Ratty

What a cutesy toot little guy Pamela! Great watercolour, hate to say as he looks a bit rat like, put I could pick him and cuddle him, ah well, have to make do with labrador Rosie who is giving me the doleful look of, please take me out in the car with you mum to somewhere I can play in the snow!!

He does look rat like Ros P, and I really can't say I'm fond of rats at all - although I know people say they make great pets. I think I'll stick to my little collie Nel, who is also looking beguilingly at me to go out ! I'll have to up sticks and get my gear on and take her!

Hi hes so cute lovely gallery of animals!!LInda

Linda - thank you !! :)

Rats, Pamela, are splendid in every way. Which isn't to say I was too thrilled when a wild one got into my bedroom. But your vole is equally splendid - did the painting of the fur take a vast amount of patience, or have you a technique which enables rapid completion (I know I haven't!)?

Robert, thank you for your kind comments, I found that painting the hairs on the vole quite a challenge, but.... I put a base colour on first, and shaded it for the darker parts, leaving the highlights just the paper. Then coat by coat, just used a very fine brush, and fairly thick watercolour to stroke the hairs on, shading them as I went, with different hues of browns and greys. For the highlights I used white goache. Once it had all dried nicely, I used a VERY weak wash of grey to blend the hair, and make it look 'softer'. Took a while, but enjoyed seeing the little creature develop :D