Animal Alphabet – Part 8

Yay! The final few illustrations are here! It’s been a long time coming, but I’m proud to have actually finished something I started, because if you know me well, you’ll understand what an achievement that is! 

Rounding out the series, we have a lanky lama, zippy zebra, venturesome vulture and a curious cat (thanks Bex for letting me use a certain handsome fellow as inspiration).

I’m currently working on turning these into something useful, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, give me a yell. 

Thanks for your comments and love – and stay tuned for the end result! I’m also thinking about taking commissions for pet portraits, so keep that in mind for Father’s Day or whatever!

Till next time,

Cass

Animal Alphabet – Part 7

Hello again! It’s been a while since I’ve posted any new illustrations, thanks mostly to this beautiful baby I currently have laying on my lap. Cami is now six months old and a lovely chatty little thing. She is the smiliest baby I’ve ever seen, so it’s a pleasure to hang out with her, though it is slightly counterproductive for getting anything done. So during baby naps and quiet moments, I’ve finally completed the Animal Alphabet! 

This being the second last post, I’ve decided to include four animals: a masticating koala, a dependable dog friend (based on Luke and Sarah’s lovely canine companion Benji), an unusual urial (deer-looking thing with horns) and a mighty albatross. 

I’ll be posting up the final four very soon, and then it’ll be time to start turning these bad boys into a concertina style book that you can keep whole or chop up as cards, so watch this space and let me know if you have any suggestions about the content or format. Thanks so much for coming along for this alphabet ride with me! 

Till next time,

Cass

Animal Alphabet – Part 6

It’s been a while between drinks (literally for me as well as figuratively, being 36 weeks pregnant now), but here are some new animal illustrations to add to the collection. I think the wombat might be my favourite so far, as it always makes me think of my lovely friend Bo, who is probably the biggest wombat fan I’ve ever met (and is a top human being as well).

Also featuring in this instalment is a cheeky sloth and a xantus hummingbird, which is almost iridescent in colour – amazing! Lucky to have such a great animal starting with the letter “x” as the pickings are slim!

I’ll hopefully have some more paintings to put up soon. And then I’ll be working the whole set up into a lovely printed package, which is very exciting.

Until next time,

Cass

Animal Alphabet – Part 5

Hello again!

Continuing in the animal alphabet theme, this time we have a native numbat, a colourful quetzal and a shaggy yak.

Given that every one of these little paintings are created at the pub on a Wednesday night, I have a sneaking suspicion that the staff are getting sick of discovering glasses of murky-coloured water left over at the end of the night… still, there’s nowhere it says you can’t paint at the pub! Haha.

Till next time!

Cass

 

Animal Alphabet – Part 4

Welcome to another instalment of the Animal Alphabet. This month we have a mischeivous meerkat, a jaunty jackal and an endearing echidna, complete with tongue out.

More to come soon!

Animal Alphabet – Part 3

In no particular order, here are the next few animal instalments in the series. The ocelot is my particular favourite, as I had no idea how beautiful they were. Amazing cat beasts!

Stay tuned for more to come in the next few days – and remember to let me know if you have any requests!

Animal Alphabet – Part 2

Just another few animal pics for your perusal. Still open to suggestions, so if you have anything you’d like to see let me know. 

Till our next instalment,

Cass

PS. Yay for the magestic tapir!

Animal Alphabet – Part 1

On my way to the pub one evening in December last year, I was trying to think of what to paint that night, when I had a crazy idea. Based on my choice of subject matter to-date, I realised that I really like to paint animals, so why not commit to a series and paint one animal for every letter of the alphabet? And thus, the animal alphabet idea was born! 

At this stage, they are just little watercolour paintings in my art book, but the idea is to turn them into alphabet learning cards for kids, or perhaps alphabet wall charts (I’m open to suggestions if anyone has ideas or requests). 

So here are the first few illustrations (in no particular order). I’ll try and post a few up at a time, but let me know if you have a favourite animal that belongs to a letter I haven’t painted yet and I’ll do my best to include it. I’ll eventually be doing a limited print run, so if you’re interested in owning your own set, let me know and I’ll get in touch with more details once it’s a bit closer to completion (and I have print quotes, etc).

Till next time!

Yet another pooch painting…

At my Dad’s suggestion, this week I painted a French Bulldog, just for the hell of it and because they are pretty darn cute. This painting was done with the brand new packet of watercolour pencils my lovely friends at Carnival gave me for my birthday (thanks so much you guys!).

At first I was skeptical of how well pencils could achieve that washy look, but as soon as the water went on, I was a believer. It’s a different technique to regular painting, as I had to constantly clean my brush to stop the pigments from spreading over the entire area, but I’m quite pleased with the result. So these are definitely another good option, particularly for fur and subjects where you want a bit of a rough texture to show through.

Django unleashed

My friend Ana recently asked me to paint her cheeky cat, Django. This was an interesting subject to paint, as he is mostly white, so the shadows were the main thing I was painting, then just adding in a few colour hues here and there for the ears and fur. Thanks for the request Ana!