Diary of a Pet Artist... Welcome to my blog! When a client commissions a pet portrait I send them 'portrait updates' by email with scans of their portrait throughout the different stages of the drawing/painting process. This allows them to see its progress and make comments along the way. This blog enables you to watch a few of my portraits develop (with the owner's permission of course!). It also gives and insight into life at the easel.
4th November 2016
I have been working on a coloured pencil portrait of a very handsome black lab called Finley. I had the pleasure of meeting him and taking the photographs myself as he was local to me in Kent. The portrait is now complete and I delivered it in person to the happy owners who are now seeking to get it framed. I have quite a number of portraits to blog over the next few weeks so keep checking back!
Thursday 31st October
Happy Halloween! I'm very relieved today to have my electricity back on having not had any since Sunday and I have spent the day replying to emails and scanning stages of portraits to update my customers who probably thought I had vanished of the face of the earth!
So it is all finished and was collected by Maddie and Eve's owners who emailed me this lovely photograph of me and Maddie with the portrait. A great reminder of this fantastic portrait which was a joy to paint! It was wonderful to meet Maddie and her owners who came to my home to collect the portrait.
Thursday 24th October 2013
Thursday 17th October 2013
Monday 14th October 2013
Thursday 10th October 2013
Tuesday 8th October 2013
I started on this portrait earlier in the year and I will be blogging all of the stages over the next few days. One of Maddie and Eve's owners purchased a Gift certificate for her husband of his german shepherd Maddie. However, having lost Eve, the little king charles spaniel a short time ago, she could not decide whether to have her in the portrait too. So I created a design with and without Eve and began painting Maddie on her own, leaving enough space for Eve if we wanted to add her in later on when her husband was to find out about the portrait so he could have the final decision. When the big day came, without hesitation, he said yes to having Eve in the portrait as the dogs were such friends. The portrait was painted at a large 24"x20" in oils with a beautiful full background.
Tuesday 4th June 2013
Friday 3rd May 2013
Last week I had a phonecall from a gentleman who had been contemplating ordering a pencil drawing of his dog for his wife for a few weeks and her birthday came around all too sudden! So he set off from one county to another with her to my cottage without her having a clue where she was going. When she arrived all was explained and she was absolutely delighted at the prospect of having a portrait drawn of her dog who tragically passed away only a month ago. I showed them examples of my work and we had a long chat about the photographs that her husband had emailed over to me beforehand. They went away to find a good place to have lunch in the sunshine in the garden of England and to walk thier other dog and I thought to myself 'What a lovely surprise for her!'. So now we are in the process of designing this special portrait! Meanwhile I have posted another couple of stages of Orlagh and Lottie, those cheeky little dachshunds!
Monday 15th April 2013
As promised here is the first stage of one of the dog portraits that I am currently working on. This portrait is of two lovely dachshunds called Orlagh and Lottie. Orlagh (left) is Lottie's daughter. In 2011 their owner commissioned me to draw a portrait of another special dog as a gift and now she is treating herself to this portrait of her own two little special ones!
Wednesday 10th April 2013
Here is one of my latest portraits of a Staffordshire terrier called Dexter. He was drawn in coloured pencils as a special birthday gift and framed by my local framer in a classic wooden frame. At a larger than life size 14"x14" the pose in the photograph that the clients chose lent itself very well to a square portrait ensuring that it would really fill the space. It was then framed with a frame made especially for it. I really enjoyed adding in the detailing of his collar (and his wet nose!). A little puff of graphite in the background makes him stand out from the white of the paper.
