Wednesday 21st july
I arrived back from a long
weekend in Madrid on Monday evening to find a very happy Toby
waiting for me at the door. My sister came to look after Toby and
the house whilst we were away and I have a feeling that he has been
spoilt somewhat, but that's okay. I wrote my sister a whole list of
guidelines and instructions for his care before I left which took me
ages because he is an unusual dog with an unusual diet but I think
they enjoyed each other's company. Apparently he spent most of the
time sitting and watching her which she found a little unerving when
she was trying to watch telly or go to sleep, kind of like that
thieving penguin in Wallace & Gromit with his beady little eyes.
Madrid was very hot but I went
prepared so I coped quite well I think, also we were staying in the
mountains just outside Madrid so it was a little cooler there. The
reason we went there was for a Spanish wedding in a beautiful castle
on the lake, it was like a fairytale wedding and I will never forget
it. I even got my inspiration for my next collection of paintings on
my travels!
As you can see below I have
scanned Dillon's portrait and I have posted it today so it is
winging its way to its new home. I have also made a start on a new
pencil drawing, a large one at 18" x 22" which is exciting, but more
on that later...
Tuesday 6th July
Alongside my commissions this week I
have started working on a painting for my new collection of art which I
will be exhibiting in the winter and turning into prints to sell to the
public. It is quite exciting but I have to step out of my comfort zone a
bit to develop my own ideas and do them justice; it is one thing seeing
something in the mind but quite another getting it onto canvas. I do
have plenty of ideas though, I just can't get them down quick enough so
when I finally get round to painting something which I have dreamt up, I
am already planning the next twenty!
I have started getting up early on
Sunday mornings and going to a local bootfair. In the last month I have
already bought an easel, paints (windsor and newton at that!), plants
and some framed pictures. I haggle for everything. I am quite partial to
retro Disney pictures at the moment, I buy them for £1 or so and I am going to
re-frame and mount them all to hang in my studio. I find them quite
intriguing as I do Walt Disney (the man) himself. Although they are just
cartoons I can't help thinking how much power they have, seen as they
are the first animations that kids see, teaching them about right and
wrong, goodies and baddies, it's fascinating.
Anyway that's enough of my
babbling for one night, Toby is starting a fight with the dog next door.
He is such a thug even though he is getting on a bit. Trouble is, the
dog next door is three times the size of him... Toby should pick on
someone his own size!
Wednesday 30th June
I spent the hot weekend trying to
keep cool and more importantly trying to keep Toby from overheating.
I decided to give him a haircut again and he looks so smart, I left
the fur on his head long because I prefer it but now he has got a
slim(ish) body and a big bouffant head.
I am a little spellbound at the
moment by the frogs and tadpoles in my pond, I have even built a
little frog village with rocks and plants to tempt them in. I just
think they are really fun to watch, I like creatures which dwell on
land and in water alike, what a great life they have!
Aside from my
irrational amphibian watching behaviour I have been working on
several portraits and a website for Stockbury village. I am
currently working on an oil portrait of a Welsh Springer Spaniel
called Dillon. His owners contacted me a couple of months ago when
he was very ill and unfortunately he passed away soon after.
However, they had some lovely photographs of him and we worked
together to come up with a design for the portrait which captured
his character and the unique traits of his breed. I have finished
the portrait now and I am just waiting for it to dry so that I can
scan it.
Sunday 20th June
I have finished another portrait,
'Sheena' as you can see above. Her owner could not decide which photo to
choose from for Sheena's portrait as she adored both so she decided to
have a double portrait of her, using one photo for the main drawing and
another for the little sketch. I think this has worked really well and I
hope more of my customers will consider this option if they are in a
dilemma as to which photo to choose!
Yesterday I went with my
mum-in-law to visit some local artists who are holding an open studio
for a few weeks. We called it a 'studio crawl'! as we went from house to
house looking at the artist's work and chatting with them. In all we
visited three artists all with very different styles. It was great to
see the studios of these people as usually they are quite private places
but they are really quite intriguing. I would definitely recommend it if
you are interested in art or indeed if you are an artist yourself the
website for the south east of England is
www.seos-art.org and there are
associations all over the country.
