Last spring I watched red squirrels whilst in a quiet area of Cumbria,
and have used the reference I gained for several artworks.
The latest was a papercut, where I have tried to combine the movements of
the squirrels around the larch trees, with some of the textures in the trees.

I wanted to introduce some interesting textures into the picture, and found
ways to do this in the early wet washes.
By painting papers first, I can choose appropriate textures and colours, and
I combined layers of watercolour and acrylic paint with metallic paint accents.













I also wanted to recreate the texture of the larch cones, and after several
experiments, was able to form them out of the painted paper.













The papercut combines a frieze of squirrels climbing around the trees, with
a squirrel portrait and a circle of larch cones around it.

This is all done in layers glued firmly together, so that the picture has depth.