I'm a little annoyed with myself as earlier, I settled down to have a nice cup of tea and a biscuit when Toby started barking at the door. Now I was already a little wound up because he plays knock down ginger A LOT....just barks at the door and then by the time I've set down my paints and brushes and reached the door there is no sign of him I don't bother calling him because he is very deaf now poor soul and it would be pointless. So I curse and go back...and then do it all over again two minutes later...all day long. so I put the biscuits down and went to let him in. At last he was there so he came in and when I got back to my tea my buiscuts were gone so I searched around for the crafty patterdale (Jasmine) and there she was with the packet and the biscuits were gone. I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid, she is such a thief! Anyway, I swear her and Toby are in it together somehow, it was a setup. However, I fear that unknowingly, Toby is a mere stooge in all this and Jasmine is just way too clever for any of us.
Tuesday 2nd April 2013
And it's back to work from the Easter break which despite the cold weather we've been having has been lovely. My husband and I finally had the chance to chop up a huge pile of logs for the woodburner which is such a relief because our cottage has never had central heating installed so I rely on it to keep me warm and keep my fingers working through the winter months whilst I paint and draw. I move into the living room from my studio during the winter and set up my easel as it is just too cold to work in any of the other rooms!
So apart from the back breaking log sawing and shifting, the weekend was full of all my favourite things. Those being... a bit of shopping, horseriding, a couple of good films, breakfast out, cupcakes, plenty of chocolate and keeping warm by the fire! What more can a girl ask for on a freezing cold Easter weekend!
Above: Toby Sleeping
Below: Jasmine stealing the blanket from him...that dog is crafty...so crafty
Tuesday 19th March 2013
So once again it has been quite a while since I last blogged but I am back again! I didn't go anywhere I just had a very busy year with my portraits which is great for me but not so great for all the admin, housework and paperwork that has been building up all over the place. So I'm going to begin by uploading some of the portraits that I completed last year beginning with a beautiful horse called Eddie which I painted in the summer (such a distant memory now). I set up my gazebo in the garden for a few weeks to paint in before it blew away. At least I have a photograph to remember it by...sort of. So long gazebo, thanks for the great memories!
I will be adding more of my completed portraits over the next few weeks so keep checking back. I am also working on some great portraits at the moment so I shall pick one or two to blog so you can see them develop...like the old days!
Wednesday 15th February
So it has been quite a while since I last blogged but for good reason! I moved house just after Christmas back to Stockbury village where I grew up. It is so lovely to be back in the countryside and the dogs love it. I've now settled into my new studio which is just off the living room which means I get the glorious heat from the woodburner through. Toby and Jasmine of course are partial to lying around soaking up the warmth whilst I am working away but I don't blame them, it's been so cold lately! Still, I managed to get Jasmine out in the garden playing with her new friend Spanner a Jack Russel cross the other day as you can see in the photos below. It is a relief to see that she does have it in her to make friends with another dog (and not just ignore them as she does with Toby!). I have also been very busy with portraits and I am currently sorting out my next batch of commissions, making designs and ordering frames. I just haven't stopped since Christmas! It's great though. I have unfortunately had trouble with my computer but I only have myself to blame, not deleting anything off for four years and clogging it up with huge photoshop files, whoops! That's another reason why I haven't blogged for a while, fear of it blowing up my computer.
Wednesday 21st December
So as you can see I finished Rupert's portrait and it is now safely up in South Yorkshire with his owners. Rupert's portrait was a joy to paint, especially at this time of year and there is nothing quite like a snow scene to raise the Christmas spirit! You can read more about Rupert's portrait by clicking on him. I also posted my last Christmas portrait today which means I shall be preparing my January ones over the next couple of days and then I might get the opportunity to put my feet up for a few days over Christmas! It's been an amazing year of commissions a whopping thirty commissions in all. My computer is bursting at the seams with large graphics files and my website is in need of updating with all of the portraits which I have not yet uploaded to thier own special page. But I shall get it all done in good time and I will put a picture on my blog when I have uploaded a new portrait so you can have a look at ones you might have missed.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! x x x
Tuesday 29th November
So here is Rupert's portrait which I am working on now, a 24" x18" oil painting. Rupert is a beautiful two year old Springer spaniel from Doncaster. His owners wanted him to have a snowy scene for the background with the added special touch of a little robin on one of the branches. Rupert's owners took some photos of Rupert on the grass in the autumn sun especially for the portrait and I found some snowy reference photos with a similar sun direction which I merged to create this composition. It has been lovely working on the background as my palette has been full of pale blues, purples, yellows and pinks which I don't always get to use in my paintings, not to mention the touch of Christmas it is bringing to my studio at the moment!
