Welcome to Nick's dining room table. (4 Viewers)

[nickderry]

It's a terrible thing when the weather affects your moods, the sun's shining here, but I know it'll be dark in a few hours so I'll probably not do anything outdoors today - Seb will be pleased as he's planned on housework!

Finished the two reworks, not so sure about the peckers, it's an improvement on what I had but still not what I was after. Peregrine, I'm ok with. Then we've got a firecrest, purple heron and some scribbles of a trio of RC pochards done whilst sitting in the gallery yesterday afternoon.

I had a look through some of my really old work last night, scary how much things have chnaged, both for the better, and also for the worse. I might go back to working in a similar way to how I used to just to see what happens, and also to save paper! I rarely painted bigger than A3 because the pocket money stretched to one big sheet of paper per week.

 

[buzzard12]

This is all great Nick, if i single a few out it's only because typing out hundreds of words takes me so long and there are only so many superlatives in my rather limited vocab being a proroduct of northside Dublin
The Egyptian Goose is great, another new surface painted on here on your thread. I suspect this will make a wonderful gift...
Rather like the Woodpecker rework Nick, a lot in fact. The success for me lies in two things, the clever use of scale with regard to the foreground leaves, a device you use so brilliantly in your work which adds huge depth to your paintings. The second is the sense of having to search for the subject, just like in real life, which adds that sense of looking in on a scene that normally remains unseen, exactly the reason I am drawn to birding at its root. Again a quality that is present in some of your best work.
Lastly a moment of praise for the firecrest colour pencil. That is just gorgeous. It made my day in fact.

 

[timwootton]

Glad the peregrine turned out like this - it's a subtle change but an immensely successful one. Of the other facinating pics, the purple heron shows the artist having complete mastery over the medium, and wonderful understanding of the subject - it's a beauty.

 

[Woody]

It's all wonderful Nick, my personal favourites though would have to be the firecrest for its delicate and beautiful colours and the subtle technique you've used. Then the heron which mr Ennion himself would hav been proud of.

Mike

 

[desgreene]

Some lovely stuff here Nick, but I'm really taken with the Firecrest. Beautifully done.

 

[nickderry]

I spent a good hour and a half at the cliffs this afternoon, hoping to see my good friend creeping around on them - I think he was deliberately being difficult after I've neglected him for so long, just as I was about to leave because of the cold, he flies in over my head and starts actively probing around - score!

 

[timwootton]

Oh Jeez Nick - just take the bottom bird off the last sketch, geddit framed and pocket the loot! - It's absofuckinglootely gorgeous!!

 

[Woody]

Oh Jeez Nick - just take the bottom bird off the last sketch, geddit framed and pocket the loot! - It's absofuckinglootely gorgeous!!

What, and lose the top one?! No way, just frame the page.

Mike

 

[timwootton]

What, and lose the top one?! No way, just frame the page.

Mike

No no no no no - I'm sorry! What I mean is; take the bottom bird away. The top drawing is perfection.

 

[Woody]

No no no no no - I'm sorry! What I mean is; take the bottom bird away. The top drawing is perfection.

Great minds they say... B

Mike

 

[Strandman]

oh good grief- I was wondering when the Wallcreepers would start to reappear. What makes these even extra better than the previous- I think its the saturated shadows around them that just top them off.

 

[EliS]

Nick, you're a genius when it comes to painting birds in many ways, but there's something about your wallcreepers that makes them stand out to me among your work. They just - ah, lost for words - they blow me off my feet EVERY SINGLE TIME. Maybe it's partly due to the fact that I really love that bird (even though I've never seen one), but still, they are AMAZING.

Elina

 

[nickderry]

A watercolour gone oil pastel of the wallcreeper. Have finished work for the year so will be able to get plenty done this week - except today the heater's broken down and the studio is freezing, I'm staying in the living room with the storage heater until the plumber gets here - then I'll paint!

 

[timwootton]

Beautiful re-interpretation of the scene. And I share your discomfort - I've got a t-shirt and 2 fleeces on and I'm still frozen.

 

[desgreene]

Lovely. The angles, the texture, the depth, but above all the feet!

 

[nickderry]

As soon as the first one appears - a theme seems to develop in what I see! This one was seen from the forest above the cliffs in Seb's village - with the snow I actually lost the path and nearly started crying as the light started to fade!
The camera is suffering from snowblindness, so tonally this looks even more bland than most of my work, will try and tak a better pic of it tomorrow in natural light.

 

[timwootton]

yOOOWWWZZZZaaaaaaaaaa!!!! now THAT'S what I was trying to get with the b100dy robin painting. This is a real winter scene, proper ice greys and phalanges-numbing bittercold snow, the chilly landscape distant threatening to disappear completely with the onset of the next blizzard, just minutes away and all painted with such minimal mastery. It's a cracker, a beaut, a topper - and everything I want to be able to do.

 

[nickderry]

yOOOWWWZZZZaaaaaaaaaa!!!! now THAT'S what I was trying to get with the b100dy robin painting. This is a real winter scene, proper ice greys and phalanges-numbing bittercold snow, the chilly landscape distant threatening to disappear completely with the onset of the next blizzard, just minutes away and all painted with such minimal mastery. It's a cracker, a beaut, a topper - and everything I want to be able to do.

lol, we're never happy are we - I could say those same words about your b100dy robin!

 

[Woody]

This is a thing of pure beauty Nick, I agree wholeheartedly with Tim. Even the 'yOOOWWWZZZZaaaaaaaaaa!!!!'

Mike

 

[nickderry]

this might be a better photo of the wallcreeper, also spent last night painting these ravens from the Mont d'Or, that's Switzerland in the background!