Monday 8th
March 2010
I have added the first stage of the cocker
spaniel portrait, Ru and Bee. Their owner wanted
a portrait that shows off their characters which
are that of happy, fun loving working cockers so
we spent some time getting the portrait design
right until we nailed it down to the one shown
below. Alongside the dogs, she wanted an extra
something that showed Bee and Ru's love for the
outdoors. Having tried leaves, toys, wellies, a
squirrel and a duck it was decided that we
should go for a little tuft of grass in one
corner. It is important to get the design stage
of the portrait correct so that the details of
the portrait are decided before I begin working
on it, and I am happy to spend as long as it
takes working through the options using the
photographs available. Luckily, Bee and Ru's
owner has provided beautiful photos of them so
the portrait will be a joy to draw.
Sunday 7th
March 2010
I have been
working to finish the Yorkshire terrier portrait
this week as it will need a couple of weeks to
dry you can see a couple of stages below. He is
very cute, his name is Alfie!
I have also added the eagerly anticipated final
stage of the Boxer portrait, Sophie and Billy
which I finished a coupe of weeks ago. I will be
adding them to my gallery soon with a little bit
of background about the portrait. This is a new
feature that I am adding to my website, showing
the various stages of my latest portraits and
the photos that were used so keep an eye on my
gallery every time I finish a portrait!
Tuesday
2nd March 2010
It was a
lovely sunny day here in Maidstone today, Toby
spent most of the afternoon in the garden. He's
been busy digging a hole over the winter under
the wooden decking and now I have started to
venture out into the garden again, I've noticed
it's getting bigger. He's so crafty. Last week
was quite an exciting one for me, on Thursday I
spent the morning taking photos locally of a
stunning dressage horse for one of my next
portraits. I really enjoy going to meet and take
photos of the animals. I spent half an hour
taking photos and came back with over 300 to
choose from! That's the beauty of digital
photography, you can afford to take as many as
your camera can hold and not worry about wasting
anything. Out of all of the photos I have
selected a shortlist to email to the owner to
decide on the best pose for the portrait. You
can see a couple above.
On Saturday I
went to Rochester to complete a day course at
the adult education centre for website design as
I create and maintain websites for friends and
family. I use a Microsoft program but I wanted
to learn how to use Adobe Dreamweaver which is a
fantastic web design program which is held in
high esteem and I have had Dreamweaver for over
a year now so it's about time I used it. However
I struggled when I tried to teach myself as I
was having to learn how to use my new Imac
computer as it was (I found the change from
Windows to Mac extremely difficult!). So I
decided I needed to go on a course and learn the
proper way and it was really useful. I must say
I do love my Mac now, it is fantastic for
graphics and design and it never complains when
I open too many programs at the same time which
is a bad habit of mine!
This week I
am mainly working on oil paintings so I am a
constant hazard to my carpets and soft
furnishings (why did I choose beige carpets, my
mum warned me against it but did I listen?
...No). I am also working on the cocker spaniel
portrait which I will blog in the next few days
so you can see its progress.
Tuesday 23rd
February 2010
Sophie &
Billie's owners (the boxers) visited on Thursday
to check the penultimate stage of their portrait
which helped me to plan the final stage of the
portrait accurately. I always welcome feedback
from pet owners and it's even better if they can
pop round in person. The weekend flew past a
little too quickly for my liking, however I did
manage to spend a long session on the westie
portrait on Saturday and then on Sunday I spent
some time organising my studio (it gets in a
terrible mess!) and working on my website . I
took Sunday afternoon off to have a lovely home
cooked lunch with my family. I brought some
leftovers home and it took Toby at least an hour
to forget about them after I had put them in the
fridge. He was lucky enough to get some for his
Sunday dinner though and then Monday morning,
evening and this morning subsequently mixed with
his allbran and grated carrot!
As promised I
have blogged the German shepherd portrait (Gemma)
which I completed in January. I was provided
with a very clear and stunning photo to work from.
