Elephant Pals

Photo by Gary Jones of Paint Your Photo

I just joined an amazing group called Paint Your Photo. As well as having tons of great art advice, interactive forums etc etc it is also a fabulous resource because it solves that age old dilemna of where to get terrific photos to create art from without infringing copyright. These photos are free to work from and this week I did this painting of some boisterous elephant pals.

They have a whole range of subjects: humans, flora, fauna and animals and they are all of a very high quality. You can also submit your own photos so other artists can work from them.

'Elephant Pals' is available to buy at Fine Art America.

Elephant Pals 18 x 24" acrylic inks

Linking up to Paint Party Friday!

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Koala Mum and Joey

photo credit Linda Abercrombie from Paint My Photo

Acrylic inks and watercolor by Emma Kaufmann

Just felt so inspired by this week's koala prompt from my nature art painting group.

In some parts of Australia, koala populations have grown out of control. You might have seen reports recently of a controversial mass culling in Victoria along the Great Ocean Road. In other parts, koalas are endangered by a whole range of threats, from habitat clearing and wild dog attacks to road accidents and disease. In south-east Queensland, a groundbreaking study is tracking individual koalas to see how they're faring.

"This is really the largest and most intensive koala-monitoring project ever done. To monitor those koalas, we have to send field teams out with a directional antenna and they track the koala down and check it out with binoculars and make sure it's OK." You can read more about this project here. Let's hope it finds some good information on how to protect koalas from threats to their habitat.

You can buy prints of this artwork here and t-shirts featuring this print here.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday! Let's all join in and spread the koala love.

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koala art for sale

Jacutinga Birds

This week I found inspiration in the endangered Jacutinga or Black-fronted Piping Guan (Pipile jacutinga). Such a visually arresting bird with such colorful markings and expressive eyes. I couldn't wait to get started!

I started painting this with watercolor but then I felt it needed a little extra pizzazz so I dripped some ink onto the damp surface and loved the way the ink formed a criss-cross pattern like a batik.

Also I'm very excited because my friend Vicki who writes a fun, stylish blog called Honest Mum has featured my cushions on her blog. She and her sons are the perfect models against my colorful cushions that will make your room POP! Do go over and check out her feature and enter the competition to win the cushions here.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday!

Lemur Love

I was lucky enough to recently take a trip to Bermuda, island of balmy winds and beautiful beaches. I visited an access all areas zoo where these two lemurs were chillaxing on their information signs. However near I came they glanced dismissively at me through with vivid orange eyes and didn't budge.

It was amazing to get so close to them. As you can see this little guy gave me the cold shoulder. He was probably thinking 'What are you doing in my living room?' But the experience of being so up close and personal was intense and when  I got back I painted this watercolor painting of a Lemur Mommy and Baby.

Lemur Mommy and Baby, watercolor, 30 x 18'

Happy New Year!

Linking up with Paint Party Friday and Brilliant Blog Posts