:: MAMMALS :: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES :: FALLOW DEER ::
Milestone Oil Painting
The Experience: A glorious day out at Dunham Massey, a fantastic place to view many of the larger mammals of Britain, allowed me access too many fallow deer as well as a brief encounter with a king fisher. The deer captured within my painting had been the only one to approach us so confidently. He grazed upon the stumps of old trees that lay a few feet away from us before finally settling in to scratch here, there and everywhere. This made for a brilliant opportunity to capture many reference shots of his grooming behaviour. Turns out antlers come in very useful for a number of things, not just fighting of other male competition.
The Painting: Killer weapons used in a gentle fashion. Choosing to paint this fallow deer with a background is the first step to producing more complex artwork. The landscape made for interesting details and difficulties which ended up slowing me down a lot more. I expect that my time on such complications as an added landscape will speed up with more experience.