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!

  

Wren...

It's been an eventful few weeks - about 10 days ago I was bitten in the stomach by a neighbour's dog...well, as the dog was very small, it was more a tear than a bite, but enough to cause a humungous bruise and a painful 3 cm wound.  I had to get a tetanus shot (and apparently I am now also vaccinated against diptheria and polio, which is nice...) and took antibiotics for 5 days.  Also reported it to the police as the whole situation was caused by one of the neighbour's other dogs being off lead and having a go at my dog whilst also running amok in the middle of the road.

So that put me out of action for a few days. Once I started to feel better I was able to get back to this lovely dog portrait, and once the sun finally came out and we got some decent daylight, finishing it off was much quicker.

This has been worked in Derwent Drawing & Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper, and is a private commission.  

After having once of the worst years ever for sales and commissions, I suddenly have more work that I can cope with in the run up to Christmas!  It feels very good to be back in business - it was starting to get very worrying.

Next on the easel - a bear!
 

More Small Things...

I've been working on a dog portrait over the past fortnight - here is Charlie, a little Yorkshire terrier done in Derwent Coloursoft & Drawing pencils on pastel paper.  This is for a surprise birthday present, so shhh!  I'm now free for commission.

My granddaughter turns 3 at the weekend - difficult to think what to get her for her birthday as she was spoilt rotten over Christmas whcih wasn't that long ago.  One thing that her mum asked if I could do was to make an Elsa dress to go with a doll she will be getting on her birthday.  I had to search the internet for measurements of this particular doll- thankfully I found them hidden away on a blog somewhere.  I bought some blue lining satin and some sparkly snowflake organza and went about drawing out a pattern.  I think it turned out well - it remains to be seen if it fits the doll!  If not, I am sure she will have some teddy or other that we can jam into it!
 

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?

Charlie...

This is what I have been struggling over for the past couple of weeks - it is a private commission but is a surprise for someone so I only had some very basic photos to work from.  Also, this little dog has the most unusual eyes - I had to get several extra photos showonig them in order to make sure I got the colouring correct.  This was done using Dersent Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper.
 

Pugs...

 I finally completed this one yesterday - thoroughly enjoyed drawing these cute little pugs.  Derweent Coloursoft pencils on pastel paper, private comission. That is the end of the dog portraits for now - my next commission is a people portrait and I am very excited about it!

Finally Finished...

 This commission has taken me literally months to complete, mainly due to April being a complete disaster with my daughter's illness.  Once we had got over that, I had lost all motivation and it was difficult to get back in the swing of things as far as painting was concerned.

I was also not happy with the composition of this piece - the dog's head peering through the lilies is a picture of the same dog when it was a puppy, at the client's request. It is not something I would have ever chosen to do myself.  I also had about 6 photographs to work from in order to get the exact composition wanted by the client, so it was quite a task!

However, it finally got finished this week and the client is very happy with it, which is all I ask for really.  This was painted in watercolour on paper.

Next up - a pair of pugs in pencil on paper!  Looking forward to that one.  Funny how this year it is all about dogs whereas last year it was all about bears...

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.

Snow Dogs Complete...

And suddenly it was finished.  I can always sense when a painting is nearly done - I start to get bored and think about the next piece I have lined up, but I wasn't quite sure this one was ready.  Turns out it was - just an hour's work yesterday and there it was, all done.  I am very pleased with how this one has turned out - I haven't painted such a large acrylic for a very long time, plus the fact that while Mr.B was convalescing I didn't paint at all for two months, I wondered if I might have become rusty.

But just like riding a bike (actually, I can't ride a bicycle, so that's a rubbish analogy) it all came back to me.  This is a private commission, heading off to Maine, USA.

Next up, quite an exciting one, a portrait of an army service dog complete with his medals in coloured pencil.  I've been looking forward to getting my teeth into this one!

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!

Lucky...

Thankfully this year I do not have a slew of Christmas commissions - Mr.B is going in for his second knee replacement surgery next week and if it is anything like last time, I will not have the time to sit and paint.  I did get this lovely little commission though - it has been a long time since I painted a dog and I thoroughly enjoyed getting back in the swing of things with this little chap.  This has been painted in watercolour on paper and will be winging it's way to Boston very shortly.

