It has been so long since I blogged, Melanie and I have been really busy in the studio these last few weeks and my blog has slipped. Melanie seems to keep up with hers but I do have difficulty it doesn’t come easy, she is much more organised than I.

So here are a few of the portraits I have been working on. The oil horse was for a birthday gift a few weeks ago in the US and it arrived on time. This was for a returning customer and they were thrilled, I was glad to be able to get it to them on time.

This next one is a pastel portrait for a client in the US of their cat called Mango. I really enjoyed working on this one, I love portraying cats and this was such an unusual colour. This client has ordered before, I portrayed Gizmo for them which you will find on the blog a few months ago.

This is my latest horse portrait and its just about to go to the framers to be framed, im just waiting on the client to decide which frame they would like. Its a large portrait at 20 x 16 in pastel on velour.

I have completed two cats for a Canadian client and I will scan these today and hopefully blog them here too. I also will try to keep the blog more up to date. I still have about 4 more over seas portraits to do which need to be completed before the last posting date on the 10th of December so im trying to work quite long hours at the moment to make sure everyone is completed and the correct amount of time is spent on them.

I hope you enjoy viewing them.

Hi Everyone,

Well quite a strange thing happened, I was going to blog the pencil drawing that I have just completed, its been accepted and im giving it to the framer today. I was going to blog the stages and the final portrait however as a coincidence a member of the owners family has also enquired about a portrait and so im unable to put it here in fear of ruining any surprises!

Luckily the Dalmatian in oils was dry enough to scan so im blogging the stages i and final portrait. Im really pleased with this one. Its emailed to the customer and this is my final over seas portrait which can be sent early next week. I need to make sure all of my overseas portraits are sent before the end of the month. I like to make sure that they are sent before December as although the last posting date is the 10th I have tried to send them in December itself and they have often taken longer due to the volume of Christmas mail.

Poor Nick still has about 3 or 4 portraits for overseas so he is working really hard. He needs to update his blog, maybe I will help him write it today as he is slow at typing : )

The big portrait arrived to its destination yesterday, i was so pleased, as Andrea telephoned me from Philadelphia as soon as she had unwrapped it. She said it took her about 10 minutes to get it out of all the bubblewrap! – im known for making sure the portraits are safe so copious amounts of bubblewrap are always used. Its so funny to hear from the customer, sometimes they are lost in a sea of it : ) Anyway she was absolutely delighted with it and she said the colours match perfectly to their room and it couldn’t be better so I was delighted!

Anyway im off now to write a line fo text under the pencil drawing i have just completed and then im starting a spaniel. My second to last portrait in oils for Christmas deadlines : )

Hope you are all well and busy too…only 25 days till Christmas!

Hi All,

Here is the portrait of Pete I spoke about yesterday. I have taken a photo of the prints they ordered, and hopefully this will go on the website at some point. I’m ready to start the pencil drawing this morning and I will add stages as I go!

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing ok on artwork for Christmas deadlines if you are an artist reading this. With under a month left now its very busy here in the studio and im sure it is in many other artists studios across the land. I’m wishing everyone the best of luck as this time of year can be a struggle to get everything done. We are certainly putting in the hours to make sure everything is perfect for the portraits for Christmas delivery.

I think one of the most important things in a working studio is to be organised…it can be an organised mess ; ) but to be organised is imperative. There is so much to think about this time of year, for us here its important to remember everything that each client needs, especially with the two of us, with twice as many clients to organise it can be a little confusing at times. Also with so many enquiries for next year, organising that too becomes very complicated. At the moment its difficult to to set dates for delivery for 2009 as im finding it hard to see passed the few days off im soooo looking forward to at Christmas! Its been non stop here and im certainly looking forward to putting my feet up by the fire!

I have completed the collie (below) and I also had an email from a previous client who sent me a copy of their portrait framed which i have aslo added below the collie. Both customers were delighted with their portraits, the collie was for a birthday at the end of this week and it arrived in Canada just in time which i was so pleased about.

