Extinction

In order to draw and paint birds and animals from life, the focus of your looking and concentration must be total. Thereby lies the appeal. To be absolutely absorbed in your subject matter and their surroundings, to look as if you have never seen before, and so wonder at it all, is an enthralling and enchanting state to be in. Here is the true value of drawing, irrespective of the outcome.

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This is my way of connecting with the natural world around me, of acknowledging and celebrating the existence of other species. Back in the studio I hope to combine these primary studies into a painting, a process of compositional arrangements of shapes, tones and colour, of texture, space, movement and mark making. If this work can then communicate to others something of the awe, the spectacle, the fascination and the beauty of the natural world then, as an artist, I have succeeded to some extent. But having  felt the presence of these extraordinary creatures with whom we share this planet so keenly through my art, to then contemplate their possible demise makes it all the more painful to bear. There is then a strong emotional connection as well and if a piece of wildlife art can convey something of that then it can truly be a powerful force for conservation. 

         

http://www.johnthrelfall.co.uk

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