Peter is shortlisted for ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ 2011

Hammerhead school © Peter Gander

Great news today! My ‘Hammerhead school’ print has been shortlisted and selected for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2011 exhibition which will take place at The Mall Galleries, London, between Monday 6 June to Saturday 11 June 2011. See blog post for 1st Feb 2011 for details and work-in-progress pics. This is a great reward for me as this year I have made a concerted effort to up the ante regarding getting my name out there. The David Shepherd organisation protects endangered species and hammerhead sharks are under threat because of the market for shark fin soup. See Channel 4’s Fish Fight Gordon Ramsay article. 9 JUNE 2011 UPDATE: Hammerhead School' Japanese vinyl print has received a 'Highly Commended' award at The David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year', now showing at The Mall Galleries, London until Saturday. • Print 1/5 and 2/5 are SOLD (2011)

(Celtic) fish knot

Fish knot © Peter Gander

I’ve always loved the graphic quality of medieval heraldry and Celtic designs. Using one of those out-of-copyright books on Celtic designs from The Dover Bookshop in London, I chose my favourite subject of fish as my inspiration. And as much as this design would look fantastic as a clean black and white linocut, I thought I’d paint it in gouache to keep the design tonally interesting. The gouache, in various states of dilution, conveys a rich, painted glass-style quality. The background is actually a deep violet colour, which doesn’t come across very well in the scan. Winsor and Newton white gouache on 160gsm deep violet Daler Rowney Murano pastel paper.