I have just finished a lovely dog called Pete and i will blog that tomorrow as I have done a few prints for them too so I have taken some photos of the portrait and prints together so ill try to add them here for all to see. I’m off to the post office with the portrait of Pete and the prints tomorrow, along with some of Nicks portraits as he is working through his slowly too.

My next portrait is a pencil portrait and I will hopefully have work in progress of this one!

Hi All,

As they say in Blue Peter heres one I made earlier : ) This has been on the easel in between the big portrait and has been sent off for framing today. I will hopefully have a picture of it framed in the next few days and i will blog it here as soon as i get it. The client is delighted and cant wait to receive it.

This is my third to last portrait in oils for clients before Christmas, I have a collie that nearly done and a dalmation thats coming along nicely, which i have actually been taking work in progress of so i will start to add that soon, and then another little dog called Pete. So its all been go!

I need to get these portraits ready and dry to send before the end of this month. I like to have all of my portraits for over seas sent before the start of december just in case of any delays or queries. Fingers crossed they will all arrive on time.

Will blog the collie soon : )

Hi Everyone!

I had a minor amendment on the airdale on his whiskers today, but the clients feedback is wonderful, they love it. So I took the opportunity to have a photo taken of me with it so that it gives a better scale to the size. I have also added a similar photo of me with the painting on my oil gallery page of my website.

I have very nearly completed the Labradors painting (reference photo left) and so I will take a photo of it later today for the blog. Its also a large one its a 24 x 18 size so ill hopefully have a picture with me with that one too. I don’t have any work in progress of this one. I think I mentioned on the blog before I went away that I have got about 5 oil paintings on the go at once as they all need to be sent before the last posting date of the 10th of December as they are for the USA. So most of these portraits dont have work in progress, but im more concerend about making sure the portraits are of a high standard and taking my time over them, than blogging stages at this time of year. I then have some pencil portraits and an oil painting for deadlines for the UK and then i can relax for a few days! Nick has lots of pastels to do too, hes as busy as I am and I think hes falling behind on his blog! I will have to nudge him in the right direction me thinks  ; )

The forum competition has now closed and the winners have been announced! Pollyanna Pickering has chosen a first and second prize winner and also two commendations which is wonderful, everyone did such a fantastic job and i only wish i had prizes for everyone. I am so proud of them all! You can see the winners at this link – http://www.pet-portraitartist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6891 and you can read the forum members replies and view the larger pictures of the tiger artwork too. So a big thank you to all who entered and also a big thank you to Derwent and Pollyanna Pickering! A good end to 2008! We will definitly have another next year…i just gotta work out what it will be! : )

Here is the final photo of the Airedale portrait. I hope that you all like it! Its fully dry and so all i need to do is sign it and make sure I pack it up well. I have ordered lots of bubblewrap for all the Christmas portraits so the studio is over brimming with bubbles : )

I have been working on a double head portrait of some labs so I will post that tomorrow, you can see the mockup of them left.

Here is a completely up to date stage of the ‘Big portrait’ as I have just taken a photo. I’m coming into the final stretch, im working on the background and have done 90% of the dog, i want to finish the background and then bring out the dog and also add more detail on the grass in front. When the final grass and detail goes on the dog it will pull them forward and hopefully distance the background a little more. I will post another stage probably Wednesday as im out of the studio tomorrow : )

Hi All,

Well im still working on the big painting, I have done a half day today as we had to help with teh cattle back at the farm so its been a busy day. We are sneaking off to get fish and chips for tea yeay!  I have taken a photo of the portrait, i have found the larger sizes portraits are much more difficult to take photos of because of them fisheyeing, so it has distorted the picture a little so ill have to take sure the final photo is exactly straight and zoomed in a little to try to avoid this. Its coming along, I have been working on the body and some of the background and im going to spend the day tomorrow on the head I think. Hopefully it will allow the head to stand off the background as i will deepen the eyes and nose quite a bit. The its on to the sunflowers and flowers down the side.

Off for tea…

Just a quick post today to show everyone a couple more pics of the Airedale portrait! The first picture is the latest stage, you can see i have been working from the top right of the portrait going down the side, and today I have been working on the dog itself.