Beetles, books & bikes in buildings!

Hope everyone's enjoying their Bank Holiday weekends so far, the rain is lashing down as I type but tomorrow promises to be brighter so hoping to get out for a wander with our fluffy Malamute buddy.

This last week has been mostly busy with newt and bat surveys. I was away with work for a couple of days and, as any fellow motorbikers will know, the question of bike security can often prey on the mind when needing to leave them parked up for any length of time...so my very understanding boss (who used to ride motorbikes) came up with this solution before I did, much to my relief!

A snug fit...a vase of flowers was on the table on my return,
you'd never have know she was there!

Anyway, onto a few of my findings while out and about this week:

Cinnabar Moth

A Clouded Silver in my room!

A Great Diving Beetle larva, quite ferocious looking critters.
This one is taking oxygen in through a spiracle on its back end!

One of the hundreds of tiny pond snails we encountered at one pond,
that little speck to the top left of the photo is a baby version.

A pair of Great Crested Newts, the female I'm holding was huge
and longer than my hand!

A Stickleback fish

My reference books are coming in very handy these days,
especially the old Observer's Pond Life! Puffins still ongoing
in the background, working on them today.

Only a three day week for me this next week as I'm off down to that London to deliver my Gorillas to the Mall Galleries, it's literally only just properly sunk in now and it's a tad daunting! Country bumpkin in the big Smoke...but it will be good to go back as I used to visit it quite a bit when I was younger. I've no doubt we'll enjoy it, it's going to be an amazing experience amongst so many like-minded and talented folk, all raising money for the fantastic cause that is the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

I'll be posting here all about my visit so keep your eyes peeled!

Ciao fer now :)

Meg x

BIG Art news!

So I opened my email inbox on Thursday to find a piece of amazing, superb, thrilling news. My Mountain Gorillas have been shortlisted for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year award and will be exhibited along with many other wildlife artists at the Mall Galleries in LONDON in June!!! I had to re-read the email so many times to check I'd not missed something but it's still there in black and white, eeee!

The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation carry out vitally important charity and conservation work, David Shepherd himself being made a CBE for his services to the world of conservation. Proceeds from the sales of artwork at the Exhibition in June will be put towards the organisation's many conservation projects. You can read more about these projects here http://www.davidshepherd.org/projects/

This is definitely the biggest thing to happen in my art career so far and it certainly seems to have filled me with a new-found respect for myself and my art, the fact that a prestigious international art competition has seen fit to accept a piece of my work and provide a space for it to hang in the company of many superb artists in our capital city is, quite frankly, blowing my mind! I'm feeling motivated and inspired to create new pieces where previously I admit I was wondering if all the hours spent on drawings was a productive way to spend my time. I'm thrilled and beyond chuffed! I finally feel like the last four years of completing pet commissions for those wonderful people who enjoyed my art are being rewarded as well as me, I am so grateful for that.

Anyway, this is the drawing in question! Have a click on the pic to see in a tad more detail.

Naturally I guess that now would be a good time to mention that this drawing is available as a Limited Edition print, so that's limited to 100 prints! These and a selection of other prints can be purchased from my online shop www.megghyll.co.uk/shop.html

Now I need to get cracking and finish off those Puffins so I can get started on a very exciting new drawing which isn't like anything I've done previously, a bit of fun too, watch this space! I'll post an update on how the Puffin Study is coming along on here in the next couple of days :)

Ciao for now,
Meg x