Thursday 24th November
I have been just too busy to blog lately with all of my Christmas orders, less blogging, more painting, that's the plan! I finished Roxy last month and the painting is now with her owner in Sittingbourne. I have completed a few more over the last month but I will have to add them to the gallery in January when the Christmas rush is over. I am currently working on a beautiful spaniel called Rupert so I shall upload the first couple of stages soon.
Monday 31st October
So I have just returned from a wonderful trip to New York, my first time in the States and my first time so far away from my Toby! He was fine though as he went to stay with my parents-in-law with thier dog Molly so he had his own mini-break. I am a little jet lagged but I am spending today catching up with emails, phonecalls and paperwork which has built up over the last week, easing myself back into the studio for what will be the last leg of the year, The Christmas rush! Having almost finished my last batch of portraits before I left, I shall be starting on my Christmas commissions this week which is very exciting. I will post a couple of photos from my New York trip soon, but for now another couple of stages of Roxy!
Sunday 23rd October
I am currently working on an oil painting of a very lively American Bulldog called Roxy and as you can see from the stages below, it is coming along nicely.
Toby and Jasmine are doing well, Jasmine is weedling her way into our hearts now and although she is a bit of a knightmare, we have completely fallen for her. It's funny how dogs can do that. I remember when I first got Toby, I did care for him but it was more feeling sorry for him having come from the tragic circumstances that he had found himself in. A few months later, he had a bit of an accident and it was then in his helplessness that we realised how much we had grown to love him. It kind of sneaks up on you like that.
Saturday 24th September
It has been a nice busy summer and I have painted and drawn some lovely pets, enjoying each one of them. I must show you one I recently completed which took a few months as it was fairly large at 24"x18". This is Gem and Jess, two adorable dogs from Dover here in Kent, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when thier portrait was collected. It was comissioned as a surprise birthday present and the lucky owner arrived at my house with her husband not knowing what she was doing here and was greeted with a the surprise of seeing their dogs painted together against the background of Gem & Jess's favourite haunt, the white cliffs of Dover. I arranged proffessional framing for the painting and the framer was fantastic, providing me with samples and offering his advice. His workshop is near Stockbury where my parents live (K-Frames at Oad Street Craft Centre) and I know that a couple of my local clients in the past have had my portraits framed there for themselves. So Gem & Jess's portrait is now in it's new home in a beautiful classic mahogany frame and the owners were kinfd enough to send me some photos of it.
Wednesday 17th August
So I'm back blogging another portrait that was completed in July, I am a bit behind with my blog but all in good time. This is Soldier, a beautiful horse from Kent commissioned by a friend for Soldier's owner. It is a very cute little portrait at 8"x6" in oils and it looked lovely with a delicate frame. I delivered it in person to Bethersden a few weeks ago. This week I have finished two oil portraits which are going to thier new homes soon and I now have a run of pencil and coloured pencil drawings to do.
Wednesday 20th July
I'm back! No I didn't go anywhere, just been here working to several deadlines so I kept on putting my blog at the bottom of the list...Whoops! So I've got a few portraits to show you completed over the last month so I shall start with this portrait of a lovely springer spaniel called Branta, commissioned by Branta's owners' girlfriend as a special birthday present. Although Branta is a working dog, she didn't have a photo of her with a pheasant in her mouth so she took photos of her carrying a sock to simulate the pose. With these photos it was easy enough to replace the sock with a pheasant and Bob's your uncle. The drawing works really welll in coloured pencil as it is detailed and it was great to use bright green red and purple in it for the pheasant as the pencils of these colours are often tossed aside when I am drawing animals in search for browns, greys and beiges!