I
bought Toby a new ball this morning. In the last six months he has
developed a fear of tennis balls which he used to be absolutely obsessed
with. So I bought him a soft squeaky one to try and re-ignite his
passion for spherical objects and he loves it! I am so pleased to get my
old Toby back again, I used to love playing catch in the garden with him
and now I can again. Maybe the tennis balls are just to hard for him now
what with him turning into a bit of an oldie, what with his creaky bones
and grumpiness. Talking of creaky bones, my sister and I took my Dad out
for lunch for Father's day. We went to 'Lily Spice' along the A249 near
Stockbury for an Indian buffet. It was lovely and great value too, they
do the buffet every Sunday and they lay out a small selection of popular
dishes. It appeals to me and my sister because we always like a bit of
everything when it comes to takeaways and it means you can try different
thing easily too. Yay buffets!
Wednesday 16th June
Last week I finished my portrait of
Momo as you can see above, he is a very handsome labrador. I posted him
and his owner is very happy with the portrait so I am really glad. As I
said in my last blogging, I had a little exhibition at an RSPCA dog fair
at the weekend. The weather was warm and sunny, and despite my over the
top factor 50 sun block I got a slight tan on my face but at least I
didn't get burnt so I am thankful for that. It was quite windy and I
spent a fair bit of the day running into my tent, picking up my easels
and catching my presentation board with my framed drawings and paintings
on it, trying to assure people that it is attached to the tent and it
will not fall and crush them! It was great to get out and speak to
people about their dogs as most of my work arrives through my website
and I rarely get to meet you all. I find that people love to talk about
their dogs as do I, it really opens people up. My sister came along to
see me with her dog Griffin who was extremely excited, he got to meet
fellow Belgian Shepherds there too. It's funny how owners of slightly
rarer breeds all have a natural connection and give each other 'the nod'
when they come across other owners of the same breed. Anyway, safe
to say the show was a success if a little exhausting and once I had
soaked my feet and lugged my exhibition junk back upstairs I felt human
again.
Monday 7th June
I have been catching up all week with
my work having spent a long weekend in France over the bank holiday. The
weather was nice most of the time and I managed to take some lovely
photos. We stayed in an Historic town called Loches in the Loire Valley.
It is a fantastic town with so much History and character. Amongst other
things, it is where Joan of Arc met the King after her victory at
Orleans.
We had a trip to Chateau Du
Lucé where Leonardo Da Vinci was a resident artist for King François I.
It was a really good exhibition as IBM have built some of his designs as
per his drawings, and installed them in the gardens. What’s more, I
found a leaflet in the foyer for a nearby crocodile park, unfortunately
we did not have enough time to go there but it is definitely on my list
for the future. Okay, I would not want to get anywhere near one and I am
completely aware of how vicious they are but I am absolutely fascinated
by crocodiles. I watched the film ‘Rogue’ recently and I thought it was
great, I would recommend it to anybody who likes films with a freakishly
overgrown predator gradually picking off stranded tourists, needless to
say I am fan of the ‘Jaws’ films. So I went to France to grow my
knowledge of art, immerse myself in the culture and practice my french and
came back with a burning desire to seek out a primeval blood thirsty
reptile, how did that happen!
This week I have still got some more
catching up to do and I need to prepare for next Saturday when I am
having a little stand at an RSPCA event at Leybourne so if you are
local, and considering a portrait, you are welcome to come and see me if
you want to!
Tuesday 25th May 2010
I gave Toby a bath and haircut at the
weekend so he is looking extremely smart at the moment. He even got mistaken for
a puppy on Sunday!
Now that we are almost six months into the year I
have been thinking about the next six to come. I have a little village
exhibition in November which I need to create some little drawings for and
judging by the year so far, I am pretty sure that September until January
will be very busy. So I have started to plan my drawings and gather all of
the materials that I will need. I do have to be very organised much like
anyone who has their own business will know. When I was in my teens I was
extremely unorganised, always late and my room always looked like a bomb had
dropped in it. So being organised does not come naturally to me, I have
learnt it gradually and I have to keep checks on myself. I always thought
that it must be really exhausting to be highly organised all of the time but
I have found on the contrary that it gives me freedom. Saying that, I am by
no means like that man from 'Sleeping with the Enemy' who lines up his
spices in alphabetical order. I haven't even got that many spices.
Saturday 22nd May 2010
I
am currently working on a handsome
black lab as you can see above. His
name is Momo and his portrait is a
result of a birthday gift
certificate. I have had a run of
graphite pencil portraits lately, it
must be the 'flavour of the month'.
