We’ve had a woodland collection here at Tahlia Paige for a long time, and more recently an Endangered Asia collection, so it feels like a good time to show a bit more of the species behind those lovely patterns.
Hedgehog
The Hedgehog was one of the first patterns created, actually as part of my graduate degree show while I was staying at home during the pandemic. I managed to track a hedgehog in my own garden after months of searching and leaving food in various places, eventually finding one on my night vision camera and watching it return every night for months.
I think what drew me to them is how often I used to see them when I was young and not even living in the countryside, whereas now they are a much rarer sight.
Our Red Squirrel pattern looks great on a storage pouch, with plenty of uses and a great size for home or travel. You can see it here.
Cute and compact, the red squirrel is a lovely native species in the UK that has been largely impacted by the introduction of greys in the UK. The problem is that greys carry a disease that they can live with, but is often fatal for a red, as well as competing for food and habitats.
I loved drawing the squirrels, especially the fluffy tails and ear tufts.
The hare isn’t so much endangered in terms of numbers, but rather it is declining due to really loose hunting laws. There isn’t a closed season on hares, and their young frequently fall prey to larger creatures as they leave them alone for much of the day. They do this to not draw attention to them, but it doesn’t always work out.
Hares are fun creatures to see, with large ears and big eyes, which you may be lucky enough to spot if you live close to farmlands, grasslands or on the edge of woodlands.
Giant Panda
The giant panda is a fun creature, don’t we all enjoy a video of them messing around in a zoo? I also loved how unique they looked, you always know what you’re looking at when you spot one, even in a drawing!
Snow Leopard
I always remember seeing the appeal adverts for years on the tv, so it stuck in my mind when I was researching for new species to include in my collection. I actually found the panda and then the snow leopard and realised they were both from Asian countries, so it made sense to add a third to complete the collection and stick with a theme.
The snow leopard was a fun one to draw, sometimes it can be harder drawing some of the more fierce looking animals, but I think this one turned out really nice.
Asian Elephant
This scrunchie has the elephant pattern on for a lovely pop of colour in an outfit, see more of it here.
The third and final Asian species I found, the elephant was a great choice as a lot of people already like and support elephants. It started out very different in strong tropical colours, but I ended up deciding on a blue which fitted quite nice into the current scheme that I had going on in the shop.
