Going Small: My First Miniature Paintings

I was browsing Instagram for inspiration and clicked on a few miniature sketches — which, of course, meant Instagram immediately decided I needed to see lots more of them! And the more I saw, the more I started wondering whether I could do something similar with my travel and urban sketching.

My first experiment was the toadstool. I wasn’t trying to develop a new style or start a new project — I simply wanted to see if I could do it. A toadstool seemed like a simple place to start, with a nice easy shape and colour.

I started with a very simple pencil outline, then added my watercolour washes and a little more colour here and there to give it some shape.

In the posts and videos I’d seen, the artists often used coloured pencil for delicate shading and fine line work. It’s not something I normally use in my artwork, but I thought I’d give it a go — especially as, like most artists, I’d bought a set at some point thinking I’d use them!

It was quick to do, really rewarding, and I was quite happy with my first result.

I realised I wasn’t actually working all that differently from my usual sketches. I still start with a pencil drawing, add a first wash, build up a little more colour and tone, then add the final details. The only real difference is that instead of reaching for my pen at the end, I’m reaching for a coloured pencil.

I’ve also been surprised by how quick they are to do. So far, each one has only taken me around 15 or 20 minutes, and I keep finishing one and thinking, “Oh — that worked!”

And then, as I suspect a lot of artists do, I jumped straight from zero to a hundred and chose something much more difficult — a Superb Fairy-wren, one of our lovely little Tasmanian birds. I was surprisingly happy with that result too. Next came a King Penguin and I think what started as “I wonder if I can do that?” may already be turning into a mini addiction!

For scale: Superb Fairy Wren Watercolour approx. 6cm (2+1/2 inches) tall, King Penguin approx. 5cm (2 inches) tall and the Amanita Toadstool is approx. 3cm (1+3/4 inches) tall.

I have a feeling this won’t be the last of them! I’ll be adding my miniatures to a new Miniatures section in my gallery as I make them, so pop back over the next few weeks to see what appears.