Wildlife art by Mike Woodcock What's new

Every spring sees the return of the wheatears as they pass through on their way north to their breeding grounds. April is a particularly good month to catch up with this elegant bird in the south of England. The males dazzle with their perfect colour scheme and the females play the supporting role in only slightly more subdued hues. The male of this couple was happy to pose for me to sketch whilst his companion busied herself searching for sustenance among the grass. When the wheatears return after the breeding season their colours, although still beautiful, will not be as bright, but the memory of the 'April couple' will be recalled and I'll be enthralled once more until they are gone and I await their return next year.

I came across this tumbledown wall at the edge of a manor house estate in Northamptonshire. Amongst the fallen stones a wren foraged for spiders, disappearing into the dark nooks and crannies only to reappear a short time later some distance from where he was first spotted. I imagined him creeping through the secret tunnels between the stones to re-emerge from any point in his castle that he chose. Once known as the king of winter, he was certainly the king of this domain, so I placed him where he could dominate the landscape, which is not easy for such a tiny bird, and there he could survey the land and declare himself 'King of the castle'.

Throughout the autumn and winter there was one bird I could virtually rely on to show herself at Elmley. My 'Elmley kestrel' would be perched either on one of the gateposts or on one of the scattered bushes or, occasionally, on a piece of heavy machinery that was sitting idle between bouts of maintenance work. She became so used to the car that, at times, she would sit tight as I drew up alongside of her and on those occasions I didn't need my scope or binoculars to get views good enough to allow quite detailed sketches. It is almost always the male kestrel which features in paintings because he looks so smart with his blue grey head contrasting against the rich, warm, sienna of his back. This leaves the female somewhat neglected in art so I wanted to give her a chance to make an impression. Besides, she posed so nicely and so regularly that I felt I could hardly refuse her implied invitation to record her properly as a study.

I sometimes find it useful to develop sketches into small studies which can be used as reference for larger, more complete paintings. This little 'barn owl flight study' is one of those. Done as part of my preparation for a large landscape painting he will appear in the landscape when I eventually do it, so look out for him sometime in the future.

The textures of man made objects as they are slowly reclaimed by nature have long fascinated me. A bit of old chain or some peeling paint on an old farm building are almost irrisistable subjects to me and I record them whenever I find them. This wonderful arrangement is, in fact, 'behind the green door' on the opposite side of the road to the old corrugated iron gate featured in my 'Ordinary, extraordinary' painting. The farm buildings teem with starlings in the early summer but among the other residents are a pair of beautiful pied wagtails. I sketched the male in a different part of the yard but I couldn't resist the urge to paint more rusty chains and peeling paint!

Much of my fieldwork is done in the very early mornings, often even before sunrise. This sometimes earns me sideways glances from friends as they question my sanity for rising so early when they would far rather be tucked up in their nice, warm beds, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I have witnessed extraordinary sunrises where the whole sky seems to be on fire or everything around me has taken on a peach, rose or orange hue as the early mists glow from reflected light. I have seen the world covered in a glittering, icy, crystaline crust of hoarfrost and been enveloped by the silence of fog so thick that it feels like a blanket. Being out so early has also allowed me to have the privilege of sharing time with some of the creatures which normally remain hidden by the night. I have seen tawny owls and little owls bathing in the first warmth of the sun, I have watched fox cubs playing tag and wrestling in the dew, and seen the tenderness of a roe deer mother for her calf.
A recent encounter was with a barn owl as he hunted along the fenceline of a local field, it was a hauntingly beautiful sight and I knew that I would have to paint another barn owl. Once he had vanished through the mist I moved on and 100 yards or so down the way I watched as the sun began to rise behind the hawthorn hedges and light the ground mist from within until it glowed salmon pink. These unforgettable experiences inspired 'a moment of magic'.

I have been watching several blogs by american artists who are producing a 'painting-a-day'. The idea is to paint one small picture everyday alongside the bigger 'studio' paintings. Some of the results are terrific little works of art. I have developed a second style of painting over recent months which is much looser and more free than my detailed work. It also allows me to be carefree with colours and experiment. Inspired by the 'painting-a-day' idea I've painted several small, 10"x8", works in this looser style over the past week. They are great fun to create and I'm very pleased with the results so far.

On Day 1 I cut loose with colours and produced what somebody described as a 'delicious, neopolitan ice cream' of a painting featuring a red-legged partridge in a summer meadow.
Day 2 saw more colour fun with a house sparrow displaying in full sunlight on the crushed stone surface of a car park.
On Day 3 I decided to follow up on a theme I used in my 'May treats' painting; a harmony of summer yellows, This time set off by some lilacs and blues for good measure. The resulting painting is more about the colours than the bird and, if the yellow wagtail were not included, I think the painting would stand alone as an abstract.
Light can do amazing things to colour and on Day 4 I explored this by painting a 'black' bird. Lots of purples, blues and reds make themselves apparent and an apparently drab bird transforms into something exotic.
Finally on Day 5 I calmed down a bit but still wanted to experiment a little. I have often seen lapwings lying in the dew soaked grass before the day really begins. The low angle of the sun makes the dewdrops sparkle with light and intensifies the fresh greens of spring to almost yellow and the blue sky reflects from the sheen of the lapwing's feathers. I also 'borrowed' a device used to great effect by Michael Warren; repeated patterns from bird to setting. In this case some of the grasses echo the crest of the lapwing and help to create a harmonious scene.

Most of my available bird paintings are now to be found at the 'Birds! Birds! Birds!' gallery in Faversham. If you are interested in purchasing any of my bird work please contact the gallery owner, Paul Cumberland, and he will be more than happy to help. Or you can always contact me directly if you prefer.