Typical field sketch from isolated Australian sealion colony.

Observing and sketching from life in nature is something many artists find too demanding. After all the animals can't be contained or manipulated in their own home environment and it is only possible to meet the subject on its own terms.

Strangely Steve has always found this to be an artistically liberating experience..... "You have to react on the animal's own terms leaving your ego home and it will usually present you with opportunities you never expected....When an artist is working from life there are no props and no excuses and no time...there is just you, the subject, a pencil and a pad..... at that point you either measure up, or you don't!"

Nothing like meeting with your subject

Yes there is nothing quite like coming face to face with your critters to bring life to your art..... sometimes a little more risky than others. In this case Steve is going hand to hand with a Tasmanian devil.!! Fortunately its only a baby and doesn't yet have the powerful bite of the adult that can shear the leg bone of a horse. This little fella although willing can barely break the skin of Steve's finger.

Echidna sketch

Steve has enjoyed many trips to spend time with Echidna researchers Dr Peggy Rismiller and Mike McKelvey on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. These trips have helped him come to terms with this amazing species in a way that many artists do not.....As someobody has said, "you cant preserve something you dont love and you cant love something you dont understand".....As Peggy Rismiller once said to Steve (who was at the time wrestling bare armed with this intractable animal in the midst of a vicious clump of prickly acacia)..."Now youre learning about Echidnas!!"