PET PORTRAITS

Artwork by Nicholas Beall & Melanie Phillips

Archive for May, 2008

Monthly Archive

Fri 30 May 2008

Starting a new pet portrait!

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
[2] Comments

Hi All,

I am just starting a new pet portrait of a lovely beardie and yorkie with a full background. I am using a variety of photos for this one, the beardie is made up of three photos, and i placed the yorkie next to him and then im using some other reference for the grass. I wanted to give it a light and airy feel and an almost midsummer hazy effect in the background. The photos don’t really show it here, however the final scan should give the full effect.

Things are quite here in the studio at the moment, I have had a few deadline pieces to do lately, but i will only be working on one piece at a time from now on, well until things pick up again. The US economy is so bad im wondering what im going to do with myself! I have now gone down to only one work in progress page on the website, but at least i will have time to keep it up to date : )

We have visitors this weekend so I probably wont be working so ill try to update everyone here next week when I continue on this piece.

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Fri 30 May 2008

horse portraits by nick beall

Posted by Melanie Phillips under Frames & Prints
[2] Comments

This is my latest horse portrait in pastel on velour to the size of 12 x 10. It is a very dainty pony and i worked from a couple of photos. The original photo needed to be flipped and a mane added on as it was over her other side. I feel this piece is quite ethereal and the client is pleased. Its for a birthday surprise and so i hope this makes the day very special for them all.

I’m working on a large 24 x 18 portrait of a dog in pastel on velour next which will take me quite a few days so I will blog it as soon as its complete. This one I will need to take a photo of instead of scan as its far to big to fit in the scanner. Velour is such a delicate material it can easily get creased, especailly for portraits without backgrounds. The velour needs to be kept pristine. Wish me luck!

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Thu 29 May 2008

dog pet portraits by nick

Posted by Melanie Phillips under Frames & Prints
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Here is a final scan of a portrait I have just completed for a UK client of her two dogs sitting on a settee. The client didn’t want too much detail in the background and I agreed as the dogs have quite a few markings and they were sitting on a very pattered blanket. This now allows the dogs to come forward and be the centre of attention.

I have also just completed a horse portrait and I will hopefully scan and blog this tomorrow!

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Sat 24 May 2008

final scan of pet portraits this week!

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

Well this is the latest to come off my easel. I’m going to update my website work in progress after this as im so behind as per usual, the whole 4 pages need changing, there are never enough hours in the day!

My friend is visiting me today, and they have the most gorgeous little pug, i am going to take some photos of her, she is a rescue dog and i have looked after her on occasion. She is very well behaved and she has your full attention when you are eating, she sits very quietly and waits…hoping! Im not sure what our cat with think of her though as he’s not normally around when they come over so keep your fingers crossed! I can imagine him racing up the trees in the garden! He is being very spoilt at the moment as our local supermarket had a bogof offer on his favourite cat pouches, so i have pretty much bought the shop out – I wonder what the chances of him going off his favourite food are ; )

Where ever you are, enjoy your weekend!


Heres the laste

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Fri 23 May 2008

final scan of pet portraits in oils

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

Here is my latest work in progress, it was a portrait of a Dachshund in oils on canvas to the size of 16 x 12. With this portrait i needed to remove, or generally lighten, the dark shadow on the dogs right, as the photo was taken in strong sunlight. This has given him his general sienna colour back.

It was quite amazing actually as the right eye was completely green in the photo and i found it was a colour reflection from the grass. it was due to the light being so strong, and it reflected up from the grass onto the dog. I had quite a few other photos of him and so i felt it wouldn’t be a good idea to give him a green eye, i think the client would want him as natural and real life as possible. Its amazing just the little things that are in a photo could make or break the panting as the client could come back and say, he doesn’t have a green eye! So its a good tip to watch out for these little things in the photo before you start.

I’m now working on a two dog portrait also in grass, its a little larger than this one so will take slightly longer. I have drawn the portrait onto the canvas and will block it in tomorrow. I will post my work in progress on my website and here on my blog, as im going along!

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend!

pet portraits artist

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Fri 23 May 2008

wordpress upgrade!

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Just making a quick post before i go off to lunch, i had a few errors with the blog and i have now upgraded to the new version of wordpress. Very cool and there are some handy new features too! The admin area is great and no errors!  Will blog my next dog this afternoon!

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Fri 23 May 2008

Final Scan of 4 dog Pet Portraits

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

I have finally found some time to add the work in progress of the four dog pet portraits painting that i have completed, i thought i had better make time to post it as i have just completed another one i need to add the work in progress for! We have been busy in the studio, both nick and myself have had portraits for deadlines and so have been working extra hours of complete them. This particular portrait was a long time of the easel as it has 4 dogs so i had to capture the characters of each little individual guy. The portrait was painted on a 20 x 16 sizes canvas in oils and the client was delighted when they received it.

I have just completed a lovely dachshund and i will post the images asap!

Melanies Pet Portraits

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Sun 18 May 2008

Pastel Pet Portraits final scan

Posted by Melanie Phillips under Cat Portraits
[2] Comments

Hi All,

I have finally completed my latest pastel pet portrait of two lurcher/greyhound dogs with a full background. It was created in pastel on velour to the size of 24 x 18 and i am going to set up my camera and tripod to take a high res photo as i don’t think im going to get a good scan from this. It is such a large size and with my A4 scanner it has a possibility of damaging it if i try. I think the camera will do a good enough job, particularly as i only need a good copy for the website. The image below is a quick photo I have taken for the blog.

Its been very busy here in the studio these pased few weeks, I have a couple of portraits on the go at the moment and hopefully i will add them later this week.

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Wed 14 May 2008

Final scan of 4 dog pet portrait

Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Phew! What a week and a half! You would not believe how busy it has been around here. I am behind on emails and mock-ups, behind on updating blog and website and paintings as usual! I just got straight from coming back from holiday and then these last 10 days or so have just flown by. I had some urgent amendments to the book for the publishers, so that took the whole weeknd. The weather has been really nice outside so we have been trying to get a few jobs done out there before then bad weather comes. I had a bunch of updates to do for the lac website and i have just made them a forum for the students so that’s just about completed. Then today we had a scheduled electricity cut so all in all something has been happening every day.

I have now scanned and put together the 4 dog pet portrait and enclosed it below. It is an oil on canvas to the size of 20 x 16. The client is happy, has just emailed, and im packing it up this evening.

I hope you are all enjoying this good weather – if you are in the UK, enjoy it while you can, just in case we get a summer like last year!

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Wed 7 May 2008

Back from Holiday and Boxer Pet Portraits

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

We are back from holiday and had a wonderful time. It was our first proper holiday for about 3 years and it was wonderful to get away from the studio. To really relax and come back fully refreshed feels great, although I have to say it was so beautiful i could have stayed!

We are back now though and I have been trying to catch up a bit around the studio, i have plenty of emails to still respond to, mock-ups to complete, and they will be all done hopefully by the end of the week. Since i have been back I have completed a lovely boxer pet portrait which I have added below. Its a returning customer and it was a drawing in graphite pencil on paper to the size of 12 x 10. It was a joy to draw, Jacks got such a cheeky look on his face. Graphite pencil is one of my favourite mediums and i would like to do more if i could.

I hope you enjoy this portrait, the oil portrait i completed just before i went away is dry and i scanned it in today, i will post this asap!

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