Eliza the Cat

    Hello again, all those arty types out there,
I wanted to share with you, my latest commission- Eliza, the beautiful tortoiseshell cat. It is always an honour to try and capture the personality of a much cherished, and sadly missed pet. Her owner seemed genuinely moved to see the portrait, so I hope that I came somewhere close to achieving that.

16 x 26cm

  
  With her myriad of colours, she was quite a challenge! (She seemed to look different in each photo, so in the the end, I tried to take an 'average reading' of her colouring).
By all accounts, she was quite a regal creature, and I strived to get this across. This garden step was her favourite place- and on it, she looked like a queen on her throne!


  I was asked to keep the background white, so I used a plain white, quality cartridge paper- the whitest I could find. It had a smooth texture, and whilst not as easy to work on as the Fisher Pastel Paper, was perfect for the building up of layers of tone and colour. Again, I used WH Smith pencils, and love the way they layer to make new tones and colours (I'm going to have to invest in some more very soon, as they're down to little stubs now!).


  The client wanted to mount and frame the drawing herself, so I worked to the dimensions of the frame, endeavouring to make sure that the drawing would sit well within the mount.


  I hope that she will enjoy looking at it, and that it will bring back many happy memories of a dear friend.      

Family Love

Hi there 'fellow creatives'!
Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, life has been rather hectic of late...


My last commission, was to do a 10 x 8" coloured- pencil portrait of a beautiful little girl and her grand-parents, for their 80th Birthday. It was then mounted and framed.
The family seemed delighted, which made me very happy- as the commissioner was a dear friend.

'Top Tips':

• I used a mixture of pencils- both Caran D'Ache and WH Smith (watercolour and blendable). I found the latter to be most preferable, both for colour and application. 
• I used Fisher 400 Art Paper to work on. It's a fantastic 'ground', as the pencil easily adheres to the fine, sand- paper 'tooth' of the paper.

My next portrait is of a pretty cat, called Eliza, and is again in pencil. But, I can't decide whether to do it in black and white or colour... 
Watch this space to find out!  


  

Hurray- I Met the Deadline!

Hello again fellow 'creatives'!


I am feeling 'over the moon' today, as I have finished the 'Musical Painting' in time for Valentine's Day (by the skin of my teeth... and cutting it a bit fine... if you know what I mean!).
The client was very happy, and so was her partner... I am relieved, if slightly exhausted- but what a lovely commission to do... a real creative treat!


Top Tip: coloured pencils work really well with acrylics when working on canvas paper; I worked on the paint when it was dry, and the 2 mediums really compliment each other.


Here is the painting in progress (I meant to do this as I went along, but there just wasn't the time). The framed image isn't brilliant, it would of been better shot in daylight... but there wasn't the option.

 Hope you enjoy looking at them...

Compositional Drawing

Dear readers,

I've finally drawn out the composition onto the canvas paper, and I'm ready to paint... at last, the fun bit!

It's taken me longer than I had anticipated, due to it's size (50.3 x 42cm- plus bleed!) and complexity (musical instruments are really tricky to draw- thank you 'Grid Method').

It's now Thursday... will I get it done in time? I need to as the client is wanting to give it to her sweet- heart on Monday- Valentine's Day!

I've often had tight deadlines... but this one is pushing it slightly!

I'll up load the painting in it's various stages (this is fun, as it's the first time I've recorded my work in this way!).

p.s Hope it doesn't disappoint!

Musical Painting

Just about to start a new commission for Valentine's Day. 
The client loves the visual... I've now just got to do it.. 
in a week... 
that's a week today...

Hi all,
Here I am starting my blog! How exciting!
Watch this space for creative tips and inspiration...