The photo was taken at dusk so it brought out the
rich colours of Gemma's coat and made her eyes and
wet nose sparkle! It really is worth keeping an eye
on the weather and attempting to take a photo of
your pet in this evening light as it is extremely
flattering. Also, the more colours that appear as a
result of this golden light, the more realistic a
result can be gained from the portrait. Which is
ironic really considering I used more blue and
purple than black to describe the black areas of
Gemma's face! The saying is very true though, that
artists use lies to tell the truth...!
Wednesday
17th February 2010
As you can
see above I have been able to scan the 'Sally on
a mountain' portrait for you all to see. I
really enjoyed painting this as it is not only a
lovely pose on the part of Sally but it is also
a beautiful landscape which I do not often get
to paint being a portrait artist! So many
colours have gone into this oil painting,
particularly the background. The colours at the
top of the painting are at the cool end of the
colour scale with cool blues, purples and
greens. As I worked towards the foreground, I
started to warm the colours up, adding browns
and beiges. This gives the effect of distance in
a landscape along with the blurring effect that
I have used in the background, gently bringing
the landscape into focus towards Sally herself.
Sally's owners are pleased with the final scan
of the painting so it is gradually drying in the
studio ready to be posted in the next couple of
weeks. This week I posted the spaniel portrait
(below) and continued with the boxer, westie and
yorkie portraits. I have also been creating
designs for my next few portraits which include
two working cocker spaniels in pencil and a
dalmation oil painting.
We had such
lovely weather here today, I actually went out
without my coat on for the first time this year!
It is so nice to see the sun again and I managed
to get out in it to take Toby for a walk in the
countryside. I am in two mind as to whether I
should give him a hair cut or not as he is
looking a bit old and scruffy. When I cut his
hair with clippers, he looks so youthful and
puppy like. The only thing is that the weather is
so unpredictable at the moment and there has
been talk of more snow so I wouldn't want to
deprive him of his natural defence against the
cold!
Wednesday
10th February 2010
Its midweek
and so far this week I have completed a couple
of portrait designs for new customers and
started an oil portrait of a little Yorkshire
terrier called Alfie which I have uploaded below
and also an oil painting of a west highland
terrier which I can't upload yet as it is a
surprise portrait. Today has seen me finish the
Sally on the mountain portrait which I will scan
and upload soon. I spent almost the whole day on
it, adding the rest of the background. I also
made a gift certificate today to send to one of
my new customers. The weather was so strange
here today, this morning there were snow showers
which covered the road for all of half an hour
and then lovely bright sunshine for the rest of
the day.
As a treat to
myself, I
popped down the road to get a Chinese for my
dinner and as
chance would have it a couple of leaflet
deliverers were at the neighbour's house. After
my first year living here in the town and
angrily having to clear my doormat of junk every
day I decided to get a sign made for the door
saying 'No Junk Mail' . It works fairly well
although the 'Betterware' lady doesn't class her
books as junk and always demands them back after
a week which I quickly learnt having thrown them
away a couple of times, whoops! Anyway, I
stepped out and one of the leaflet guys said 'I
don't normally deliver anything to your house
because of your sign but can I give you a
leaflet?' I should have told him where to go but
he was so polite to me that I took the leaflet,
turned round and actually posted it through my
own door. I'm helping the enemy now, I should have offered to help them
with the rest of the street. Whatever am I going
to do next, maybe I'll wheel my own bin around
my street and leave it upside down in the road
or snap my own car wing mirror off with a rock!