I have also been working on a
double portrait of a little terrier
called Sheena in pencil this week.
On Monday a couple of my clients
visited me so that I could take some
photos of his latest addition to the
family, Smudge. Over the years I
have painted two previous portraits
for him and his wife of Eric and
Bongo, a Staff and a Jack Russell
and I am looking forward to starting
Smudge's portrait, I took some great
photos. It is always the way that no
matter how hard you try to get a dog
to pose and look at the camera, the
best photos can always be taken when
you have finished the photo session
and the owners relax...just never
take your camera off the dog for a
minute!
Wednesday
12th May 2010
Today I
posted my first portrait to the USA! The
dog’s name is Lump and he is a 1 year
old Dachshund from Atlanta. Lump’s owner
found my website just over a month ago
and we had a chat using Skype, the free
internet phone to discuss the portrait.
It is exciting to know that one of my
drawings is going so far across the
world to its new owner and I hope it is
one of many that end up there. You can
see a few stages of his portrait above.
I have also posted a portrait to County
Durham, (a bit closer to home!) of a
lovely dog called Bracken. I will add
him to my blog and gallery shortly.
My sister
and I are trying to plan a trip to the
cinema to see Clash Of The Titans but
the week is flying past. She works in a
bakery so she usually has to get up
really early which means she can’t come
out in the evenings as she goes to bed
before sundown (kind of like a vampire).
But she is on holiday this week so she
is making the most of it. I do love the
cinema, I saw Iron Man 2 a couple of
weeks ago and loved it. I like the
futuristic inventions and graphics of
films like this. I wonder if we will
have interactive robots and computer
screens which are projected into the
centre of the room in the future.
Personally, I’m waiting for the day that
they invent a remote control bee, now
that’s something I would pay for.
Friday 7th May 2010
I
have now finished the dressage horse oil
painting so I have added the final
stages as you can see. It was lovely to
paint him as he has such rich browns and
oranges in his coat. I spent hours
working on the leather straps and metal
rings, these little areas demand very
intensive paintwork but they make the
overall portrait come to life. I really
like the pose Danny has in the portrait,
he looks so wild yet full of
concentration.
Wednesday 28th April 2010
Well
as you can see I did my bit at the
London Marathon on Sunday, and despite a
rain shower it all went very well. I
have added a couple of photos above. My
sister spent some of the morning
sighting celebrities at the other start
line and when the marathon started at
our end, we got quite close to Richard
Branson in his butterfly outfit. He was
the guest of honour and was also running
it so he started the race by pressing
the button then he quickly had to run
past us to get in place for running.
Toby was very confused when I gave him
his breakfast at 4.15 am in the morning,
usually he is the first one up but he
had to be coaxed out of his bed to be
let outdoors! Unfortunately he couldn't
join us in London but I think he
indulged in a lazy morning at home, I
came back to find him curled up in my
studio.
Saturday 24th April 2010
I
have been working away in the background
on my website adding a couple of new
pages and today I have uploaded them.
One new feature is my new
ordering page
which allows payment by credit or debit
card through my website which will be a
lot easier for my clients to pay. I have
been accepting cheques only for years
and at Christmas time as you can
imagine, deadlines are tight and I am at
the mercy of the busy post. So that will
make everything a run a little smoother.
I can also accept multiple currencies
which will hopefully broaden my client
base and make my website more inviting
for my overseas clients.
The
other new addition to my website which I
am very proud to announce is that I am
introducing a
Portrait In Progress Booklet which
will add a special touch to the whole
service that I provide. Click on the
above link to read about it. The idea
was given to me by one of my recent
clients Janice, the owner of Bee and Ru
the working cocker spaniels. She enjoyed
watching her portrait develop as I sent
her 'portrait updates' at every stage,
so she decided to collect them all up
and have a book made of them! So it got
me thinking that perhaps other clients
would enjoy having something like this
to keep or to give to their loved ones
with their portrait to show how it was
created. So I sourced a supplier and I
have the software to create the
booklets, I just need to make sure I
take some extra progress photos and
scans to fill them with every time I do
a portrait. How exciting!
This
week I have been making a special effort
to get up even earlier this week. I am
usually up early as it is but I am 'in
training' for getting up stupidly early
tomorrow to go to the London Marathon.
