This is my latest pet portrait in pencil, of a Mastiff who has just recently passed, so i hope this brings back some wonderful memories for his family. I am working on my next portrait already and its of a Labrador and two cats in pencil. I have drawn it out today however Im out of the studio all day tomorrow so i will post the startings of it on tuesday when im back to my easel!...
Hi Everyone,
I have had a really lovely day in the studio today, its been absolutely hectic but enjoyable. Firstly I have had an email from a client I did a portrait for a few weeks back and they have had their portrait framed which is superb. I have added a picture below as I am so pleased with the way its come out. Very simple and striking. It suits the portrait and doesn’t detract from the images which is great.
I have also been speaking on the phone to a client in Pennsylvania which is really exciting, I just love chatting to my clients who live abroad, and id probably chat to them all day if it wasn’t for work : ) I love to find out where they live, what’s its like, hear their accent etc. They like to hear an English accent too!
I have then been doing a few London...
I cant believe how engrossed I have been in this one, and forgot completely to take photos! So this is the final stage without any in between. It has been a really lovely portrait to paint and hopefully i have captured not only Lilly but also the feeling of sunlight and freshness of a beach scene. The photos don’t really do the portrait justice, it looks better here I the studio. I have only to sign this now and its complete!
My next portrait is for a tight deadline of a mastiff who sadly died only a short while ago under tragic circumstances. Its going to be a pencil drawing and its such a lovely pose. Watch this space ill post it in a few days time!...
Hi all,
Have been doing quite a lot in the studio this passed week. I have completed two pencil portraits pictured below and started an oil painting. Its good to get back to my easel after having a week off as i was starting to get a little behind. I will post the oil portrait work in progress next!...
I have been working on this portrait for a few days now but have been so engrossed in painting that i haven’t bloged the stages. With a portrait painting like this it takes much more creativity than just a portrait that of a simple head study, mainly because of the setting. There are many things to consider when starting, for instance the colour pallet, the tones, the feeling of the day, getting the dog to feel as though it is within the scene/background etc. Marrying both the dog with the background can be difficult and you really need to make it as though this one whole composition with dog walking within the scene rather then just a portrait of a dog.
I also think feeling is important and so i spent a lot of time standing at my easel painting the background and dog at the same...
I have finally completed the three dog portrait and have added a final scan and some details for you all to see below. It was painted in oils on canvas to the size of 20 x 16. and now is thoroughly dry and ready to post to the client.
This last week and a half has just flown by and the chaos here has not really stopped. We had family to stay at the start of last week, my niece and nephew 1 & 5 enjoyed themselves even though it has been raining here constantly. So we had to entertain them in the house. Once they had all gone home we then went to my friends wedding staying over night. Wedding was wonderful. I have draw her pug for her but due to the chaos here forgot to scan the drawing in and so don’t have a record of it, so hence cant blog it! I think that’s the first time...
One of my clients has very kindly emailed me a photo of her portrait framed. I think they chose the frame well as it suits the colours of the dog and matches perfectly. The hint of gold brings out the ochre colours too!...
Hi All,
The photos below show my further progress of the three dog portrait in oils. Its quite a large one at 20 x 16 and I have pretty much finished the first dog below, and I am now working on the dog in the bottom picture. I will post some more photos tomorrow as I will be working on it all day. Now the framing section fo the site is pretty much complete i can get back to working at my easel full time : )...
Things have been very busy here in the studio, there have been changes a plenty and for the better we hope. Nick and i are now collaborating with a local framer to frame our pet portraits for us. We are primarily providing frames for the UK market but hope to expand this to the US next year.
An example frame hanging in our home
We have found a lovely framer in the Powys mountains, just over an hours drive from here who is not only providing us with frames but also mounts/matts and backing boards too. This means we can provide our portraits as ‘Frame Ready Portraits’ - with everything you need to place the portrait into a frame you have purchased from a shop or store. Alternatively you can take it to your local framer to be framed.