Sunday 7th
February 2010
It's that
time of the week again, catch up time! I managed
to tie up some loose ends today, replying to
emails, checking stock of pencils and canvas and
finally getting round to my book keeping. I used
to update my accounts at the end of each week
but since Christmas I have been putting it off
for some reason (it's boring). My books are not
complicated at all, I just have to note minor
purchases but if I let it build up I tend to
loose track and get into a mess. So I am glad I
have pushed myself to do it today. I have
completed a few more stages of my current
portraits as you can see below this week and
started two new ones. The German shepherd
portrait is going to it's new home tomorrow
evening (which I always find a little sad:( but
they have to fly the nest at some point!). Today
I didn't take Toby for his early Sunday morning
walk, but went into town instead for some light
shopping. I don't go shopping very often because
that way I don't find myself wanting things that
I never needed before I saw them! I always allow
myself to buy books or art materials guilt free
though, they are perfectly acceptable. However,
even though I have WH Smith gift vouchers left
from Christmas, I didn't fancy buying anything,
how did that happen! I must have become immune
to the shops having starved myself of their
company for a few weeks. I'm going to have
myself a late dinner now (it's 9:04pm) relax for
a couple of hours so that I'm ready for the week
ahead. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
Monday 1st
February
I have added
a few stages of two of my current portraits,
Sally (on a mountain) in oils and Sophie and
Billy the boxers in coloured pencil. There is a
big difference in the process of completing an
oil painting compared with a coloured pencil
drawing. The main difference being the way in
which the colours are achieved. Oil paints have
endless possibilities when it comes to colours
as you mix them yourself. I spend a long time
mixing colours at the beginning of a painting
session, getting them right as the variations in
the colours you use make a very big difference
to the outcome of the painting, I hardly ever
use an oil colour straight from the tube. But
with coloured pencils, the colours are already
decided and it means that I need to use a
careful layering technique to achieve the exact
colours that I am after. The coloured pencils
that I use are an American brand which are not
on sale in the UK but luckily I have a secret
supplier who I can order them from by post! They
are quite expensive but they are fantastic to
work with.
Last week I
finished the German shepherd and the Spaniel so
I will upload them soon. As usual, the weekend
flew by all too quickly meaning I had to cancel
Toby's vet appointment (sorry Toby, I know you
look forward to those) but he did get a bath to
make up for it. He got his revenge today though
when he rolled in mud, I didn't even catch him
doing it, he is so sneaky! This week I will be
concentrating on the Boxers and on Sally, and
then making steps to get my next batch of
portraits started towards the end of the week.
Sunday 24th
January 2010
It was
another early morning at the beach for me today.
It was quite cold and grey but I love getting
all wrapped up and walking along an empty beach.
I am lucky enough living in Kent to be able to
choose from quite a few beaches to drive to all
within an hour. Today it was the
beautiful sandy beach at Camber sands. Its great
being the first to get to the beach in the
morning, especially when the tide is going out
because you get to discover what the sea has left behind.
This morning I found the body of a lesser
spotted dog fish, poor thing! Toby wasn't particularly
interested in it though, he was more interested
in his tennis ball. One of my current clients
popped round today to check on the progress of
her dog portrait. I was lucky enough to meet her
dog in person too having only worked from a
photograph as my client managed to sneak her out
without the surpris-ee knowing. In
the afternoon I completed another stage of Billy
from the Boxers portrait and spent a few hours
on one of my oil paintings. So I've managed
quite a productive day, Sunday is after
all, my catch up day!
Thursday 21st
January 2010
It has been a
busy week so far, I have a couple of deadlines
to meet this weekend so I am working hard to
make sure there is no mad rush on Sunday. Today
I have been working on a German Shepherd oil
painting for a client who I met when I first
started my business. She was one of my first
official customers (other than kind friends and
family members!) about four years ago and she
saw my poster in a dog boarding kennel locally.
I'm really glad she came back to me for another
portrait as I like to hear from my clients after
we part company. I will add the portrait to my
blog shortly but for the time being it is top
secret as it is a surprise for somebody,
sshhhh! Toby has been eating a rather
interesting diet lately on strict orders from
his vet. He is not overweight but he has some,
shall we say, digestive problems at the moment.
I am adding grated carrot and bran to his normal
food, which I must say he does gobble up without
even noticing. His breakfast takes longer than
mine to prepare. I think it is doing the trick
but I might try and vary it a bit, maybe
sneaking in other vegetables. I don't want him
to cotton on to the carrots now do I! Maybe a
touch of celery.
