PET PORTRAITS

Artwork by Nicholas Beall & Melanie Phillips

Archive for September, 2007

Monthly Archive

Sun 23 Sep 2007

Pet Portrait work in progress of a Boxer in Oils

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Hi All,

This is my latest pet portrait to be completed. It has been in progress for a number of weeks in various drying stages. As always i draw out the subject, line around it and then start the blocking in with a large brush. The portrait is a 16 x 12 painting in oils on fine grain canvas and the colours used are Umber, sienna, Indian red, yellow ochre, Naples yellow, French ultra marine, crimson and white. I use quite a limited pallet for my pet portraits unless there are unusual colours within the scene or bright warm oranges. If you would like to View a larger image of the final scan click on the work in progress steps below and it will take you to my showcase blog. When you are there you can clik on the Boxer for an even larger version.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment or hop on over to the pet portrait forum!

Melanies Pet Portraits

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Sun 23 Sep 2007

Final scan of Boxer Pet Portraits In Oils

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Hi Everyone!

As promised heres the Boxer in oils. This commission has been in the works for a couple of years would you believe! The client bought a gift voucher for a member of their family and its taken while to get things organized with photos, and we were even going to meet up last summer in Pembrokeshire which would have been wonderful but we never managed to work out a time we could both be there. So i am pleased to say everything has come out wonderfully in the end as the photos they provided were beautiful and i do love painting boxers! I think they are my second favoruite breed to paint.

Things are going well at the cottage, we have painted the studio, we are going again on monday to do the second coat and the celing. I ahve come up against a problem, we wanted to kit out the studio with a range of office desks from Ikea, but they dont deliver when you shop online to my area and the delivery service to here costs £100!!! ($200) can you belive it! just for a few desks! So we are stuck at that point, however we have got new carpet and thats going down on Monday when the paints dry! Its all go here! I will of course take photos when its all done….if we can get some furniture!

Off now to finish a couple of labs and then to the gorgeous Alsatian!

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Thu 20 Sep 2007

Work in Progress of a collie

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This portrait has been on the go for quite a while. Its only a small one at 10 x 8 but i started it quite some time ago and have been working on it in stages between some of my other portraits. I have quite a few like this on the go at the moment. I like to work in this way as it keeps me fresh and painting a variety of things which makes it exciting. Also its a really good tip for budding artists, its best not to work through on one single painting as putting it away fro a few days and then looking it it with fresh eyes can really help to see what areas perhaps are wrong, slightly awry or need amending.

Anyway heres the work in progress, as you can see i start out drawing the dog onto the canvas and then painting over a few lines to make sure i don’t loose my way in the following stages. I then start to block in, which is one of my favoruite stages, i love getting the paint on the canvas covering it up, and painting the backgrounds. Its such an organic process, every background is different and if you are attempting something similar, don’t be afraid of it, just go for it. Slap the paint on and merge your colours and really work them together with a large brush.

I hope you enjoy this one, if you click on the pictures below you can see a larger view of the final scan on my showcase blog! i will be adding a few more portraits in the coming week as i have a boxer nearly complete, a gorgeous Alsatian and a couple of labs too. So plenty thats keeping me out of mischief!

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Thu 20 Sep 2007

Final Scan of Collie Pet Portraits

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Hi Everyone,

This portrait was purchased buy a client to give as a gift for her freind and has been painted to the size of 10 x 8. The medium is oils on canvas and its now fully dry ready to send. This portrait has been on the go for quite a while, i started it quite some time ago and have been working on it in stages between some of my other portraits. If you woudl like to see the 6 stages i took while working on it visit my work in progress blog!

Things are trundling along ok in the studio, starting to get busy with emails now for Christmas orders and nick is getting booked for his pastel portraits which is fantastic, hes got some lovely ones in his waiting list too.

The cottage is going ok, the builders are still working on it but its all going well and they even found an old blocked up door from many years ago under the plaster on the pine end of the house. All in all quite exciting! Ikll be makign a set of pages on my website soon to show everyone.

Until next time, enjoy! : )

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Tue 18 Sep 2007

Work Progress of Spaniel Oil Painting

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This is Bailey, a spaniel a pet portrait in oils that i have just completed, fresh off the easel! He was such a gorgeous dog to paint, of course im a little biased as they are my favorite breed! He was painted on a 12 x 10 in oils and if you click on the work in progress picture it will take you to my showcase blog where you can see a larger version on Bailey. Bailey is for a client in America and he will be flying over next week. Hes for a Christmas gift and im pretty booked up for Christmas portraits now, what with this other larger project that i have on the go its all busy, busy, busy! But i cant tell you about that quite yet! Stay tuned! : )

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Mon 17 Sep 2007

Updates Galore!

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Well it has been way too long since i blogged some of my work. We have had good reason for the break though….we have moved house! Well nearly! We have bought a little character cottage which is about 300 years old and as soon as i have taken some good photos i will update my website for you to see. At the moment we have builders in fixing a few things up and this week we are doing our studio. We hope to move in properly in mid October, which is about four weeks time. So as you can see we have been spending our time decorating and painting – doing artwork of a different kind!

However i have been working in the mean time and i will be blogging some of my work in progress very soon. I have completed a Spaniel and I have nearly completed a lovely black collie cross and i will blog this asap.

Oh and before i forget you may also have noticed i have had a little spring clean of my blog! I hope you like the new design. I cant take full credit as it was a template that i modified from wordpress, but i have pretty much changed everything resembling the design, (it was pink and black!) as i wanted it to match my blogger showcase blog design. I also update the wordpress software so im all spick and span now!

I have lots of things i want to do on my website too, i have so many new portraits to add from this year that it need desperately updating. I don’t think i have done anything to it since last Christmas’ overhaul! Naughty me! Maybe ill get time this Christmas! ; )

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Mon 17 Sep 2007

Final Scan of Bailey the Spaniel.

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Well it has been way too long since i blogged some of my work. We have had good reason for the break though….we have moved house! Well nearly! We have bought a little character cottage which is about 300 years old and as soon as i have taken some good photos i will update my website for you to see. At the moment we have builders in fixing a few things up and this week we are doing our studio. We hope to move in properly in mid October, which is about four weeks time. So as you can see we have been spending our time decorating and painting – doing artwork of a different kind!

However i have been working in the mean time and this is my latest portrait. Its a gorgeous spaniel for a client in America who is giving it as a Christmas gift. I’m pretty much booked up for oils for Christmas now, as soon as we are organized in our new studio i will have a better idea of where i am with everything as things are a bit topsy turvy here.

I have nearly completed a lovely black collie cross and i will blog this in a few days time. I hope you enjoy this one in the mean time! Oh and before i forget you may also have noticed i have had a little spring clean of my blog! I hope you like the new design. I cant take full credit as it was a template that i modified a bit in blogger. I fancied a change. I thought…well, im moving house i should have a nice new look for my blog too! I have lots of things i want to do to my work in progress blog and my website too, i have so many new portraits to add from this year that it need desperately updating. I don’t think i have done anything to it since last christmas’ overhaul! Naughty me! Maybe ill get time this Christmas! ; )

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