£8,950.00
Pheasant’s flight
by Robert E Fuller
Original acrylic painting
Framed size: 40.5 x 31″
Image size: 29.5 x 19.5″
About this painting: In this painting I wanted to capture the essence of the Yorkshire Wolds, with its criss-cross of dale sides and its abundant wildlife. I wanted to capture that moment when you turn a corner on a walk and come across a wonderful wildlife scene like this.
About the art process A Robert E Fuller painting can take months, and sometimes even years, to realise. Each composition begins with a backdrop; designed and built in the wild to attract the wild subject he plans to paint. Much like film sets, these include props such as miniature drystone walls, reflection ponds, and even bird boxes fashioned from old tree stumps, all handmade by Robert.
“I’ve been known to nail autumn leaves to the entrance of a hollow log to ensure that when an animal looks through it the leaves are arranged ‘just so’,” Robert explains.
When he is happy with his backdrop, Robert retreats to his hide to wait for his wild subject – fox, badger, owl, weasel or stoat – to wander on ‘set’ and pose for its photograph. Back in his studio he starts work on his composition ideas, cutting up the photographs he has taken and re-arranging different animal poses against his backdrop.
“Sometimes I will add the head of a one stoat, for instance, to the body of another,” says Robert.
Once satisfied with the composition, Robert is ready to paint. Robert favours oil or acrylic paints, but also sometimes creates artworks in pencil. Among his ‘go to’ brands are Windsor Newton oils, Liquitex acrylics and Derwent Pencils.
Robert starts by blocking in the main colours of his backdrop, using a mini roller or large brushes. He then adds larger swathes of colour as required: grey for a stone wall or deep green for a wooded hillside, working from dark to light as he goes along. Next, he adds texture with a dry brush, using sweeping strokes for fur or feathers, or sometimes slicing into the paint with the wooden end of his brush to create bumpy effects for rocks or tree trunks. Robert then leaves his backdrop to dry, often for several weeks, before returning to sketch the main outline of his wildlife subject.
Working from his photographs, he draws in important features or markings with a pencil. Robert calls this the ‘ugly’ stage of his painting! He then returns to finish his backdrop, adding further detail, until, finally, he returns to his animal subject, building up the finer details like feathers or hairs with a fine brush.
“This helps the subject sits in its landscape more naturally,” says Robert.
The iris of an eye, or long whiskers of a fox are the very last details to go on.
Robert E Fuller is one of Britain’s foremost wildlife artists. He paints in acrylics and oils, favouring a highly-detailed realistic style. His commitment to authenticity is second to none. Robert goes to extraordinary lengths to accurately reflect the behaviour and character of his wild subjects and spends months in the field painstakingly studying a particular animal or bird before settling down to paint it back in his studio. The artist spends months studying a particular animal or bird before settling down to accurately reflect the behaviour and character of his wild subjects in his compositions. His pictures are painted from photographs taken in situ.
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AS SEEN IN
THE ROBERT FULLER GALLERY
FOTHERDALE FARM
THIXENDALE, MALTON
YO17 9LS
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL: +44 (0) 1759 368355
EMAIL: mail@robertefuller.com
