Miniature Artwork

It's been a challenging past week for me,  I have been working on what I call, my very first miniature work of art, of a black tail deer.  I have much more to learn and much more practicing to do, but I am on my way and I have joined a great group, full of some amazing talented artists http://groups.yahoo.com/group/miniatureart/
I used watercolor and color pencil to do this piece and used my own reference photos. It's 2.5" x 3.5"

You might say, "Well that's the same size as an ACEO and what's so challenging about that?" A lot!  A miniature work of art is a specialty art and has layers of  more fine details,  than an ACEO.  Miniature artwork can range in size from 1.0" x 1.0" to 5.0" x 7.0".  They are to be no more than 1/6th scale of the actual subject and specific art guidelines are to be met with each association.    
Working in color pencil at such a small of scale and fine of detail can be quite challenging as the color pencil tips can break easy and you have got to keep your points sharp at all times. I am thinking, Prismacolor verithins,  might work better for such small of detail, only problem is, the verithins do not have a wide range of colors available, but I plan on testing them out on my next piece.

Some amazing miniature art can be seen at Wes and Rachel Siegrists' site  http://www.artofwildlife.com/

They have two books out "Exquisite Miniatures" and "The World of Nature in Miniature" located here

http://www.artofwildlife.com/miniature_painting_books.html 

Take a look around at their galleries, their works will just blow you away. Truly inspiring, blessed and talented artists.