Millie...

Here my latest commission, which was an absolute joy to paint.  I was given several photos to work from, but this pose stood out from all the others.  Those ears....

Millie has been painted on canvas with acrylic paints.

If you would like your dog - or any other pet or human - immortalised in paint, feel free to get in touch!

  

Biggie...

This little painting is of a bear cub known as 'Biggie' who lives in Katmai National Park.  She is the daughter of Grazer, an infamously fierce bear who will attack any other bear that even looks at her cubs!  Biggie was one of two cubs, the other unfortunately got killed in it's first few months of life by one of the other male bears.  Biggie however has survivied and thrived.

This was painted in acrylics on canvas and is only about A3 size.  It will be in my Etsy shop soon.

 

Next up - I found a lovely wooden treasure chest box in a shop a couple of weeks ago that I will be painting... 

Summer Hops...

Back in August I spotted a view of the hops growing on our pergola against a bright blue sky that made me want to paint them - the contrasting colours just sang.  My first attempt was in watercolour and I soon became discouraged - I'd chosen paper that was too small and consequently the drawing was a nightmare, and the subsequent painting was tight and fiddly and just frustrating to do.

So I ditched that one, and started a much bigger painting in acrylics on canvas board.  I didn't bog myself down with a highly detailed drawing - in fact I started by just painting the pergola against the sky, nothing on it at all.   Then I just loosely marked in the shapes of the hops and let the paintbrush do the work as I went along.

As Autumn kicked in and the light began to fail, I was working under electric light a lot of the time which really changes the colours, so had to check occasionally that I was getting them right by taking the painting outside for a look. Thankfully everything was OK!

This was quite a departure from my usual subjects, but enjoyable nonetheless and was a welcome distraction from reality!  It is currently for sale in my Etsy shop.

Next up...not sure, but it will be in watercolours and splashy! 

Poppy...

This is what I have been working on for the past few weeks.  Poppy, painted in acrylics on Dalerboard.  This is to be a wedding present next month for the couple that own the dog - glad I got it completed in time!

It's always difficult to paint a black dog, but even harder to get a decent photograph of the finished painting if it has been done in acrylics.  Mr. B and I have taken several photographs of this one, and it always came out peculiar with the camera picking up the white elements of the painting far more than it should.  We tried our phone cameras and a digital camera, and this is the best we could come up with and even this one has been tinkered with on Photoshop in order to calm it down a bit.  Very frustrating!

No commissions for the time being - I am spending this week doing a bit of much needed Spring cleaning, trying to get the garden sorted out before it becomes a jungle, and hopefully painting a bear on the garden fence...

Otis...

 A few weeks ago I bought a black canvas - I thought it would be an interesting experiment to paint on rather than having to put on several layers of black paint in order to create the surface.  The subject was of course Otis - I have painted him on a black background on many trinket boxes, but this would be the first time on an actual canvas.

I had the same smallproblems with the canvas as I do on the trinket boxes - it takes several layers of lighter paint in order to get the colour to 'pop'.  However, shadows and darker colours were a lot easier.  All in all, I am pleased with the result and will invest in some more of these canvases.

The real Otis has not appeared on the Explore.org bear cams this year.  It is getting late in the season and my thoughts are turning to the possibility that last year was the last time we would have seen him. His final appearance on the cams last year was in a high speed chase after a couple of other bears - in all the years I have been watching the cams I have never seen him run so fast and for so long, so he was fit at the time!  There are other factors that should be taken into account - last year there were not so many salmon, so perhaps he has found a better fishing spot; there are a lot of testosterone filled big bears at the falls this year, a concern for an old bear; and the human visitors seem to be getting more and more each year.  I guess we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that dear Otis makes an appearance in 20224.

I have someone interested in this painting, but if they choose not to purchase it, it will be in my Etsy shop soon.

Handsome Fellow...

I completed this yesterday - a very handsome German Shepherd dog that is sadly no longer with us - which is a private commission.  I have painted this in acrylics on Dalerboard - I have not painted in acrylics for quite a while and thoroughly enjoyed this one.  The subject was great, and the painting seemed to just flow right from the start - I love it when that happens!  In fact, I am quite sorry this one is over!

So now I am free to paint anything I want until the next commission rolls along.

I have also been knitting - this is a lace shawl/scarf knitted in a fine kid mohair mix yarn, pale cream coloured with a hint of sparkle.  It is light as air and very pretty - it will be in my Etsy shop in the next few days.

I am just finishing off another couple of baby hats, and after that I have no more work for the time being.  Perhaps I could get on with some Spring cleaning?

Coming Along Nicely...

 

It's Cold Outside...

I woke up to thick fog and frost on the ground this morning - it's been a week of heavy frosts here, which makes outside activities not a lot of fun.  However, it also means I have no excuse not to get on with my current commission.  This will be a double dog portrait, but I am starting with the background as it is nigh on impossible to paint a detailed background around completed animals without it looking weird.  This is painted in acrylics and it feel so very good to be back at work!

Currently on the needles - or should I say hook - a very showy crocheted shawl made of sunflowers and leaves.  Not something I would ever have thought of making myself, but a friend has commissioned it and it has been a lot of fun and will certainly be a talking point once it is finished as it is absolutely gorgeous!

Not Otis...

