“Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius.”
E.O. Wilson
Tom, Dick & Harry
The following collection features wildlife from around the world but most predominantly Africa. Be warned though – I can never do enough zebras! They’re such a wonderful subject to experiment with so many different mediums and techniques. You will find 3D pieces here, and Giraffes in the Neighbourhood here.
Meanwhile here are Australian Emus. I tossed up between this page and my bird series, but as a one-off in this medium, and our National Coat of Arms Emblem, I feel they deserve a home amongst the wildlife. The simplicity of this charcoal painting doesn’t do justice to the number of individual feather strokes laid down for each emu.
Lands of the Elephant
This large pastel piece on coloured pastel mat was a huge project that took over 100 interrupted hours. Attention to detail means painstaking time spent getting the textures just right. I adopted a new technique of pressing finely ground pastel as the final layer which created the precise texture of dust laden skin on the baby’s head, and in some places on his ears. I find this technique works really well with some sands on beach artworks as well.
Happy Is – This happy little elephant is loosely applied watercolours. Such a delightful simple piece deserved the same approach. Again – being creative should be as much about the fun moments as the serious projects.
Charging Bull is an ink scribble piece with a loose pastel overlay. Loose meaning the gist of colours were applied in rough sweeping gestures without overthinking.
Dimensions
Don’t you just love baby elephant fluff lit up by a backlight? That was the incentive to try this little guy. Thinking outside the box. Or bulb. Whichever works. This led to more 3D dimension art pieces with a touch of surrealism. There is one missing – which you will find in the Zebra City collection. These were my foray into digital artworks – I’m a great believer in don’t knock it until you try it. While it still entails many hours of work I stuck to the Ink and Pastel brushes. Working with either digital or traditional art mediums still requires the fundamental knowledge of art. Digital art requires imitating techniques used in traditional art to work with different strokes, create lines, and shade by using a stylus identical to the feel of a pen. For non-digital artists, the screen is super sensitive to pressure so applying different stylus pressures results in similar changes you would see using traditional materials. For the zebra, I uploaded a photo of my own hand just to add to the fun of the piece.
The reality is life is often brutal, and sometimes this brutality is a part of nature’s life cylces where we see the clash of the hunter and the prey. I chose to do this confronting subject for two reasons. Firstly, the ordinariness of the moment that inspires me to start a a piece is also crucial in the juxtaposition between surviving and dying. Secondly, the perspective. Many of my artworks are of commonly drawn subjects but unusual perspectives.
Zebra City
Giraffes in the Neighbourhood
Two different approaches to watercolour – one in detail, the other loose as a secondary to an ink scribble.
Andrea Hayes Fine Art & Illustration 