Off the coast of South Georgia

A qck pastel sketch this time, of a section of the coast near gold harbour (north east corner of the island, not far from drygalski fjord). I'm finding it quite a challenge to get the subtle snow tones in pastel, but enjoying working with the medium, and I hope to progress to some larger pastel works.

David Attenborough's film

I've just seen the publicity for David Attenborough's new film about King Penguins, which was filmed on South Georgia. My curiosity aroused, a quick google to see whereabouts on South Georgia it was filmed produced this image:

Gold Harbour on an overcast day, the other side of the stream from where I painted, and summertime rather than spring judging by the lack of snow. It seems camera crews have no more desire than the rest of us to lug heavy equipment around, as this is right by the main zodiac landing spot.

Gold Harbour

I have just completed a full imperial sized (22 x 30inches) painting based on the sketch I did at Gold Harbour; slightly different from the sketch as you would expect. I wanted to keep the elements simple, to draw the eye to the foreground penguins . The large elephant seal, for example, was painted in one quick wash and I've tried to resist going back to do any more to it. The photo is actually of the painting before I strengthened the area immediately in front of the tussock grass, but otherwise complete. A nice Christmas present for a South Georgia visitor?

Wildlife everywhere

Early season in South Georgia is meant to be the best time to visit- leave it until midsummer and there are so many fur seals on the beaches that landing becomes impossible. At this time of year, though, there is an astounding amount of wildlife around. Elephant seals dominate the foreshore, but step back from the beach a little and penguins and fur seals take over. Unlike the petrels, Penguins move much more slowly and provide good models:

The top picture of the two above is at Gold Harbour; the lower sketch a brief sunny spell at Fortuna Bay. Dark clouds were building on the horizon, and we were quickly asked to head back to the ship. minutes later we were enveloped in a full-scale blizzard.