Frame Ready Portraits - this is one of Nicks...
Here are the first stages of my next pet portrait! We have been really busy in and out of the studio this week and i haven’t done as much painting as I should have! Tomorrow visiting the framers in the mountains again (i hope the weather is going to be nice this time!) to collect all the mounts for the next few months and a couple of portraits which needs to be framed too.
Will add some more stages soon!...
If you are in the US and see a Houston Pet Talk Magazine, pick up a copy as im in the center spread along with a few other artists in their pet portrait artists gallery. You can see the edition below and I supplied the English Springer Spaniel artwork as my chosen piece. I think my portrait stands up quite well with the others, there are a whole variety of styles as well as one photographer so I think we all gel well.
Working hard here in the studio at the moment, I am currently working on a 3 head portrait in oils, they are all blocked in and I will blog them asap!...
I have been a little quiet on the blog over the last few days as I have been away from my easel working on my website. I hadn’t planned to be away from my easel for so many days but once you start something its amazing how long it takes and you cant just stop mid flow! I still have a lot to do, there are areas which are unfinished but its looking much better. I have been working on the galleries mainly, along with the prices pages as well.
I am hoping to finish my updates tomorrow and then give my eyes a bit of a rest from the computer screen, both nick and i have literally been working non stop from about 7 am till gone 10 every night so we deserve a day off I think! Sunday is going to be nice (Amazingly) so we will hopefully have a bbq and potter in the garden for a change.
Back...
Here is the final scan of the montage pet portrait, i hope you all like it. This is for a client in the UK of her flatcoated retriever called Indy drawn to the size of 20 x 16 in graphite pencil on Italian Fabriano paper....
Here are the final two stages to the montage pet portrait, I have completed this over the weekend and will post the final scan tomorrow : )...
Here is the next pencil study in the pet portrait montage. Will add the next one tomorrow!...
Here is the next stage of the montage, i have started with the top left study and I will be moving onto the bottom right tomorrow! : )...
I am just nearing completion of the central study of the next commission i am working on, which is a montage pet portrait in graphite pencil to the size of 20 x 16. I am thoroughly enjoying this commission and the studies i will be tacking next are great as they include some backgrounds as well, so this coupled with the subject working and doing activities, will make for a really lovely and interesting portrait. I prefer portraits where there is plenty to see and look at, it holds the viewers attention when viewing the artwork. Montages have this advantage over oils as many side of the dogs character can be depicted. I will post the next stage soon, Nick took this photo of me working on it, on an angle, as the camera picked up the shine in the pencil from on. I will post a final scan so...
The final scan of the montage portrait is below. The scanner has picked up the smaller images much better then the photos did, and the overall colour is pretty similar to the original. I am now working on another montage, this time all in graphite pencil, so I will be adding it in the next day or so. I have a batch of student work to assess so im a little behind on that, so ill try to post asap....
I have been working on my montage portrait this weekend and i have enclosed a few photos for you to see the developments. I have added some further detail to the red setter and started the next little chappy, how has amazing fur, its going to be quite tricky to capture as its soft and flowing, and really quite light. More stages to follow....
Here are a couple of photos of the montage portrait so that you can see it in full, as so far the photo have only been of each study. I also got nick to take a photo with me working on it so you can see the sale. it should be quite a good size ones mounted and framed. Its 16 x 12 but with a couple of inches on the mount and the frame it will be impressive....
Here are the latest stages of the montage pet portrait, im currently working on the red setter and will be adding some more stages asap. Taking a day off tomorrow though : )...
Here are the next montage sketches....
Here is the first stage of the central pet portrait, its in its early stages with just the underlayers blocked in, there will be more stages to follow....
Hi All,
I have started my montage pet portrait, these two studies are around the edge of a double head portrait of two dogs in the centre. I have started with the two on the left and I will blog the two on the right tomorrow when they are complete. The photos didnt come out too good this evening, its quite dark in the studio and the lights glared the pencil. This one will definitly be best viewed when scanned.