My next commission will also be dogs - looking forward to it!  If you would like your pet painted, drop me a line, hopefully I shall be back to working as normal in the New Year.
 

Cat...

Just completed this commission - it's a surprise for someone who has had a very rough year and I am hoping it will do the business and cheer them up.  Drawn using Derwent Drawing Pencils and Coloursoft Pencils on pastel paper.

I am now free for the first time in months to paint what I want to paint...now to find some inspiration!
 

Dotty...

 I finally completed this this week - 'Dotty', Derwent Drawing and Coloursoft pencils on smooth watercolour paper.  It was a bit of a tricky one as the client wanted it done on a white paper - a white dog on white paper, involves a fair bit of jiggery-pokery! Thankfully there was a lovely watery green scene behind in the reference photo that I was able to utilise.

It's been tough getting time to paint during lockdown - everyone is home, they all need to have a piece of me apparently, and everything such as shopping takes twice as long what with the queueing, the washing, etc.  It's a shame, as painting is my way of escaping the daily trials and tribulations and what keeps me sane....

Chunk & Max...

 This week I experimented with making a different bear using some darker fur I ordered before lockdown & promptly forgot about!  This is bear 32 Chunk,another character living at Brooks Falls, Katma National Park, Alaska.  He has quite a distinctive body shape, a very rounded behind like a light bulb, which is what I wanted to re-create with my toy.

I did this by adding an inch to the back end of the pattern.  It took a fair bit of stuffing too!  He turned out very cute - so cute that he sold within half an hour of me posting him on Etsy!  Think I had better make some more...

This is Max, the first dog portrait I have done for a very long time.  This was a commission and it felt odd to be working in pencil again after so long.  He turned out pretty well and Max's owner is very happy - so happy she has commissioned another dog portrait!

Fergie

Here is the first commission of 2020, a little dog called Fergie who sadly passed away just before Christmas.  Apparently this was her favourite sitting spot - reminds me of our little Jasper who used to spend most of his time looking out of the patio door at the squirrels and birds.  Even with the door open he would sit there!

Painted in watercolour on paper.  Next up, pencil portrait of another deceased dog...

Latest Pet Portrait...

I have been busy over the past couple of weeks, just nothing to show here really.  However, I have just finished this commissioned double pet portrait.  I have used Derwent coloured pencils as usual on coloured pastel paper.

The big news is that after only a couple of months on the hospital waiting list, I have been scheduled to have my first cataract operation in a fortnight.  I started developing a cataract in my left eye several years ago - early as I am only in my fifties - and then was told after a couple of years that one was developing in my right eye as well.  Initially they did not bother me, but over the past year I have struggled to see in the evenings when working under electric light, have not been able to drive at night because the cataracts cause the lights to refract weirdly, and whites are starting to look beigey-pink.  Not good when you are an artist by trade!  Thankfully I have a brilliant optician who understood completely my distress and who asked my GP to refer me to a specialist.  The specialist listened to my litany of woes and put me straight on the waiting list.  I will have both lenses in my eyes replaced and if all goes well, hopefully will not need glasses any more other than for reading.  I am both scared & excited!

Christmas Catch Up...

So that is Christmas and the New Year over - I can't say I am sorry, it seemed like an awfully long break.  I did get a little time to paint over the holiday - had to, otherwise I'd have gone mad! The above is a relatively quick watercolour done in small bursts whenever I had a spare half hour or more.

This is a last minute commission I had to do before Christmas - I finished it with about a week to spare.  Merlin, watercolour on paper.

And now it's back to normality and a lot of work ahead of me, mainly knitting/sewing.  I guess playing with the Christmas presents will have to wait...

Toby

 After a week of tearing my hair out over the really bad reference photos I was given, one of which is below, the portrait itself ended up being completed really quickly.  Not sure why that should be, I'm just grateful I managed to pull it off!  Derwent Coloursoft & Drawing Pencils on pastel paper.

Next up is a cat, also with pretty bad reference photos to work from but hopefully better than the above.  However, having finished Toby in record time, I have a couple of days free in whcih to play - I need to paint something bright & splashy!