Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

“Black Footed Rock Wallaby”

8″x10″ oil on prepared mdf board

"Black-footed Rock Wallaby" oil painting by Michelle Wrighton

$150.00AU unframed

“Midnight in Madagascar”

Ring Tailed Lemur Portrait in Oils

Awarded first place in the ‘Animals and Birds – any medium’ category at the 2008 Kelmscott Show

$300.00AU

"Midnight in Madagascar" Ringtailed lemur painting in oils by Michelle Wrighton

This is the first artwork that I have ever wanted to do more than once – the first one that I did was back in 2006 and it was a tiny ACEO (2.5″ x3.5″ Art Card).  At the time I did think that a larger painting would be worth pursuing, as the reference material (courtesy of Toni-Marie Hudson) is fantastic, and one that a number of artists have attempted in a variety of different mediums.  I did use two slightly different reference photos though, as I thought the slightly different angle of the face would be better for the larger format painting.

I created the ACEO in colour pencils, and this new larger portrait has been done in traditional oils on prepared mdf, to the size of 9″x12″.  The painting is finished, but I won’t be adding it to the FIne Art Gallery until I have varnished it which will get rid of the gloss shine from the dried liquin that you can see in the left corner around my signature.

ACEO Gibbon 2.5"x3.5"

Gibbon in Oils 9"x12"

GIBBON INFORMATION

There are fifteen living species of Gibbon – I believe this one is a White-Handed or Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar) and as there are many colour variants in the species their subspecies identification is often unreliable unless the provenience of the animal is known.

GIbbons are small tree-dwelling primates whose original natural habitat is the tropical and subtropical rainforests of South, Southeast and East Asia.  Gibbons are yet another endangered animal – some of the 15 species of Gibbon are at the brink of extinction, and are currently only found in small populations in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Bandladesh, NE India and Myanmar.

The primary reason for the endangered status of GIbbons is the loss of their forest habitat which is being destroyed at the horrific rate of 32 acres per minute.  Unfortuantely, factors such as illegal wildlife trade, poaching and the use of their body parts in the manufacture of traditional medicine have also contributed to the demise of these beautiful creatures.

Gibbons are incredible acrobats and can swing up to 50 ft between trees at speeds up to 35mph, as well as having the dexterity to walk upright on the ground! They are one of the few monogamous primates, living in nuclear families consisting of the mated pair and their dependent offspring living in a family territory that they defend by vigorous vocal and visual displays.  Gibbons are often referred to as the ‘songbirds’ of the primate family and they can project their voices up to 2 miles through the rainforest canopy.  The vocal displays of these musical land mammals usually consist of a duet between the mated pair, sometimes with accompaniement from their offspring.

If you would like to help with the plight of the critically endangered Silvery Gibbon, please visit The Silvery Gibbon Project to donate, purchase merchandise or become a member of this conservation organization which is a registered environmental organisation based in Perth, Western Australia.

I painted this Orangutan in acrylics some time ago, but havn’t managed to get a very good photo of it yet, so I think I may have to have it professionally scanned before I can offer prints for sale to help support Orangutan conservation. I am planning on doing a few more portraits of these beautiful creatures for the same purpose when I locate suitable reference photos.

“Wise One”

18″x24″, Acrylics on Gallery wrapped canvas

Cards and prints featuring this artwork can be purchased at

Orangutan Information:

Orangutans are a critically endangered species that desperately need our help to stop poaching and to protect their rainforest habitats which are being destroyed for palm oil plantations – without major intervention Sumatran Orangutans will be extinct in the wild by 2010, and Bornean Orangutans will be extinct in the wild by 2015.

Orangutans are highly intelligent primates that are one of our closest relatives being 97% genetically identical to humans. The orangutan is the only great ape that comes from Asia (gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos all come from Africa). The two species of ornagutan are the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Sumatra is the largest island in Indonesia and Borneo is the island above Java in central South East Asia and is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Oranguatan’s have a lifespan in the wild of 35-40 years, although in captivity they can live into their fifty’s. They reach puberty at about 8 years of age, but females arn’t ready to reproduce until they are in their teens. Orangutans have the longest period of dependence on their mothers of any animal in the world and the babies nurse until they are about six years of age. In order to learn all the skills needed for their survival, males stay with their mothers for a few more years, but the females stay even longer so that they can learn the mothering skills by watching their mother raise their younger sibling.

Orangutans have the longest time between reproduction of any other mammal – only once every eight years which means that females will only have 4 or 5 babies in their lifetime. This is why wild orangutan populations will not recover from poaching and habitat destruction without major intervention.

When reproductions of this painting are available for purchase, a percentage of the profit from each sale will be donated to the Australian Orangutan Project, a non-partisan organization that supports many orangutan conservation organizations. The AOP is non-partisan and funds are distributed due to conservation needs only. There is only one part time administrator, but as no salaries are paid to the many volunteers who work for AOP, a very high percentage of donations go straight to the organisations that are involved in the active welfare of Orangutans habitat protection.

Australian Orangutan Project Website

Please support the Australian Orangutan Project either by making a donation, adopting and orangutan, becoming a member or purchasing some of the beautiful orangutan merchandise from the AOP shop including toys, books, greeting cards, t-shirts and more.

I have just opened a Gallery on Imagekind, a US based print on demand service that allows you to purchase fine art prints from as little as $12.74US for prints which can be customized and ordered with millions of combinations of frames, museum quality papers, canvas types, and sizes.