So Jasmine has settled in quite well, although Toby still just ignores her most of the time and I've yet to find another dog that really warms to her :( But nevertheless I am teaching her a few tricks to keep her occupied and distract her from her mission to rule Toby and the rest of the universe. She has picked up four tricks in as many days and having realised I was feeding her way to much during the day I've gone from using chicken as a reward to mainly little sticks of all bran (sometimes I give her chicken just in case she realises what a boring foodstuff all bran is and stops bothering). Toby doesn't really do tricks, it took him a year to learn to shake hands but Bruce persisted and got him to do it, even though I lost faith in him. Who knows, maybe I'll turn my attention to Toby and teach that old dog a new trick or two.
Tuesday 21st June
I must tell you about a new addition to our pack whom I collected from the dog rescue centre two weeks ago, Jasmine Spring, a little six year old patterdale cross. So Toby has now got a little friend to share his retirement with. Spring is the name given to her at the rescue centre where she has been living for the last three months so I am honouring the name yet giving her a new one aswell.. Jasmine... to mark her fresh start with us. Somehow I think I will always see her as Spring but she doesn't particularly respond to either at the moment unless I've got food. Yes, I think I have got a lot of training to do with her. I think I have been lucky with Toby, and how calm and laid back he is but Jasmine has got quite a bit of energy; I've never see a dog so agile that it could be mistaken for a cat! Anyway, we had a few days last week in my favourite place in the whole world, the Isle of Wight. It was nice to kick start our time with her on holiday so we could spend plenty of time in the outdoors on the beautiful beaches and amongst the countryside and get to know her a little bit. Unfortunately she is going blind due to scarring on her eyes so she needs constant medication to slow the process; but sight or not, she will have a lovely life with us from now on!
As for the portraits I promised to blog, Here is one of them, Lexie, a beautiful golden retriever. The portrait was given to her owner by his sons as a Father's day present. I posted it just in time from the Isle of Wight having taken it with me for a few days drying time.
Monday 13th June
I can't believe I haven't blooged for so long! A few weeks later and more portraits have flown the nest and this week having created designs for a few more I am due to start my next lot. I will blog the finished portraits at the end of the week as I am on my way to the post office with a little King Charles portrait now! I also have some good news about Toby to tell you all about.
Thursday 2nd May
So as you can see I have finished another portrait, this is Portia and Lottie. Thier owner commissioned this portrait as a surprise birthday present so we had to employ some underhand tactics to keep it a secret from him! I built her her very own web page to view the stages of Portia and lottie's portrait so that he would not stumble across any work in progress emails on the computer and I left a coded message on her answerphone every time I had updated the webpage with another stage of the portrait. All very MI5. When I delivered it in person last week he had not suspected a thing ans it was a lovely surprise for him.
Sunday 22nd May
I think I might have put my contact lenses in back to front today...
Thursday 19th May
Here is one of my latest oil paintings, a black lab called Frank. Frank's owner was treated to this portrait by his mother as a birthday present. They came to see me and brought Frank with them which gave me the opportunity to get a sense of his wise, humble and beautiful nature. Of course, I had to put Toby away as he has never met a new dog on his own turf and I feared that he would get territorial. My mum's dog Harry stayed for dinner one evening but he and Toby knew eachother already and are good pals.
Frank's owner is a keen photographer so I had some great photos to work with. he decided on one photo for the pose and a photo of Frank's favourite marshy hang out for the background. The painting is now in its new home and the owners are very pleased with it.