 After painting two trinket boxes with a picture of Otis the bear on the lid, it was a welcome change to be asked to paint this gorgeous mother bear and cub.  This is bear 910 and her adorable little one, as seen at Brooks Falls, Katmai Nation Park, Alaska.

Because the lid painting is so light, I made the decision to paint the rest of the box a light blue to match the water rather than the usual black.  It's going to look good - I just have to add the lining fabric and it is done, well in time for Christmas.

I've also been fulfilling some more stuffed Otis orders and have more stuffed cub toys on the go. On the easel is a pet portrait - it's been a while since I did one of those!

Otis...

I completed this yesterday - it has taken weeks!  This is Otis, of course, in acrylics this time, on board.  It is a private commission and will be heading off to Canada shortly.  It was a lot of fun to do a larger acrylic painting after what feels like a very long time.

However, I am going to give myself a rest from bears for a few days and play with some new watercolours that I bought a while back, painting something, anything, that isn't brown!
 

Currently On The Easel...

It's been a long time since I painted a larger detailed acrylic, so even though the subject is one I have painted more times than I can remember, I am still enjoying the process.  I would say that Otis is three-quarters done, then only the water left to complete.  Hoping with today's sunshine giving me a decent light to work by, I'll get a sizeable chunk painted.
 

Otis...

 I have painted many trinket boxes with a picture of Otis in his 'office' but have used the same reference photo every time.  This year I decided to update it a little, although the pose is pretty much the same because...well, that's what Otis is best known for!  This year he showed up a month later than usual and incredibly thin - as he is an old bear, most people thought he had gone to the great fishing ground in the sky, but no, he was just waiting for the late salmon run to begin.  Since then he has eaten goodness knows how many fish and put on weight paw over fist and now looks fat and ready for hibernation.  So I used a snap I took on the Explore.org web cams of him this year, fishing in his favourite spot and looking nice and fat.

I'm very pleased with how this one has turned out - I have spent the weekend putting on lots of layers off varnish and now the box just needs lining with some fishy fabric.  This box is spoken for already - it will be one of the prizes in the Travel Guide summer competition, but I will be painting another one fairly soon.

Beargate...

Last week I haad a dream that I painted the back gate blue and put a bear on it.  So at the weekend I did it...

Peanut...

 While all this virus malarkey is going on, I still had a couple of commissions to do.  I finished this cute little wooden trinket box a couple of days ago - it has a picture of the bear 902 Peanut on it.  It was nice to paint a bear other than Otis for a change, and seeing as I have nowhere to go, I spent a lot more time on it than I would have normally.

 Instead of painting the rest of the box black as with the Otis boxes, I decided to paint it to look a bit like water, with shades of blue & green.

As the box is smaller than the usual ones, it wouldhave been impossible to line it with cotton fabric entirely, so I used a greeny-blue felt for the sides and lid, with a piece of fishy cotton fabric for the bottom of the base.

The only sad thing is that due to the recipient's location, I can't send this until their country's lockdown is relaxed.

The other commission is a watercoluor of a bear - looking forward to that.

Peanut...

 This is my last piece of commissioned painting before Christmas - a wooden disc with a portrait of the bear Peanut on it.  This can be used for a Christmas tree ornament or hung up on view all the year round.  I deliberately made it un-Christmassy!  The disc is only about 2.5 inches across, so most of this had to be painted with the assistance of my magnifying lens headset.

This is the back of the disc, a watery pattern.  When the ornament is sent off to it's recipient, it will have a better hanging cord, not a piece of old string!  The string was used while the varnish was drying.

So while I have a few painting commissions waiting in the wings for after Christmas, it's time to take a bit of a break and re-charge my batteries while geting ready for Christmas and my impending 60th birthday.  60?  I never thought I'd make it past 40!

River Lyn, Devon...

On Tuesday I finally had several hours free to devote to this one.  It was more or less complete but needed a couple of extra touches and varnishing yesterday.  This is the view we had from our holiday cabin in August - quite something!  Acrylic on canvas and a bit larger than I normally paint.

I already have two people interested in buying this, but if they fall through, it will be for sale in my Etsy shop.

*SOLD*

River...

I started a new acrylic canvas this week, working from photos I took of the River Lyn while on holiday.  Forgot how labour intensive acrylics are!  This may take some time...

Sasha

Finally completed this large canvas - that was a lot of grass!  It's very annoying that acrylics are so hard to photograph without the light reflecting on it - the painting has more saturated colour than this photo*.
Acrylics on board - private commission.

*Took a better photo in the morning light - the above is now a true representation of the painting.

Three more painting commissions to be done before Christmas...

Work In Progress - It's Big...

Currently on the easel, a large acrylic dog portrait.  It's been a long time since I did one of these and the size of this one is a little intimidating!  It's going well though, I only started it a few days ago and the head is almost complete.  I'm not looking forward to all that grass though...

Wolf With No Name...

I completed this yesterday - it went very quickly despite the amount of brushstrokes needed to render the fur!  Painted in acrylics on a canvas board.

This is one of the wolves we saw at the UK Wolf Conservancy during our visit last year - I took lots of photos with a view to making paintings from them at some point.  Unfortunately, what I didn't do was note down the names of the wolves as I took the pictures - I don't know which one this is.  I've sent an email to the Conservancy with the reference photo asking which wolf it is...I'm kind of hoping it is Torak, the one that escaped and went on an adventure a few weeks ago!