And In Other News...

 My portrait of Otis the greyhound reached Canada safely and the client very kindly sent me a photo of it framed and in situ.  I love it when people do this, it is always interesting to see a painting of mine framed.  This one looks great!

 My daughter had a couple of her pieces of art work displayed in a little exhibition this week.  We went along and were taken aback at how good they were.  I should mention that she has Down's Syndrome, so anything involving fine motor skills needs a bit more effort for her than anyone else.

Her self portrait was wonderful - I'm looking forward to getting this one home, I think it deserves framing.

Hot Off The Drawing Board...

Here is Otis, sadly no longer with us but at least immortalised on paper.  I enjoyed this one so much I now feel kind of sad that it's over.  Derwent Drawing Pencils & Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper, with acrylic white highlights.

Got To Love A Greyhound...

I enjoy painting and drawing dogs in all shapes and forms, but some more than others.  I do love it when I get asked to paint a sight hound  - they are such beautiful dogs, a real pleasure to work on.  This one is no exception, especially with the slightly different pose.  This is worked in Derwent Drawing Pencils on reversed pastel paper.

I rarely admit defeat, but this knitting pattern brought me to the brink!  I was asked last week to knit a sample piece in Fox Paw using various textured yarns.  It was all very short notice and I had to search around my stash to find anything resembling the colours and textures required.  The black stripe is shirring elastic - surprisingly nice to knit with!  The pattern is so complicated that after the third attempt and failure, I was about ready to throw in the towel.  However, I sat down with a pen and paper, laboriously noted down everything I did as I did it on the pattern and finally found out where I'd been going wrong.  Now I'd like to try it with 'proper' yarn in colours I choose - if I get the time!

Works In Progress

 Currently on the drawing board is this portrait of a greyhound, recently departed.  It is going extremely well - sometimes these just seem to draw themselves.  This is in Derwent Drawing Pencils on pastel paper, with a little gouache to suggest the blanket he is lying on.

This knitting pattern has driven me to distraction for three days - I just could not get my head around it and kept going horribly wrong.  I have to knit a sample piece for someone who is taking a degree.  It was driving me crazy - I don't like to be beaten and I could not understand why this was not working out.  In the end I sat with a pen and paper and noted down every increase and decrease as I made them, as well as going through the pattern (again) meticulously and eventually disovered where I was going wrong.  It is so complicated...

Savvi & Blue

 Here are the pair of greyhounds I've been working on the past couple of weeks.  This has been executed in Derwent Drawing Pencils on watercolour paper for a change.  I'm not sure I would use watercolour paper again - the tooth was quite rough and I had trouble getting smooth lines at times. Perhaps smooth paper would have been better!  However, it was good to be able to paint the background I wanted and have the white of the paper shine through in certain places.

This completes the Christmas commissions for the time being - I'm free if you would like to grab me!

Another Christmas commission currently on the needles is this gentleman - Iron Fist from Spiderman Web Warriors apparently. I'm having to design this as I go along and thankfully it is going well, because I really don't have the time for it to go wrong.  It's been a lot of fun actually - I'm very proud of the body shaping I have achieved - wait until you see the feet!

Greys 2...

For some strange reason, I had some spare time yesterday - doesn't often happen on a Saturday - so was able to make considerable progress on this.  Let's hope that happens today as well!

Greys...

 A couple of weeks ago I got some beautiful yarn at a car boot sale, but only one ball of it - Stonewashed by Scheepjeswol.  I started knitting this lovely lace cowl, realised it wasn't going to be enough so ended ordering a couple more balls.  Not that I minded as I love this soft cotton yarn with a dark grey fuzz to it, it feels as soft as wool without the itchiness.

 This is now finished and ready to go into my Etsy shop.

Started a double greyhound portrait yesterday and made some good progress - hopefully I'll be able to whizz through this one.  Drawn in Derwent Drawing pencils on watercolour paper for a change.

Greyhounds Are Beautiful!

This was finished today too - see what happens when the festivities are over?  I can get down to work with no distractions and get things done so much quicker.

This has been painted in Derwent Drawing pencils, black ink and acrylic body paint. If you saw the quality of the photos I had to work from (sneaked on a phone while the owner of the dog was out of the room I think!)  you'd give me a medal!

Finding Time...

Here is the little rabbit compete with body.  This is such an amazing pattern, it is knitted entirely in one piece apart from the front paws, and stuffing is inserted through the hole between the ears before you sew it up.  I found that if I stopped knitting before the ears, I could put in safety eyes quite easily.  This took an evening to make - it would have been quicker without the embroidered face, but I always like to go the extra mile.

I used the free pattern called Henry's Bunny by Sara Elizabeth Kellner, which can be found here. 
I take my hat off to Sara - this is such a simple but clever pattern, the contours of the rabbit's head are perfect, and the shaped body just fits perfectly in the palm of your hand.

Now that Christmas is over and done with, things are slowly getting back to normal and I am finding the odd hour here and there to get on with oustanding commissions.  One of which is this portait of a greyhound:

Whist I love black dogs in reality, painting or drawing them is a nightmare - it's easy for the black to dominate and look like a gaping hole!  Luckily, this handsome dog is very shiny, so I can ensure there is plenty of contrast.  I am painting this using Derwent Drawing pencils with white acrylic and black ink to help with definition.  I am hoping to get some time today to carry on but have the suspicion I will be called upon to assist digging a pond.....