Sunday 1st may
Gosh, I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged, it has been a busy few weeks. I've been made an aunty, I've had a trip to the mother of all art shops (Atlantis in London), I've completed Jack the Scottish Terrier, Frank the black lab and started three more portraits, I have built a website for Stockbury Village, Toby's been microchipped and my studio has had a major tidy-up. So I can now show you the final stage of Jack below. I think the cream colour of the paper makes a great background for the piece, giving it a warm feel and I particularly like the coloured detail to his collar, it really lifts the drawing, what a great idea from Jack's owner. It's nice when a client adds thier own touches to the design of thier portrait because it then becomes a more unique portrait tuned to their tastes and the character of the dog. I love the drama and mood of this portrait...
And here is Smudge's portrait complete with a hint of background which I think has worked really well. It was particularly inportant to have a bit of background in this drawing to make the white patches of her fur stand out.
Thursday 7th April
As promised some stages of Jack, the Scottish Terrier portrait. Jack sadly passed away last year and his owner wanted a portrait to remember him buy. She provided a lovely photograph for me to work with and asked if I could draw Jack in graphite pencil but have his collar in colour. I think this is a great idea and it shall add that something special to the finished portrait.
Wednesday 6th April
Here is the final scan of Chippy! This little chihuahua portrait is now with its owners in London. Soon I will blog the final stage of Smudge, the cat portrait and some stages of another Scottish Terrier portrait that I have been working on.
Monday 4th April
I thought I'd quickly blog my latest portrait of Molly a Scottish terrier. As you can see, a lot of detail went into this graphite drawing, Molly has lots of little curly twiddley bits of fur so they all had to be well documented. Over twenty hours went into this 12" x10" portrait.
Tuesday 29th March
Below you can see some stages of Chippy, a lovely little chihuahua who sadly passed away. Chippy's owners are returning customers, I painted thier last chihuahua, Gizmo a couple of years ago and it is always nice to hear how my customers are doing and to work with them again. Chippy has been a delight to paint and I will add her finished portrait to my gallery pages soon.
Thursday 17th March
So here below is a photo of the Angelina Ballerina mural in progress (God knows what was going on with my hair but at least the mural was having a good day). I am painting a total of five Angelina Ballerinas all in different poses around the room. I am really enjoying it as it is nice to paint somewhere new for a change and the painting is very simple blocks of colour which is quite therapeutic. I will blog some more stages soon.
Tuesday 15th March
Just a bit more background to do on Smudge's portrait and I'm going to wrap her tail around as per her owner's request. I have finished the Golden Springer Spaniel portrait now and posted it off so I shall blog that soon and I am currently painting a mural on the wall of my new baby niece-to-be's room which I will show you this week too!
Thursday 10th March
I have got 10 minutes to write my blog and be out the door for a menu tasting night at the Park Gate inn so I will make this quick. I am blogging a few stages of my latest cat portrait Smudge, commissioned in coloured pencils by a returning customer who lives here in Kent. Isn't she gorgeous!
Thursday 3rd March
I've started to notice two of my goldfish are getting quite podgy. I bought two baby ones to keep Heathcliff company but they are like a pack of wolves, I'm almost afraid to put my fingers in the tank.
Fish aside I have have finished a golden springer spaniel portrait this week and started my next batch of portraits including a chihuahua, a cat and a scottish terrier, so I will blog some stages soon.
At the weekend I went to the Chatham Docks to see a little art exhibition...and ended up meeting my new boyfriend pictured with me below.
Wednesday 16th February
So here is my new website. After hours and hours of work over the last couple of months I have got most of it revamped. I still have some more bits and bobs to implement but at least I have got all of the original information in place so I can pick up where I left off. I am hoping to embed wordpress into this blog so that readers can leave comments and I am currently awaiting 'wordpress for Dummies' from the post man because having tried to understand the jargon about how to get it working, I am in fact a dummy and I need someone to spell it out to me. I am however please with my progress so far and especially of the fact I did all this without the letter 'w' on my keyboard. I'm having to copy and past a 'w' in wherever I need it, God help me when I get a fully functioning keyboard back, I won't know what to do with it! So do have a quick browse and hopefully soon I can get some feedback.
