This is my latest stage of the Lake District painting and im pleased with how its going. I have been working on the grass and I have been taking further reference photos of grass in our area to help me with the tuffets. I will blog more stages soon!

This is a portrait of barney. He was so lovely to draw. Unfortunately Barney had cat flu when he was a kitten so his left eye was left a little cloudy. Portraits of pets always depict their little quirks and this portrait wouldn’t be Barney if it didn’t. I know even though I have amazingly never drawn our cat Amram and I would definitely want to include the notches missing from his ears the strange markings that have appeared in his eye as he has got older. Barney will be sent to the client on Saturday Special Delivery.

I had a client email who has sadly lost her Boxer, Bella and she wanted a special portrait to remember her by. She wanted a pencil portrait and for it to depict Bella laying stretched out in her usual pose with her favourite toy. My client also wanted a special memory landscape behind, which was a house in the country that the family and the dogs stay, in the summer months. This is a special place for not only Bella but her dog friend too so we also decided to include Bella and her friend running in the fields in front of the house. This portrait has everything and I really hope that it brings back wonderful memoirs of Bella and the family holidays too.

Hi All,

I thought id update you with the painting that’s on my easel. I have been working a lot lately and I have a pencil drawing on the go as well. I have been working on the painting early morning and afternoon and the pencil afternoon, evening. I hope to blog the pencil by the end of the week.

Hope you are well and for the UK, I hope you are all coping in this heat!

Nick and I were asked to present our work in our village last night and we were delighted to be part of it. We have only lived in the village two years and we have been welcomed here so warmly. We moved from about 12 miles away so didn’t really know anyone here, but have met some wonderful people. The evening was to raise money for the village and it was held in our local school (neuadd yr ysgol in welsh) which has been closed for some years but it still a strong part of the community where events and classes are held continually. So we were more than happy to help out and went in the afternoon to set up our artwork and help set out the tables.

We then went back at around 7pm so that nick could prepare his demo drawing, he drew a portrait of a girl from a photo while he was there, so that everyone could see the process. I gave a short speach to introduce us and our work and showed the latest portrait the Rhodesian Ridgeback too. We held a little competition for the children, one of the oldest residents of our village sat for the children so they could draw her and we gave a prize to the winner and sweets for all the rest of the children who entered.  At the end of the evening we were presented with a bottle of wine which was a complete surprise and were were quite overwhelmed and was lost for words when they gave it to us.  We both hope that they raised plenty of money for the school and the village : ) and a couple of photos below show our small set up.

Here is the next stage of the Lake District Painting. Its really awful weather outside, its pouring with rain here I think we are gearing up for a storm! Candles are at the ready in rural Wales..oh and the lights have just dimmed. I had better post this quick!

Hi Everyone,

For those clients who have been watching my blog over the last month or so, might have seen Maxwell as Lord Nelson. I have now started a new painting of Maxwell in a wonderful landscape in the UK. The area in question is in the Lake District which is a National Park in Cumbria and the area, more specifically, is Innominate Tarn. Its is a small tarn situated at 520 metres above sea level, near the summit of Haystacks which is famous huge ‘hill’ in the Lake District. After painting it I think I really have to go and see it for myself. Its not too far only about a 5 hour drive so its definitely on my to do list for a short break when I get the chance!

I will be adding the next stage tomorrow, I will be blocking in the ground plane for Maxwell to stand on which will be grassy, rocky, ochres greens and browns.

This is my latest pencil portrait of a Jack Russell called Paisley. She is unfortunately not with us any longer so I hope this is a wonderful reminder for the whole family. I really enjoyed drawing him especially with those lovely big soft eyes. I just need to add her name to the portrait and she is ready to be packed and posted : )

Hi All,

Heres the final scan of the Rhodesian Ridgeback oil portrait which has been completed for a birthday in July, just in time as it is off to Ireland on Monday. It will be dry by then but its hot off the easel. I have been working on a pencil portrait of a Jack Russell in the drying times of this one and its nearly complete so I will post it asap.

Poor Nick is suffering from Hayfeaver at the moment, its mid summer here and all the grasses are out Its quite hot at the moment but the weather is about to break so im hoping for a few rainy days, which makes a change for me to be wanting wet weather. He suffers quite bad so we are all saying poor Nick at the moment : (

Heelooo!

We have just had a long weekend off with Nicks parents who came up to visit us from Cornwall and we did not stop! We have attacked the front garden and its now weed free, has plenty of horse manure dug in around the plants and we have covered it in bark and it looks lovely and very cottagey! It took us a good two days to make it weed free and to tidy it up as it was getting a little unruly. I have been able to keep the back garden weed free but the front was getting away from me a little so hopefully it will be easier to maintain now. I will hopefully take some photos for you to see soon.

While Nicks parents were here I re-shot the video that was on the top left of my blog. I have posted it below for you to see and I have also added it to our home page too. I hope you like it : )

Finally we have spent the entire day battling our computers and have done the yearly job of reformatting. I am nearly back together, just have the adobe suite to install, but will try to do that tomorrow as its getting late now.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and also a good fathers day too!