Watercolour Painting of White-Tailed Eagle

Following up my previous post, here is the finished portrait of a young White-Tailed Eagle from the East Scotland Sea Eagle Project's 2011 release (this eagle was wing tagged 'Red P', I haven't painted the tag).

I liked the way the late afternoon sun was catching its feathers as they blew in the breeze.

White-Tailed Sea Eagle Watercolour Painting

My first wildlife piece for 2012 is a watercolour portrait of one of the east Scotland White-Tailed Eagles: a youngster released in 2011. 

Making progress

I saw this particular bird sitting in a tree on a lovely sunny winter's afternoon. It was quite windy and it's feathers were blowing in the wind.  This particular eagle wears a red tag (for 2011) with the letter P, I've omitted that from the portrait.  It was the second time I had seen this eagle, as it was spotted during a sea eagle radio tracking afternoon I did with the RSPB in October.

www.karen-hartnell.co.uk


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Labrador Puppy Limited Edition Print

A limited edition print is available in my online store of my pencil portrait of a mischievious yellow Labrador puppy!

Limited edition of 50. A3 size, 420 x 297mm / 16.5 x 11.7in including white border, on natural coated art paper, 250gsm. Each print is individually signed and numbered by myself. Limited Edition Prints at www.karen-hartnell.co.uk

Fundraising for Mull's White-Tailed Eagles

I first caught sight of the magnificent White-Tailed Eagle (sea eagle) when the Mull pair Frisa and Skye were featured on BBC’s Springwatch programme, raising their chicks Itchy and Scratchy. I couldn’t imagine seeing a ‘flying barn door’, as they are commonly referred, but I hoped that one day I would be lucky enough to spot one.

Since 2007 the White-Tailed Eagle has been re-introduced in the east of Scotland, not far from where I live. I had my first ever White-Tailed Eagle sighting over my back garden of all places in August 2010, one of that year’s youngsters not long released. That day cemented my love for the White-Tailed Eagle. Unfortunately, it is difficult trying to study and get artistic research of one of Britain’s rarest birds! I took part in an eagle radio tracking afternoon in October 2011 with the RSPB which gave me a further five sightings and I have had a few more since then.

It is an amazing feeling when you see a White-Tailed Eagle flying free in the skies of Scotland. The hard work by the reintroduction programmes past and present is now giving us the opportunity to view these magnificent birds once again. I remember being amazed by Frisa and Skye when they were on Springwatch. I want to capture my passion for the White-Tailed Eagle in my artwork - and that gave me an idea …

I thought about raising funds through my art to help the Eagles. My current fundraiser is to donate £5 from each of the limited edition prints sold of my White-Tailed Eagle portrait to Mull’s White-Tailed Eagle Project. This will go towards safeguarding the future of these amazing birds on Mull and a little thank you to Skye and Frisa for inspiring me all of those years ago. I have yet to visit Mull, but I’m hoping that is something I shall have the opportunity to do in the not too distant future … I’m sure there will be plenty of artistic inspiration there!

Fundraising for Mull’s White-Tailed Eagles

For further information on Mull’s White-Tailed Eagles visit their website:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/mulleagles/

To purchase a limited edition print of my White-Tailed Eagle drawing, please visit my online shop. Print run limited to 50.
www.karen-hartnell.co.uk

White-Tailed Sea Eagle Drawing

This is my recent White-Tailed Sea Eagle drawing finally complete. I am so pleased with this work.

It is A3 in size, 420 x 297 mm / 16.5 x 11.7 in.  I am producing limited edition prints of this work and these will be for sale on my website shortly.

For more White- Tailed Sea Eagle artwork, please have a look at my website www.karen-hartnell.co.uk where the Eagles have their own gallery.

I recently had a fantastic afternoon radio tracking the east coast sea eagles. You can read about that here White Tailed Sea Eagle Tracking 12 Oct.

© All photos and text are copyright and may not be reproduced in any way.

Latest Work in Progress - White-Tailed Sea Eagle

I'm currently working on a portrait of a White-Tailed Sea Eagle from a photo I took of a captive bird (the only way I can get a good close-up shot!).

It's nearing completion and I'm really pleased with how it is coming along. It is taking a lot of patience, so many feathers, but I know the hard work will be worth it.

Here's how it is currently looking :

From this, close-up of head drawing in progress:

To This:
www.karen-hartnell.co.uk

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Derwent's Onyx Graphite Pencils

This particular art product deserves a mention, it's my best art purchase this year.

Derwent's Onyx Graphite pencils are available in dark and medium leads. I couldn't wait to try them out, particularly for sketching. I prefer to sketch in soft B leads, but found that I was forever sharpening them down to a stump of a pencil before I knew it.

The Onyx Graphite has out-performed the 8 and 9 Bs. It sharpens to a nice point and doesn't wear down as quickly.

It's now my prefered pencil for sketching and here's a few drawings I have done using purely the Onyx Graphite.

www.karen-hartnell.co.uk

All images are copyright and may not be reproduced.