Giclee Technology

Giclee is a form of fine art printing which is superior to any previous form of inkjet printing. Giclee is a French word that means a spray of liquid, which possibly derived from the word “gicleur” meaning “nozzle” or “to squirt.”

The giclee printing system allows a precise level of color representation and ImageKind offers eight different paper types and two different canvas types that are widely used in the visual art world for prints and paintings, look tremendous, and will last for years.

Examples of framed ImageKind prints:

I nearly forgot to post an update with the final of my lion, so here he is, Part II of “We Three Kings”, 8″x8″, artist colour pencil on drafting film.

I’m not surprised that more and more colour pencil artists are starting to use drafting film for their work. I am now absolutely convinced that drafting film is the perfect support for use with colour pencils, at least with my style and technique. It is definitely not easy to use initially, and it handles totally different to any other support that I have worked with (it dosn’t take as many layers so you really have to make each mark count!), but the results as definitely worth it, so I will be doing a lot more work on film in the future!

Cards and prints featuring this artwork can be purchased at

Yes, I know this post is out of order:) better late than never, right?

This is the first in my big cat triptych, “We Three Kings”, and my first experiment with using colour pencils on drafting film. I started with a much more detailed sketch than I normally do because I my focus was on learning how to use this support (it handles very differently to any other support that I have tried).

I did find that not all drafting films are created equal:( Although the type I used for this tiger was excellent for the pigment saturation and luminosity it allowed, unlike other types of drafting film, although it erased easily, I could not get much pigment back into the erased areas….making erasing mistakes impossible!

Considering this was an experiment, I am very pleased with how he turned out. Oh and if you are wondering about the title – I didn’t actually start out planning to do a Big Cat triptych, but the night I finished this one I was laying in bed when the title popped into my head (actually, titles for my artwork rarely pop gently into my head, they usually hit me like a sledgehammer;). I knew instantly that the next one in the series would be the lion, but I am still not sure who will be the third king cat. Watch this space to find out!

Work In Progress shot 1:

Work In Progress shot 2:

Work In Progress shot 3:

Final: “We Three Kings part I: Tiger”

I’d love to know what you think of him!

Cards and prints featuring this artwork can be purchased at

I cannot believe how quickly 2007 is flying by! I have quite a few blog entries sitting in my ‘draft’ folder waiting to be finished off so that I can upload them, but life just seems to keep getting in the way! Hopefully by the end of August things will have settled down a little bit around here! Of course, when I finally get to upload them they are going to be out of order, so I might have to rationalize and give some of them a miss!

Meanwhile, to add to my wildlife art portfolio, this is the second piece in the ‘We Three Kings’ series, a square format triptych of three of the big cats, the first was the Tiger, this work in progress is of the second in the series, the lion. I am still undecided on the third one because I would like to do a snow leopard, a cheetah and a jaguar but I can’t decide which one to do first!

After trying drafting film as a support for my colour pencil work, I think I have found the perfect combination of medium and support to suit my style and technique. It is rather tricky to work with initially (definitely different to any other support I have tried) but I am particularly pleased with the vibrancy and luminosity that colour pencils have on the drafting film.

These photos were taken on my easel to avoid camera flash so they are at a bit of an angle.

8″x8″ with a variety of artist quality colour pencils.

Prints and gift items with this image will be available from my RedBubble Gallery and my Cafe Press Gift Shop when the painting is completed.

Michelle

To purchase a variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, Please visit my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped worldwide.

A variety of wall art, gift ware and apparel featuring my artwork is available in my
GiftShop at CafePress.

This is a small selection of the merchandise printed with my artwork and photography available in my giftshop at CafePress.  These items are wonderful and unique gifts for either yourself or your favourite animal lover!

If you are commissioning a portrait of your favourite pet, the completed portrait can also be made available for purchase on the items in my GiftShop at CafePress at no extra charge.

Coffee Mugs and Tile Boxes

Mouse Mats and Throw Pillows

Framed Prints and Badges

Cards

Apparel

Calenders and Wall Clocks

Journals and a variety of clothing styles

A variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, is also available in my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

I finally have a chance to add an entry this week!

This is my latest ACEO of a green tree frog, titled “Frog on A Log” (ACEO #15), which I will be listing on Ebay either later today or tomorrow. This will be the only opportunity to own this cute little frog because if he dosn’t sell, my hubby has claimed him!

This photo is a cropped enlarged version showing some of the detail.

and another landscape “Snow Covered Mountain”

The first lot of ACEO’s I have ever offered for sale (including the Golden Retriever, Siamese Kitten, the pelican, frangipani and Teddy bear) will be ending on Ebay in the next few hours, if you collect ACEO’s have a look as some of them don’t have any bids.

Click here to view current Ebay auctions.

Because of the cost of listing items on Ebay, it seems that many artists don’t re-list items that don’t sell at auction, but list them in their Ebay Stores at a much higher retail price. This makes sense to me – apart from the cost of Ebay fees, I think way to many artists undervalue their work – and is something I am considering on doing with my own Ebay store – I’d love to hear your opinion (as an artist or art collector) on having a policy like this.

If I am lucky I can run to my studio and grab a couple of hours to myself, and hopefully create a masterpiece!

Bye for now

Michelle