Bernese Mountain Dog

Just a quick update tonight, I had meant to blog about this piece on Sunday but got distracted by cooking, cleaning, all the fun things that need doing on a Sunday afternoon! I was also busy monitoring the progress of the baby pigeons who had hatched months ago in one of the trees in our garden, of which I have some pictures that I will share as soon as I have more time. I also started another original wildlife pastel painting today, most of the background has gone in so I will post the first stages soon, hopefully tomorrow :) In the meantime, here is the second scan of my Bernese Mountain Dog portrait that I am working on in graphite. I like to try and work left to right so as not to smudge anything and tomorrow I will be working on the left part of his face and left ear, so he should look much better once that is done as right now he's looking a little odd!

Decisions and a Finished Portrait

After picking up my pencils again for Zac's portrait it seems I have got the ball rolling where graphite is concerned. Shortly after finishing Zac I began working on this little Pekingese called Peekee. I also managed to finished in a relatively short time so tomorrow he'll be taken to the framers along with Zac to be mounted and then will be posted off to his new home. The reference photo wasn't great but I am pleased by the likeness and also so are his owners!

Now the "decision" part of this post is regarding my inability to decide what original art I should be working on next. A few months ago I was approached by the manager of a local gallery who had seen one of my flyers and was interested in my work. He suggested that I bring in a small portfolio of originals to him and his boss and they could either sign me up to produce work for them or to help me find work for others, which was an extremely exciting prospect! I have the first original complete, my tiger pastel "In For A Kill" and now as always I'm struggling to think of what to do next.


So in the meantime I took up another graphite drawing, this time just for myself, of a lovely Bernese Mountain Dog the reference to which is on the Pet Portrait Forums. I haven't scanned the first stages yet but will be sure to do so tomorrow, and hopefully I may have come to the decision of what original I'll do next.

Zac Completed

Wow, it's hot hot hot in Leamington today! I've managed to get some work done in the garden and also some housework done which I have been ignoring, but most importantly Zac's portrait is completed! It now means I can update my website banner and also to create some vouchers with Zac as my main example of my work. I'm also going to send a print to Zac's puppy walker and her granddaughter who still adore him and also my neighbour who fostered him before we rehomed him. I haven't used graphite for some time and it's great to notice that I think I have actually improved with the small break! Next to come is a large acrylic painting which I hope to get started in the next few days.

Zac continued

Just a quick update tonight as I want to be able to go finish this picture soon. He's going to be the new face on some of my advertisements and also on my vouchers which I want to start working on straight away. It's importrant not to rush but I'm getting so close to finishing it's tempting to "speed up" a little. I should definitely finish him tomorrow, I have big plans for sorting out our spare bedroom and giving my studio a little spruce up on Saturday and I'd like to be able to work on the aforementioned graphic design work in the evening.

Zac Pencil Portrait

Oh dear, again it seems I've neglected my little blog. When I set up my website my other half added a feature to blog, however I found it difficult to edit and I thought a blogger site would be much easier and therefore would mean I could update much more. I really have no excuse so I won't make any and will continue on with posting again.

I did eventually finish my horse portrait and will post the result soon. Here is the first stage of a portrait in graphite pencil of my dog Zac. I think it shows a lot of progress from my very first graphite portrait!



Today has been a hectic day, a visit to the dentist then meeting up with my other half for lunch, home and then housework for the rest of the afternoon, so I took some time out to do this just for me. I'm also intending on taking Zac back to Guide Dogs today for a visit to let them know how he is getting on almost a year since we adopted him.

Fenix Song

I really do need to keep this blog updated more!

I have a finished piece of work to show today, here is "Fenix Song" 18x20 inches, acrylic on canvas. I have been busy pottering about in the garden and generally tidying up the house and updating some things on my website, hopefully I'll have more time to work on some originals in the next couple of months.

Logan

While I'm here I thought I should maybe post some of the commissions I've completed lately, here is Logan, my cousin's black labrador who was my very first pet portrait! Here he is as an adorable puppy in graphite:

And here he is again as an adult, as a Christmas gift from my cousin to his wife, which I had framed and posted up to him, just in the nick of time as well if I remember correctly!