Dougalis Wildlifeart-Life studies-Portraits

I had an unusual portrait session for me two days ago, with our model posing for 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 mintutes. I use to be quick when working outdoors but I don`t have to look at the clock in these case. Attached,the images I managed to get within 2 hours in total.Many thanks to Andreas Skrzypnik for organizing this event!

For those who have been born and grew up in the 1970`s like me, the "Grizzly Adams" TV show, has opened my childish mind to a magical world and made me dreaming of living in the wild..It has influenced the way I`m looking at living creatures ever since..Attached a drawing of the main characters Grizzly Adams, "Mad Jack, and bear "Ben", I did today using a Sepia finelinesr and it is based on video

After weeks of snowfalls, stormy winds and darkness the sun is back! It was a sunny but a very cold day today, with temperatures below and around zero.. At least there was no wind at all, such a peaceful feeling! I couldn´t miss the chance to go back to the Park to look after the Owls. I saw at least four and managed to sketch two of them. On my way back to the car I spotted in the small half-frozen lake in the front of the Palace among many Tufted & Pochard ducks, a Ferruginus duck, a real rarity for Germany...

One more attempt to copy the self-portrait of Albrecht Dürer on location (Old masters gallery -Munich). I used various ballpoint pens, fineliners and Pitt pens to sketch it.

Bonelli`s eagle , head study, sketched on toned paper, using various fineliners & grey/ white pens. This is my last drawing for this year, Happy new year everyone!

Just finished the portrait of an old monk I know since I was a child. Here they are few stages of the painting while it was created and the finished portrait . Watercolours on Hahnemühle paper

From my latest visit to Old masters gallery. An unknown French general painted by an unknown artist, 1650, and a portrait of an unknown spanish nobleman, 1631, painted by the great Velasquez

The Boneli`s eagle is definitely my favorite raptor. Though a rare sighting in Europe, I was lucky enough to observe, study  and sketch them in the wild five years long. In one of these visits I saw the female sitting in the distance against the sea. I managed to make a watercolour on location, and get some blurred video footage. I did a more detailed b/w study based on this footage years later but I didn`t find the time to create a painting until now.

It was two years ago when I did a study of this Saker falcon on toned paper. I always had in mind to do a coloured version of this but didn`t find the time until now..Here is the initial drawing , and the latest watercolour.

A new portrait sketched on location in the "Neue Pinakothek" in Munich, a gallery containing paintings from 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Here is a portrait of Max Freiherr von Perfall painted by Wilhelm Leibl in 1877

I`ve spent one more morning in the Old masters gallery. This time studying Portraits of Peter Paul Rubens Here is the Portrait of Hendrik van Thulden,sketched with various fineliners & Pens. I used a sepia fineliner as my main medium in this case Head detail of Rubens father in law portrait, Jan Brant

For most of the people who know my work, I`m a wildlife artist.What they don`t know is that I used to  draw in the past and still do many human portraits from life. In this case , I decided to "enrich" my knowledge, by copying portraits of Old masters in the "Alte Pinakothek" in Munich. A unique experience! Albrecht Dürer self-Portrait Detail of Titian`s Emperor Charles V portrait Antony van Dykes portrait of the artist Jan de Wael and his wife. Detail of a painting of an unknown master from Ferrara(Italy) painted in ca.1480, and shows a Falconer holding a Sparrowhawk on his fist

Attached , this time a couple of studies based solely on video footage I took last year in Nürnberg zoo.The b/w study has been sketched last year, and the watercolour has been completed today.

I`ve spent few hours today in the morning in the Wildpark Poing once again. Didn`t have much luck in the beginning, until the Siberian eagle owl and an immature Steppe eagle decided to pose for me...

Once again, a Tawny owl study, but this time an individual I haven`t seen for the last two years, and haven`t painted or sketched before. Various fineliners & pens on toned paper .Attached also a photo of mine taken while I was sketching the owl  (photo credit: G. Albrecht)

A new watercolour study of the Tawny owl close to the main water channel painted today in the morning on location . Didn´t have the best conditions to work outdoors, it was cold and foggy today, but eventually I managed to finish the picture.

Golden eagle study based on video footage I took in Wildpark Poing (private park) several years ago. Various fineliners & pens on toned paper

Attached now, the rest of the fieldwork I did during the trip. Little Bittern juv. Purple heron juv. Purple heron head detail Pygmy cormorant winter plumage , head detail Pygmy cormorant winter plumage Red backed shrike juv. Stone curlew pair Stone curlew Tree frog Great white pelican, Spoonbills & an Avocet