The portrait is a 16 x 12 and so the two dogs below are probably larger than the size I drew them, they look alot more delicate and detailed in real life but at least you can see what I have been working on today.
The red setters mouth below may also look a little unusual, the client wanted me to capture his goofy look, he has his lip caught in his teeth! Cute! : )...
I’m just about to start a lovely portrait for a passed client of two dogs. Its going to be a montage portrait with pencil sketches around the outside and a coloured pencil double portrait in the centre. Everything is ready to start, photos printed, paper cut and i am planning an early start in the morning.
I have had a bit of a catch up day this last couple of days with emails etc as we have had family to stay. I mentioned before we were taking a few days off from work and they have been helping us with things around the house. We have carpeting the stairs, half dug the pond, the gardens are weed free and i had a massive cook up to freeze a load of meals for the freezer including home make pies and quiches. Its all been go!
We are back to work now and Nick particularly has a full...
Its been a gorgeous day today, I was up early painting Lisas portrait, we had tea break and lunch in the garden and stopped painting about 3pm. We Web-camed my nephew and niece who are adorable and then worked in the garden for the rest of the afternoon.
My battle with the slugs is still ongoing, the copper tape we bought to stop them from eating the lettuces didn’t work. I saw a snail walk right across it! I don’t know if any of my readers grow veg, any ideas of how to stop them would be welcome. We have tried the organic pellets but they didn’t work, I think the rain and my watering washed them away too quickly. I have had to revert to the strong stuff, purchased yesterday. It has certainly stopped them in their tracks in one fail swoop for the first time all season....
The weekend has flown by, I have added another stage to my portrait below. I have been working around the muzzle and eye area today. I have added a close up to show you the detail, the area isn’t completely finished yet, so I will be working on it again tomorrow.
I am often asked about the colours I use for my portraits and although this particular portrait is quite a limited pallet, so I only have 6 colours out on my pallet today, I think in the majority of the paintings are mixed from about 8 colours. You can mix a whole host of colours from these and unless the colour you are trying to obtain is unusual, you should be able to work well with just the basics.
More to follow tomorrow!...
I have been working hard today on the Jack Russell pet portrait, I have added a photo below of my working on it. I will be adding the final image early tomorrow.
I have also taken some time to look around at some other artists blogs and there are some amazing artists out there! They are just so talented and I have added one to my blogroll just yesterday. Her name is Angela Ferh and this is her blog - http://angelafehr.blogspot.com/ her site is definitely worth visiting, her work is beautiful and she has some great info on her site, go bookmark her now : )
I have never found it very easy to use any of the readers that bookmark blog sites, I have tried bloglinker, and google reader even one that installed on my hard rive and connected and updated to the net that way. I think it would be...
Hi Everyone,
I have upgraded to firefox 3 today, and its quite good, not too many changes visually, but the smaller things they have improved look good. I think its a beta version at the moment, but it can be downloaded via their site.
I have finished the Jack Russell portrait today too. I have added a few photos below for you to see, one is to show some detail, one for the final portrait and me adding the final touches
We have family coming to stay for the rest of the week so i may be blogging sporadically. I still need to blog a few portraits that clients have sent pictures of framed so ill hopefully still be around. Im really looking forward to my next portrait, its a montage and I will update my work in progress with it as soon as its started....
Busy busy busy today! Its been all go here. More client emails and mock-ups to do before painting this morning and I then started a gorgeous Jack Russell. I have really been looking forward to this little guy for ages, its a 12 x 10 oils on canvas and the perfect size for this breed. I enjoy painting Jack Russells particularly in oils as I love their colouring. They go really well with rich dark backgrounds and this one has a lovely light patch behind the dogs head coming across the shoulder which fits in well with the glowing effects in the background.
I will add more stages asap!...