Okay I'm not running it but I am helping
at one of the start lines. My step dad
rounds us all up to go and help him
every year to stop chaos breaking out.
we get to wear uniforms and we have to
direct people and walk the champion men
forward to the start line. If you watch
closely at the beginning of the
marathon, you will see a line of people
in red uniforms linking arms and walking
backwards in front of the runners.
That's what we do! There are three
starts, we are at the start where the
elite ladies and wheelchairs start. It
is quite nerve wracking because
everything is timed to the millisecond
and the runners are very hyped up, it is
touch and go as to whether I will get
trampled or not. Anyway, we have to be
at Blackheath at 6am before the
roads close, it's going to be early and
cold but by God I hope the atmosphere of the
marathon will see me through it!
Thursday 22nd April 2010
So far
this week I have progressed the dressage
horse portrait, posted the little Jack
russell portrait, added some pages to my
website, finished and posted a terrier cross
portrait and successfully worn in a pair of
new shoes.
I'm
really enjoying the weather at the moment,
I'm sure I am not alone in saying Spring is
my favourite time of year. I do like summer
but it can get a bit hot for me, I tend to
get up early in the summer to go to the
beach at the weekends for a walk and get
back home before the sun starts to scorch
(and before the crowds start to emerge) to
hibernate in my cool house. I have never
been one to tan however much I wanted to be
golden brown, my pasty complexion just burns
so I came to terms with the fact that I will
never be a bronzer ten years ago in my
teens. I'm hoping the pale complexion will
come back into fashion rather like
Elizabethan times, but that remains to be
seen!
Sunday 11th
April 2010
This weekend
has seen lovely weather again here in Kent,
perfect for a little more work in the garden. I
also had a bit of a tidy up in my studio and
managed to remove all of the old oil paint
stains from my carpet with car upholstery
cleaner, it's fantastic stuff. I kept trying to
find things to use it on, kind of like when you
are laminating important documents and you hunt
desperately for bits of paper to laminate for
fun! As you can see above, I have started the
dressage horse portrait, Danny. I am really
looking forward to painting him. I have also
added my latest oil portrait of Lucky below, it
is happily drying in my studio. I used a little
artistic licence in this portrait by tucking his
tail around the bottom of the portrait to
balance out the portrait. I also used a lighter,
softer background to make him stand out.
Thursday 8th
April 2010
I hope you
all had a good Easter weekend, I most definitely
had a good one. I spent some time working on the
garden, had a lovely home cooked meal with
family, did a little bit of shopping and of
course spent some time on my portraits. I had a
terrible fright when I left Toby at the front of
my house by accident after a trip to town. I
noticed that the house was a little quiet, (not
that Toby is a noisy dog, he just has a big
presence!) and having shut the door five minutes
ago I realised that I must have shut him out. I
rushed outside and he was nowhere to be seen. I
called him and about a minute later to my relief
he came plodding back to me from about two doors
away. I was so happy to see him and he looked at
me as if to say "what are you doing
woman!...letting an old sausage like me wander
off on my own". I should have known that he
couldn't have got far in five minutes, he has to
sniff everything in his path, he is very
unselective about what he investigates. So now I
always shut the gate; Live it...learn it.
So far this
week I have started the dressage horse portrait,
a German shepherd portrait and a little terrier
cross portrait. I have also finished the oil
painting of a Jack Russell which I will add soon
and now I am going to tuck into a pile of
homemade pancakes, my devilish late night snack.
Wednesday 31st
March 2010
Okay, the joke’s
on me… my jumper is officially back on all
the time. The weather is absolutely miserable
here. It’s cold, windy and rainy, I got woken up
last night by Toby barking at what can only be
described as a horrific hail storm. What is
going on, People are talking about more snow! I
did have a good weekend though. It was my
sister’s birthday on Sunday so we took her out
for a cooked breakfast (don't worry, it was a
waitress service so I could not possibly get
myself into any trouble with buffets again). I
painted her a portrait of her gorgeous Belgian
shepherd Griffin as a birthday present and she
was really pleased. That’s why I couldn’t add it
to my blog earlier as it was a surprise, so you
can now see it above. However, I’m not sure
Charlotte actually reads my blog, she doesn’t
even check her emails. My dad however at 61
years old is setting himself up with a computer
and the internet and joining us in the cyber
world, he is going to be a ‘Grey Surfer’ (his
words…not mine!).
