ALICE DUKE

Everybody's best bird friend, the humble robin

some grizzled veteran butterflies I saw in the garden last year and drew, the story of their survival is written in every tear and scar

love a good wood pigeon, and aren't they all good wood pigeons? This guy has been building a nest in my garden, I hope it works out for them

unusual (to me) garden visitor, a song thrush in winter

I am lucky to live near some red squirrel holdout populations but I still never really see them, just these beefy invaders

Thank you! As you can probably tell, I personally LOVE to get lost in the feather rendering sauce. But I can offer some suggestions on how I make my sick addiction work for me! Good paintings are all about contrast - whether it's colour, shape, light/dark value or detail. With a good camera you can get extremely detailed reference images, but applying that in a uniform way can leave your work feeling flat. It depends on your intent of course, but blurring edges, leaving some details out of focus, softening the parts you don't want your viewers to be interested in - these are all tools we can use to keep people's eyes moving and brains engaged.

Grainy nocturnal recordings don't really lend themselves to being reference for detailed paintings but they are a good starting point for pen and ink.

continuing my series of bird neighbour portraits - is there a more overlooked bird than the humble dunnock? the ultimate LBJ

A tribute to a small patch of vegetation on a local beach that has driven everyone completely insane

myosotis scorpioides

A jackdaw started visiting my garden and I love her vibe so much, I had to paint her

There is a pair of blue tits nesting in the wall of my house, maybe 50cm from where I am sitting right now. I had to paint one of these ridiculous creatures whose children are screaming for more caterpillars as I type this

*tips appreciated but not required!

Little Egret on Middle Eye

Painting of the "roman" (built in 1847) boathouse in birkenhead park