Elephant Seeking Shade by Ian Finlay

These are lovely drawings ! it must take such a long time to execute.

Beautifully patient work. There is always something very special about beautifully done pencil work. The tree trunk is especially interesting and wonderfully drawn. Elephant is excellent too.

Thanks for the response. I've always loved working with pencil and I guess a lot of it comes naturally to me now. I've recently joined an new art group in the village where I live and the idea is to move away from the tight work and develop a loser, more expressive style with the sketching we are doing. The difficulty I have is that I always want the drawing to be as sensitive as possible and nearly always get caught up in the nuances of detail; how can I make some marks that will closely represent a ......whatever it is. I often find that if I'm suffering from a lack of inspiration or a block, you know when a painting just won't go well, I might get out some pencils open a sketch pad and find an image to lose myself in for a couple of hours. Recently I did this using a mirror. the first two self portrait sketches I'd done in about 20 years! Interesting....

This is beautifully drawn, as the others have said, the detail in the tree in the foreground and the elephant are very well done. But I also like the way you have handled the background. You have a very good portfolio and excellent talent, wether with pencil or paint, and your sailing paintings are particularly good, giving all the feeling of wind, spray and sea. I have enjoyed going through your portfolio so much. Thank you