Friday 26th
March
As promised I
have added a couple of my latest portraits
below, both of which are now in their new homes.
I have made quite a good start on my next
portraits this week, making portrait designs and
sketching them out so I am organised and ready
for April when I have quite a few deadlines. I
have also completed an oil portrait which I will
blog after the weekend. I'm really enjoying the
feel of spring in the air now, I haven't even
used my thick woolen jumper this week. I keep my
house at a fairly low temperature as I am not
really used to central heating having been
brought up in a very old farmhouse with just a
few storage heaters and an open fire. Besides,
if it was any warmer in my house, Toby would not
be able to cope, he gets hot so easily! It was
got very cold in my parents house, especially in
my room which used to be the pantry in the olden
days. So I just used to wrap up warm at all
times and then when the summer came the house
was lovely and cool. Now I have all the mod cons
in my house and I really appreciate being able
to walk from one room to the next without going
through extreme temperatures! So here's to
spring and not having to wear huge jumpers all
the time :)
Monday 22nd
March
Today has
been a catch up day having returned on Sunday
afternoon from a weekend break in not so sunny
Portsmouth. Although it rained pretty much
constantly, it was a great break and I got to
see the HMS victory and the HMS warrior. One
thing that stood out to me is that the men on
those ships must have been so small, the
ceilings are so low and the beds are tiny. Any
person bigger than me would really struggle to
fit in them and I'm only 5ft 1", how
fascinating. Unfortunately, the Mary Rose was
closed so I was a bit disappointed. I found out
that the Mary Rose was brought to the surface in
1982, the year I was born. My mum even though
about calling me Mary-Rose, now wouldn't that be
a novel name!
Now I don't
often eat breakfast out, but when I get the
chance I absolutely love it, the combination of
a continental breakfast buffet and the great
British cooked breakfast, tea, coffee, orange
juice, I just want everything. So when I had the
chance to have such a breakfast on Saturday
morning, I was really looking forward to it.
They had one of these toasting machines, like a
hot mesh conveyer belt so I shoved a croissant
on and just as it glided off into the depths of
the machine, I noticed a sign which said 'if you
would like a croissant warmed, please ask a
member of staff'. I didn't have to read the rest
of the notice to know that what I had just done
was really bad. It was too late. To my horror,
the croissant was on fire at the back of the
machine. In just one minute that felt like an
hour all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind,
should I tell someone? is it going to explode?
can I just run away? am I going to get
arrested?! However, I was in luck, the staff
didn't notice and the croissant plopped out the
other end intact, I have never been so glad to
see a black flaming croissant of fire. I blew
the flames out and attempted to get rid of the
evidence. An elderly gentleman then came out of
nowhere commented on how overdone it was and
when I went back to the table, he must have told
the waitress because she came over to ask
whether I wanted a croissant warmed (I had
hidden the offending object at this point). I
panicked and said no, in a clumsy attempt to
deny all knowledge of croissants and to distance
myself from them. But she knew, everyone knew!
Anyway,
enough of that, I have plenty of pictures to
upload of the various stages of my portraits
from last week so keep a check on my blog and
have a lovely week.
Sunday 15th
March 2010
As you can
see I have added another stage of Ru, one of the
cockers in pencil that I am drawing at the
moment. The little yorkie portrait (Alfie) is
now complete so I will be adding him soon to my
gallery.
I have been
getting quite a few more enquiries about
portraits lately which is great but I can't work
out whether it's because my Google advertising
campaign is working or whether people are just
naturally wanting more pet portraits at this
time. Google sent me a voucher giving me a whole
£70 worth of 'adwords' credit which allows my
website to be visible in the 'sponsered links'
section of the search page when certain keywords
are typed in. My website appears quite well
anyway in the searches so it's quite hard to
tell sometimes where my customer's have found my
website and what words they have used in their
search. Either way, I am very happy to be busy
with portraits and I spent this morning working
on a couple of designs for my next portraits.
After my designs, I downed tools to take my mum
out with my brother and sister to lunch for
mothers day. It was a lovely meal but I fear I
had far too much. I think next week is going to
be a healthy eating one for me, I have had
four consecutive days of eating out/takeaways
and I'm pretty sure that's not good for you!
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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