Firstly, a happy Easter to all my readers!
The pup has been keeping me busy, but over the Easter weekend I wanted to do something large in my sketchbook which I could perhaps work on over a few days. I mulled over a few options such as a coral reef, or a woodland, but I’m still missing Toad Patrol so I decided to make a sort of pond scene. I cobbled together different elements from my collection of vintage field guides and sketched everything out in pencil. I opened my A4 Leuchtturm sketchbook to give me an A3 portrait spread to fill with a watery world.
I wanted toads, of course, but also to represent some other wildlife, so chose a pond snail, a stickleback and a diving beetle. I painted the background in blue (sky) and green (water) granulating watercolour and then got to work with gouache for the creatures and pond weed.
I really like how it turned out. What do you think?
