Double-eyed Fig-parrots on the Daintree River

Double-eyed Fig-parrots, handmade watercolour on Fabriano paper, 24 x 24 cm, © Matteo Grilli

This painting resulted after my trip to tropical north Queensland, the parrots are Double-eyed Fig-parrots, race macleayana and the river is the Daintree. I have composed this artwork putting together a number of photos. The bird on the left is the male, the female is on the right.

This image is available as a greeting card.

Red-necked Wallabies Watercolour

Red-necked Wallabies Macropus rufogriseus, handmade watercolours on Fabriano coloured paper, 22 x 24 cm, © Matteo Grilli

This watercolour painting is also available as a greeting card.

Detail

Work in progress

Ringed Xenica Butterfly, a book and framed works at Coastal Artisans

 Ringed Xenica Geitoneura acantha, walnut ink and handmade watercolours on Fabriano paper, 15 x 15 cm, © Matteo Grilli

 American-Australian writer Geraldine M. North recently published her book Butcher Bird, a collection of short stories from rural Australia. The book is a pleasure to read and features some illustrations of mine. It is available on Amazon 

At Coastal Artisans in Peregian Beach, there are some newly framed works and some Giclee prints of mine among the stunning showcase of other artists and artisans:

Here is a photo of the beautiful beach at Peregian:

Sperb Fairy-wren

Superb Fairy-wren, handmade watercolour on Fabriano paper, 18 x 37 cm, © Matteo Grilli

This image is available as a greeting card, the original artwork is sold.

Summer holiday sketch: view of Monte Conero from Porto Recanati

During my recent holiday in Italy I enjoyed sketching on the beach of my hometown Porto Recanati, this is a view of Mt Conero as seen from the northern beach of the town.

The page previous to the sketch contains some colour tests and a bird list from a day spent bird watching in the countryside.

Glimpse of Sea-life

Glimpse of Sea-life, handmade watercolours on Fabriano watercolour paper, 26 x 35 cm, 

© Matteo Grilli.

For this still-life of Australian shells and beach findings I drew inspiration form an old sketchbook dating back to my time in the Galway Bay, Ireland, see the top right-hand-side corner of the photo above.

It is amazing to find such a variety of creatures in just a handful of items. Using a nature guide book I could identify the remains of the following creatures:

Spengler's Triton
Hercules Club
Pipi
Tellens
Mactras (Truncate; Reddish and Dissimilar)
Cockles
Scallops
Reef Crab's chelae
Bell Acorn Barnacle
Brain Coral

This artwork is available as a greeting card. For this artwork I have used a selection of four of my own handmade watercolour paints. Talking about handmade paints, I just published a page on my blog which explains with photos the fascinating process of watercolour making, take a look HERE, I hope you will like it.

Thank you for reading.

All the best,

Matteo

Saltwater Crocodile

Saltwater Crocodile - Crocodylus porosus, handmade ink, handmade watercolour, white gouache on toned paper, 23 x 37 cm, © Matteo Grilli 2015

For this watercolour of a Saltwater Crocodile I used a different technique which was great fun. I laid a light wash of Burnt Umber to give an off-white tone to the paper, then I sketched a light pencil drawing of the Crocodile. Then, I decided to draw a more detailed sketch using Chinese black ink obtained from a traditional ink stick ground with some water on an ink stone (see materials on the top right hand corner of the image), the ink was then loaded on to the dipping pen's nib with a brush.

After I finished with the ink drawing, I started applying washes and glazes of watercolour.

At last I used some white gouache to highlight the colour of the teeth.

Pacific Black Duck, Avian Faces Series and Handmade Watercolour Paints.

Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa, watercolour on paper, 27.5 x 35 cm,  © Matteo Grilli 2015

Here is the full series of original bird portraits from the Avian Faces Series 2012, three birds, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, the Boobook Owl and the Bush-stone Curlew for a total of twelve small watercolour portraits, all artworks are now available.

And this is my handmade full watercolour range, this is a beautiful, versatile and minimal watercolour palette with five earth colours out of eight.

Australian Wood Duck

Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata, watercolour on paper, 28 x 30.5 cm,  © Matteo Grilli 2015

This Australian Wood Duck was painted using only three paints and all of them are 100% handmade by myself. A selection of my favourite handmade watercolour paints are now for sale on my online shop, in case you feel you want to give watercolours a go, they are made only with 100% Artists' quality materials. Following this link you can read how I made my own watercolours.