here that Summer Bears came about. These particular bears are not in the wild, as you can see by the cushions they are sitting on.

Sun Bear  2013
ellaquaint

Each have been given a frozen treat to help them to cool down, away from their natural environments and in climates that they wouldn't naturally be found in.

Photo essay from the NZ Herald

My mum and a friend of mine drew my attention to this cute photo essay in the New Zealand Herald. Rio Zoo has been coming up with similar solutions to help the animals cope with temperatures of up to 48 degrees. Again an example of how similar we are to our animal cousins.

Summer Beasties

Ummm yes it has been a wee while, I do apologise.

So I am sure many of you have been enjoying viewing the 'Spy' series that is currently on TV 1 on Tuesdays evenings. This latest one has just been delightful, such amazing footage derived from some very ingenious cameras designs. 'Tiger - Spy in the Jungle' reminded me of when I was fortunate to capture a glimpse of a trio of tiger cubs in Ranthambhore National Park, while I was on holiday in India. It was one of the most fabulous experiences in my life so far.

One of my better photos of the tigers.

As you can see, it is fortunate that I quickly realized my ambition to be a National Geographic wildlife photographer was not a feasible one. Yes my images are a far cry from the excellent footage that we get to see via elephant cams and rock cams and the like. The tigers themselves were so similar to what we saw this evening, as cubs they are quite hilarious creatures. One minute they were in plain sight  play fighting and as soon as you got the camera focused they would duck down to be camouflaged by the undergrowth. It was as if they were trying to foil our attempts to document them.

Seriously, there were the best two shots.

So I had been wanting to do a series based on large cats for a while and this latest wildlife documentary helped to inspire me to complete the sketches I had started. Unfortunately the lion had a mishap and ended up being like the Essex Lion, basically a thing of myth. It is unfortunate when a painting gets stuffed up. When compared with oils or acrylics; with watercolours if you make a mistake, there is not much you can do to hide it. Watercolours are a very honest media. I will have to do another lion as they are such stunning and majestic animals.

'Summer Beasties' in progress

Cheetahs have amazed me since a kid, the fact that they can reach speeds of up to 70kms an hour is astounding, even if it is just for a short span of time.

'Cheetah' 2012

As for the tigers, they really are my favourite big cat. The contrast of the orange against the black stripes and white under belly is just gorgeous. 

'Tiger' 2012

Soon I will get a new lion completed. Watch out for listings of the original watercolours and gilcee prints on my Felt and Etsy stores. Enjoy watching next weeks episode and I am so hoping that there is a happy ending after tonight's episode.

It's still my favourite cap :)

Auckland Art and Craft Fair

Along with a whole plethora of other fabulous vendors, guess where we will be tomorrow?

If you would like a sneek peek as to what you might expect from our stall, have a nosy at the interview posted on the official site here ellaquaint interview or you could look at some of the pictures that have been and will be posted on our facebook page here ellaquaint on facebook.

OnceIt

If you have not been introduced to the fantastic sales that appear on Onceit, you might like to join up as some cute and quaint things are about to emerge on there.

They specialize in designer brands and fabulous artisans whose wares include jewellery, fashion, accessories, home wares and more

I only have a limited number of invites so . . .

Invitation to Onceit

 . . . and I hear there might be some manu on there too.

Hila

The source of inspiration for the Aquatic Arctic Beasties

Old newspapers are quite useful when you are an artist. To be honest it is not very often that I read them, unless something of interest leaps out at me. I had spread out some old paper on my working surface and this is the article I discovered that piqued my interest.

Some words and phrases in Inuktun

Languages are something that I am fascinated by, especially how poetic ones other than English can be. The notion that 'consciousness' has the the same word as that used for weather is one that appeals to me.

Beluga Whale (its actually a dolphin)

I had the aquatic arctic beasties completed for a couple of weeks when I was thrilled to see them on Frozen Planet , the latest series to be presented by Sir David Attenborough. It is a must see is you have an interest in animals, dramatic landscapes and the environment. 

Narwhal

When I first heard of narwhals, I honestly thought they were a creature of myth, rather like the unicorn. As you can see they are as real as you and I. Trying to find images of them to paint was actually quite tricky, but I was stoked when I discovered this one.

Both have fascinated zoologists for many years and here is a gorgeous old illustration that I came across that I loved. Unfortunately I am not so great at documenting where I source images (my bad), but this one was too good not to share.

If you would like to see the completed water-colour illustrations they can be viewed on ellaQuaint on Felt

or ellaCute on etsy

Ma Beasties

I wanted to produce another little group of animals based on more of a Wintry theme. The idea of Arctic Beasties came about, then I came across 'Ma', which is white in te reo. Ma also has so many other subtle meanings that could be played with, especially in the context of peoples' relationship to animals.

Because so many people have enjoyed the Autumnal Beasties, I had intended to produce a range of prints based from these watercolours. Do you think I could get a reproduction I was happy with? No way, these works are just too subtle, and no matter what I do with the adjustments, I couldn't get a print where the outcome was satisfactory.

Here is a peek at the Arctic Wolf.

I am so stoked with how the layers subtly worked up the soft tones and textures.

Last but not least, an Arctic Hare. I love how wild and crazy they look with their big ears and soft, little faces.

Well they may not be able to be reproduced successfully, but the person who takes these guys home in their original archival water-colour form will be wrapped to have such unique beasties.