This is the painting I'll be exhibiting at the 'Bird Art at 5o' exhibition in Norfolk- see below for more details

Bird Art at 50: October 24th to November 14th

The BIRDscapes Gallery, Glandford, Norfolk


A few weeks ago I was delighted to hear I had been invited to take part in a very special exhibition at the Birdscapes Gallery in Norfolk. 50 years ago this year, Robert Gillmor decided that bird art needed to be brought to a much wider audience, and as a result he organised the Exhibition by Contemporary Bird Painters, held in Reading in 1960.

To mark the 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking exhibition, Robert, along with gallery owners Steve & Liz Harris, have invited 50 artists currently working in the UK to each submit a piece of work to be included in the event. I will be featuring a painting of Bar-tailed Godwits, and will be amongst very well known and respected names in British bird art, including Robert Gillmor, Bruce Pearson, John Cox, Michael Warren, Keith Brockie, Chris Rose, Darren Woodhead and Ian Lewington.

New Publication

A little while ago I recieved an advance copy of 'Reptiles of South East Asia' (cover, see below), which has 12 of my snake plates within. Having never painted snakes before, I was really pleased with the way they have reproduced, and even have a couple of my artworks on the front cover (top left banded snake, and the King Cobra, a little further down).

Birdfair mural 2010

Finally I've got round to posting these images of the completed mural. I mainly worked on the background, (the waterfall and forest, inc large tree) in the top photo, and some of the vegetation and pool on the left hand side (middle photo).

Birdfair mural 2010 - Ethiopia's Endemic birds

Each year the birdfair raises money for a particular conservation project focused on birds - with a mural being painted by the artists exhibiting at the event used to promote the cause in whatever area of the world it may be.

This year's focus was the threatened endemic birds of Ethiopia, and John Cox (as he has for many years) produced a design for the canvas. John usually also has been instrumental in painting the background of the mural ready for the rest of us to add our particular bird or birds to the background but having done it for so long, this year the job was passed to myself, alongside Szabolcs Kokay and Stefan Boensch.

To give us a head start, I produced the basic colour design for the mural, which was blocked in by volunteers before our arrival, which made the job of adding all the different bits of vegetation much easier, without having to start with a huge blank canvas. Thanks people!


Design for the mural, above



My simplified version showing rough background colours for various habitats within the mural, from highlands (left) to flat desert/savanna furthest right.

Birdfair 2010

A couple more photos of the stand at this year's event. I managed to produce more new work than in recent years, including a tawny owl painting and barn owl painting in the snow (top picture), and 2 new black grouse paintings (below) inspired by fieldwork undertaken in the pennines in the spring.

The latter 3 paintings arre on display for slae at the Birdscapes Gallery at Glandford, Norfolk - www.birdscapesgallery.co.uk

Birdfair 2010

I've finally got round to updating my blog and adding some pictures from this year's birdfair at Rutland water. There's a close up of the stand below, with another photo (bottom) showing the whole display.

This year Szabolcs and I had a double stand the the event for the first time, which was much better as we were able to show our work off to the best advantage. More pictures to follow....

'Charlie'

Acrylic on paper

Here you can see a couple of stages of this painting, showing a recent commission of a King Charles Spaniel dog on his favourite bench.


Please email me for further details of pet paintigns and portraits.

Plate 70 - Natricidae


Plate 69 - Natricidae


Plate 68 - Natricidae


Plate 67 - Natricidae

A fieldguide to the reptiles of South East Asia (Indraneil Das)
New Holland Publishers
Due Septmeber 2010


I have recently recieved 12 orginal artowrks back from the publishers, which I produced for the above fieldguide. They are all now available for sale, and include identification plates of the following groups of snakes:

Cylindrophiidae, Elaphidae, Homalopsidae and Natricidae.

All the plates are approximately A3 in size (which includes a border for framing), and are priced at £250 plus £4.50 p&p (UK). For overseas postage rates, please contact me for a quote)

Please email me at Jonathan.Latimer@talktalk.net if you are interested in purchasing any of the following plates. If you would like to see a larger version of any of the plates, please don't hesitate to contact me.



Plate 59 (Cylindrophiidae & Elapidae)

Plate 66 - Homalopsidae



Plate 65 - Homalopsidae


Plate 64 Elaphidae (Sea Kraits)


Plate 63 Elaphidae (Sea Kraits)
NB - This plate is not for sale

Plate 62 Elaphidae (Sea Kraits)


Plate 61 Elaphidae (Cobras)


Plate 60 Elaphidae (Calliophis group)

Lune Valley, June 2010

A beautiful evening, with hawthorn in blossom and calling curlew and oystercatcher over the fields.

Other birds that have taken up residence in some of Paul's nestboxes include Great tits and blue tits (middle and bottom photos respectively) - young birds having been ringed, in the hand before being returned to their nestboxes.

Pied flycatchers

I spent an evening last week with Paul Cammack, a birder from Lancashire who has been ringing birds for over 20 years. During the summer months he spends much of his spare time studying pied flycathers in the Lune Valley, which, thanks to his efforts and those of other birders in the region, are doing really well in this part of Lancashire.

Interestingly, there was a feature on the BBC North West tonight programme yesterday evening about the pied flycatchers in the Lune valley, at another wood along the valley. John Wilson, part of the North Lancashire ringing group, (and the former RSPB reserve manager at Leighton Moss), was explaining to Diane Oxberry that there are now about 60 pairs in the Lune Valley, a massive rise from just a single pair some 40 years ago.



Bluebell oak wood, Lune valley


Two young pied flycatchers in my hand


The complete brood, above