Sunday 17th
January 2010
It's Sunday
evening and I just thought I would give a quick
round up of the last few days. I have been
working on Sophie and Billy's portrait, just
laying down the first layer of pencil on Sophie
as a 'direction map' for her coat. This gives me
a guide for the layers to follow so I can
concentrate on the tones and colouring. I also
started adding the first layer of paint to both
of my oil paintings. I had a lot of pencil
portrait commissions just before Christmas so it
was great to get the oil paints and start colour
mixing again! I spent a few hours this week
updating a couple of websites (I have designed a
few websites for small businesses over the last
few of years), I like to keep them up to date
and add new content. And my spaniel portrait is
coming along nicely so overall it has been a
good week for progress and the snow hasn't
stopped me getting about so much this week. It
is pretty much gone now and its nice to see the
grass again. I got up early and took Toby to the
beach this morning, although it was cold and I
had to wrap up warm, it was lovely and sunny. I
also found out that Toby is not actually a West
highland terrier as I had been lead to believe,
he is actually a little known breed called a
Glen of Imaal Terrier. I know, I had never
heard of one before either. I just thought Toby
was just a happy accident, a cross breed
striving to be a westie (ahh poor Toby he was so
misunderstood). These terriers are originally
from Ireland and are descended from the Irish
wolfhound. Now I can put a name to him and I
have an answer when people ask me other than
"err I think he is a westie but he's quite big
and em he's got some light caramel markings on
his back so that makes me think he's a cross"! I
have been reading up on this terrier on the
internet and the descriptions match him
perfectly with his broad shoulders and his big
front paws that point outwards, and the pictures
of other Glen of Imaals are so similar. I feel
like he actually makes sense now and that I
understand him! I always loved him just how he
is anyway.
I best sign
off now, I don't know if herding is a common
trait of these terriers, but he has been trying
to herd me into the kitchen to get his dinner
since 5.30!
10th January
2010
So much snow
has fallen this weekend and I managed to get out
and make a snow dog, it didn't take me long but
Toby, insisting that he stay out and watched me,
got really cold! So I had to send him in. He has
to accept that he's getting on a bit and he
needs to keep in the warm! You might be able to
see a likeness to Toby in my snowy sculpture.
I am
currently working on a portrait of two Boxers,
their names are Sophie and Billy. I have added
the first stage of the portrait below.
06 January
2010
I'm back
blogging again today! Okay I know what you're
thinking, she's not going to keep this blogging
malarkey up every day after a few weeks of it,
the pressure is all too much! All I can say is I
will try my best. Today I have been making a
start on my January commissions. It's really
good to get back into the swing of things after
a long break. My current portraits include a
lovely pair of Boxers, a beautiful German
shepherd, a cheeky spaniel and a gorgeous border
collie. So I'm starting January with an all dog
cast. It goes like that all the time, it must be
something in the air. I have a run of dogs and
then I get all horses for a couple of weeks and
then a few cats in a row and then out of nowhere
I get a lizard or a rabbit portrait commission.
I'd love to do a portrait of a pig, I haven't
done one yet, anyone got a pig?!
05 January 2010
Welcome to my brand new blog!
This is my first entry, and I must say that I'm
quite pleased that I have finally got round to
setting up this area of my website if only to
keep a diary for myself. Last year was my
busiest year ever which came as a surprise
considering I'd expected a dip in orders as a
result of the recession, so it's great to have
had so many orders for pet portraits. The weeks
preceding Christmas are a bit of a blur to me
now, the early mornings, late nights and entire
weekends spent in the studio getting portraits
ready for my posting deadlines, the panic that
set in when postal strikes and heavy snow
arrived. I didn't even have time to decorate my
Christmas tree! I just plonked a cluster of
lights on it (which made my sister laugh when
she came round and saw it). I do love Christmas
though and I am always touched by the amount of
people who commission a pet portrait for their
loved ones.
So you can imagine how much I
welcomed a Christmas break in the Lake district
with my family. I stayed in a cottage close to
the mountains and had fantastic views. I came
across some great galleries in the local towns
full of paintings from very talented local
artists and I bought myself a brand new well-bound sketch pad which I started filling with my
sketches in the evenings. I did some walking in
the snow, read two books and took plenty of photographs,
a couple of which you can see below. I hope you
will enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy
writing it and I look forward to bringing you
plenty of news from my studio this year as I can
tell it will be another busy and exciting one!
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