This collection of 16 paintings of stoats and weasels follows five-years of intensive studies and each is a portrait of an individual stoat or weasel living in my garden. Scroll down to see the paintings in the collection and read all about the wildlife sightings that gave me inspiration.
1. Portrait of a stoat named Crackle
Above is a portrait of Crackle, a stoat born here in my Yorkshire, UK, garden in 2019. Despite her mother trying to push her out of the territory, she went on to raise five kits of her own here. I wanted to capture her inquisitive, cheeky character in this painting.
2. Study of a weasel mousing
Weasels are tiny - a female can fit through a wedding ring - but tenacious. I chose to paint this weasel carrying its prey because the scene gives you a sense of scale. Even a mouse is a mouthful for a weasel! It was the sight of this weasel making off with a wood mouse more than twice her size through my garden shrubbery, which inspired me to begin my intensive garden studies of weasels.
3. Study of two playful weasel kits
In this painting, I wanted to capture the playful nature of weasels – as well as their phenomenal climbing skills. I had seen these two kits chase one another along an impossibly thin twig, and it made me laugh when they reached the end because all of a sudden there was a squabble! I hadn’t realised what incredible poise and balance weasels had until I started watching them closely. Read more about my weasel studies here.
4. Portrait of a weasel named Fidget
This is Fidget, an abandoned weasel I reared by hand. He was a character. I had asked a friend to hold up a titbit to encourage him onto his hind legs so that I could photograph him. But Fidget was too clever. He jumped onto a sideboard, then leaped onto her shoulder and ran down her arm to snatch the morsel right out of her hand.
5. Study of a weasel's secret chase
The way that weasels can manoeuvre their long thin bodies through tight spaces has always fascinated me. I built a perspex maze for Fidget, a weasel I kept as a pet. I was intrigued by how his body became almost fluid as he negotiated the twists and turns. The studies I made of him became the inspiration for this imagined underground vole chase.
6. Bandita the stoat's trio
This is Bandita, a stoat whose story featured on TV after I filmed her raising a litter of kits in my garden. In this painting, I wanted to capture how protective she was as a mother. She would move her stoat kits whenever she sensed danger – making it a challenge to film her.
7. Art study of an inquisitive stoat
Fleck was Bandita’s brother. He got his name from the white flecks between his eyes. It was a joy to watch him as he scampered through my garden. He wasn’t afraid of the camera and would often pose for his photograph. I was able to get some great shots of him to paint from.
8. Painting of a stoat chase
As a boy growing up on a farm on the Yorkshire Wolds, I’ve watched stoats take on rabbits twice their size. After witnessing their fearlessness in the garden at Fotherdale Farm, I felt inspired to paint this scene from memory.
9. Painting of a climbing stoat
Climbing stoat | Limited edition print | Show now
I painted the above stoat picture after setting out a series of climbing and agility challenges for the stoats and weasels in my garden. I was amazed at how athletic they were and after watching a family of stoats scamper nimbly up a fence, balancing along the wire, I decided to test their skills further. The agility course I made included a climbing frame, a slalom and even a perspex maze to test their intelligence. I chose to pose the stoat in the above painting as it clambered up a log and paused to look back at me as if to say 'there's nothing I can't do!
10. Painting of a stoat 'sitting pretty'
Sitting pretty | Limited edition print | Shop now
I have built nest boxes and feeding boxes inside old tree stumps in order to provide attractive backdrops for my paintings. It means that when a stoat emerges from a nest box, I can photograph the scene. I then paint directly from my photographs. This was my first stoat painting and it features one of the first stoats to appear in my garden right at the start of my five-year-long research project.
11. Painting featuring a stoat on alert
The stoats always look very alert as they approach the area where I leave food out for them. This is close to my living room, and when they pause to check the coast is clear - a pose that is perfect for my paintings.
12. Study of stoats at play
The two stoat paintings above were developed from sketches of the stoats in the garden. I used acrylic paint and pencil, sketching the background in lightly. I wanted to capture the playful nature of the kits I had watched. These mammals have a reputation for sheer brutality and although they are undoubtedly ferocious, they can also be great fun and behave like excited puppies at times.
13. A painting showing a stoat in the balance
The stoat in the painting above was one of a second litter of eight kits born here in the garden in 2016. I was able to watch this litter as the individuals grew to maturity and I had names for them all. This male was called 'Cough-ee' because of a persistent cough. Like his siblings he was remarkably nimble and quick. I decided to portray him balanced nonchalantly on an impossibly slim stick.
15. Snow Stoat
I painted the stoat above leaping across a fresh fall of snow after being asked to come up with my vision of a fantastical animal or an animal of the future on BBC Springwatch: Unsprung in 2017. This was my vision: a 'Super Stoat' that could live in Antarctica to attack that rats that are threatening the future of the penguins there.
16. Detailed painting: Weasel Wall
Weasel Wall |Limited Edition Print | Shop now
This painting represents the start of my garden mustelid studies in 2015. After spotting a small female weasel slip through a flower bed in the garden I set upon trying to follow her and photograph her for a painting. I built miniature design 'sets' in the garden borders, including dry stone walls and even small reflection pools to create attractive backdrops for my paintings. This painting comes from the moment the weasel appeared at the entrance of a dry stone wall behind which was a nest box
For US readers: In my blogs, a weasel refers to your 'least weasel' and stoat is your 'short-tailed weasel'. For more on ID and definitions: CLICK HERE