Thursday 10th February
Here is Ru's agility portrait finished. This portrait was very enjoyable to draw because it called for movement in the sketches which was lovely to apply to the drawing. This type of drawing is a great way to show off the character and in Ru's case the skill and outdoor persuits of a pet all in one portrait. Ru's portrait is now on its way to its new home where I know it will be happily received.
Wednesday 9th February 2011
As you can see below I have now finished Tia's pencil portrait and it is as we speak on its way to Dorset to her owners. This week I also finished Ru's agility portrait which I will upload soon. Today I am starting my next two portraits, one cat and a golden cocker spaniel portrait. In between working on portraits I am working away on improving this website. It is going to be quite a big change so it is quite exciting but scary at the same time as I am using new software to build it. I hope I will maintain the same sort of feel to the site, I like it to be friendly and welcoming, but with a more neat and tidy layout.
1st February 2010
As promised I have attached some stages of my other current Spaniel portrait. This is Ru, a very talented, well loved, prize winning agility competitor! Her owner commissioned me to do a head and shoulders portrait of both of her dogs, Ru and Bee last year and has come back to commission me again to do a more unusual drawing of Ru which shows her in sketches completing various agility exercises. The main drawing will be in coloured pencil to a high degree of detail, a contrast to the slightly rough but expressive sketches surrounding it. Ru's owner took her time getting photos taken and choosing the right ones for this special portrait and we worked together to come up with a composition to display the sketches and to describe the flow and movement of Ru doing what she does best!
31st January 2010
I am currently working on two different spaniel portraits, both pencil drawings and here you can see a few stages of one of them, Tia's portrait. Tia's owners purchased a gift voucher from me last year and the portrait was set in motion just before Christmas. I think she has a lovely pose in this portrait and spaniel's ears are really enjoyable to draw with their wavy long strands of hair.
26 January 2010
Here are the last of the Christmas portraits I think that is all of them but if I find any more I will put them up! Now they are all up to date,I will be adding a couple of stages of my current portraits tomorrow.
Wednesday 12th January 2011
Here are some more Christmas portraits folks!
Thursday 6th January 2011
Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all had a great Christmas. Since I last blogged I spent the rest of December working extremely hard, often staying up until 3 or 4am to get it all done in time. But it was all worth it as I managed to get all of the portraits despatched in time for Christmas even with the added obstacle of the snow which slowed up the post. So when we got to the cottage in Cumbria the day before Christmas Eve I breathed a sigh of relief because it has been an incredibly busy year. I'm not complaining though, I have enjoyed every one of my commissions and I can't wait to see what I will be drawing and painting this year! So my little break away was lovely, my family and I stayed in a little cottage a stones throw from the charming little town of Bowness. My mum and I regularly walked into town for light shopping, cinema and cream tea.
There were two local chocolate shops and I must admit I've never spent so much on chocolate in my life. Good job I don't live near one, I'd be bankrupt by now. I love handmade chocolates. I stocked up on violet and rose creams which are my favourites and sometimes quite hard to get hold of where I live. I also treated myself to a gorgeous pair of boots from a little boutique shop. And to top it off, it even snowed on Christmas day, how fantastic! So me and Harry (my mum's yorkshire terrier) did a bit of sledging. New Year was fun, I went out with my family to the Park Gate inn near Leeds castle for a meal and disco dancing. My sister and I enjoy a good disco but there was guy shaking a pair of wooden spoons and dancing all over the place which was funny at first. When we left, he was still there, on his own...dancing with them spoons.....
Looking back at my blog, I can't believe that a whole year has gone by and it's all here on this page (well the most interesting and art related bits anyway!) from getting my car sign written and getting into the local paper to releasing my first Christmas card. Over the next few days I will upload some more of my Christmas commissions, but for now I will leave you with these pencil drawings....
