Hi again,

as promised, I thought I’d show you my latest feather paintings which are all of one of my favourite countryside creatures, the hare. I have been lucky to see some wild hares while walking locally – once even during a hawk walk at Puxton! They are as fast as greased lightning so as yet I haven’t been able to get any decent photographs to work from so these paintings have been developed from sketches I made from the TV – a very helpful resource when the ‘real thing’ is unavailable!

 

Painting of a hare on a feather by Mandi Baykaa-Murray

Acrylic on a feather approx 8″ x 1.5″ ‘Hare 1’

 

Painting of a hare on a feather by Mandi Baykaa-Murray

Acrylic on a feather approx 7″ x 1.5″ ‘Hare 2’

 

Painting of a hare on a feather by Mandi Baykaa-Murray

Acrylic on a feather approx 7″ x 1.5″ ‘Hare 3’

 

 

Painting of a hare on a feather by Mandi Baykaa-Murray

Acrylic on a feather approx 7″ x 1.5″ ‘Hare 4’

These are feathers I have collected while out and about. The first one I think is a duck or goose feather and the last three are all pigeon feathers. They are much smaller and softer than the large goose wing feathers I began painting on a few months ago, but thankfully still provide a firm enough surface to paint on! I love the gradation of colour from black, white to grey of the pigeon feather – it makes an interesting background to work on.

Today I had a lucky find in my ‘studio’ (or glorified art storage room!) when I came across 3 lovely box frames which I had used for some encaustic art work I made a couple of years ago. I’m all up for recycling, so I’ve already taken out the old paintings in preparation for replacing them with feathers!! As lovely as feathers are, a good frame can make all the difference and of course, offers all important protection for such a delicate object.

Next time, I’ll be able to show you a series of miniature paintings I’ve been working on, so watch this space! Until then, happy painting,

Mandi 😉