Hitting The Ground Running...

I've been on holiday for a week but that already seems like a lifetime ago.  Came back to not only the mountain of washing we accumulated while away but a lot of jobs and appointments that all seemed to fall during the same week.  I should have stayed away!

However, I have found the time to do more to this painting - I'm working on the dog on the right now and it won't take long to complete.  This is a private commission, and a slight detraction from my usual dog portraits in that it is in watercolour rather than pencils.  I felt the subject matter called for a lighter touch.  It has been very enjoyable.

This year has been very different to previous years - I have not had any time without commissioned work at all and it looks like that will continue right up until Christmas.  I am fully booked and cannot take on any more work for the time being.  How nice!

Jeffy...

This has to be one of the ugliest things I have ever been asked to make!  However, it is for a small boy, so if it makes him happy then I'm happy.  The pattern I was given was awful, full of errors and very unclear instructions, what there were of them. Half way through I had to give up on the pattern and wing it for a while - goodness knows what a novice would have done.

Needless to say, I am NOT making any more of these!

Dogs & Bears...

 This is my latest commission, a pair of golden retrievers in watercolour.  I'm enjoying a bit of a change of pace as usually my dog portraits are in pencil - this may yet have pencil in it, who knows, I'm just going with the flow!

Made a darker bear this week, based on a bear known as 151 Walker.  Shame the camera cannot cope with dark objects and electric light - hopefully I can get some better photos when the sun comes up.  This bear will be for sale in my Etsy shop later.

Another One Gone...

This Otis is off to sunny California...

Brooks Falls...

I completed this on Friday - a larger watercolour than usual but it had to be in order to fit everything in.  This is a view from the Explore.org web cam at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and was a private commission.  The photo sent to me was pretty fuzzy, but as I have spent hours watching this view myself plus I have painted Otis, the bear on the left, many, many times, it was easy enough to use a bit of initiative.  The bear on the right was very blurred but looked pretty much like one known as Beadnose, so I used another reference photo in a similar pose to get a better idea of how to paint her.  There is an awful lot of greenery in this painting whcih I was not sure would work, but it did in the end I think.

Next on the easel, a pair of retrievers!