Headache...

The commission I am currently working on has given me such a headache - it's a matter of combining about 5 different photos to make one cohesive composition and I am having a hard time of it as what the customer wants and what I would choose to do artistically are two different things.  However, I think I have found a working solution, and this bit has gone very well so far!
 

Vidar...

 This was such a special commission and I am so pleased I managed to do it justice.  This is a British army service dog who has recently passed away. I was asked to paint him with his medals as a surprise gift for his handler, who is understandably very upset by his passing.

This turned out to be a bit of a tricky one - the photos I was given to work from were either fuzzy or from the wrong angle, plus I have not done a pencil portrait for a very long time and felt extremely rusty.  However, with the help of Google and a lot of perseverance, I got there in the end.

This was worked in coloured pencil on pastel paper, the medals were painted using a mixture of metallic paints and other mediums.

Hats...

I seem to be knitting an awful lot of hats lately - but that's OK, they are quick and easy.  I had a last minute hat to knit for my granddaughter over the weekend last week - she was going as the Very Hungry Caterpillar for Book Day and needed this to top off the costume.  After a bit of a tantrum and refusing to try it on when she first saw it (they don't call it the Terrible Twos for nothing!) apparently she went off to nursery in her costume yesterday very happy.

 Thse are a couple of hats knitted from patterns in the Knit the National Parks book.  The one on the left is based on Yellowstone and the one on the right is Capitol Reef.  I like the Yellowstone hat very much, not so keen on the other one, but I do know that it represents a rock formation so I guess if you know, you know!  These are a commission.

Still on the drawing board, that wonderful army service dog - I am working on his medals now and it feels like they might actually take more time to do than the dog! Wish me luck...