This is Nicks latest portrait of two lovely and warm dogs by the fireplace. The customer supplied us with a variety of photos, single photos of each dog, and the fireplace with basket and tools and I created a composite so that they were all in the same portrait. I think the final portrait has come out great and each element fits well together.

This is Nicks latest portrait of two dogs by a fireplace which is in pastel to the size of 18 x 14.  Nick started this one last week before the previous horse portrait so it has been adorning the studio this week, I may possibly have another stage to add later on today and I think Nick will be completing it today. We have dog training tomorrow so fingers crossed Tom doesn’t bark as much this week, following on to visiting family and we have been invited out again Saturday evening (last Saturday was wine tasting Spanish night) so hopefully Sunday we will have a final scan.

We had a request from a lady in the US who commissioned a portrait from another artists and she wasn’t happy with the outcome. She needed the portrait for a special date and so contacted us to see if we could do this for her. We felt so bad that she had a terrible experience with another artist that we accepted the commission and Nick has worked extra hard to get the portrait finished for her. We now have the task of getting the portrait framed asap to send to the recipient in Scotland. They have a pony stud and this portrait is one of their beautiful horses. It bank holiday weekend this weekend so I am hoping we can frame it in time.

Nick has been experimenting with different pastel papers this year and thinks he has finally found the best paper for him. This portrait has been completed on Sennelier paper, a big thanks to our friend Diane for giving us a sample to try. He doesn’t work on Velour any longer as he felt it wasn’t allowing him to progress and take his portraits to the next level.  He has recently been using the Clairefontaine Pastelmat which he found to be a very good support, but a little smooth.  This Sennelier paper allows him to achieve the balance between soft and sharp detailed techniques that he has been looking for. I think the choice of materials an artist uses is a very personal one and what works well for one artist may not be the best for another. Its always good to experiment.

I will be adding the first stage of Nicks next portrait soon as he has already started, however I first wanted to blog these photos of Maxwell’s paintings the owner kindly emailed to me this week. I’m not sure if any of you will remember but last year I painted a lovely black Labrador as Lord Nelson dressed in all his regalia and also in the beautiful scenic Lake District.

The client has the original paintings at home in the UK (I added photos of these a while ago and they are on our main website), he also had prints of the paintings, these are hanging in the clients office at his villa in Menorca and also on his Yacht. I will hopefully be adding all these photos to the website soon as I’m slowly but surely completing the updates needed.

The photos below show the prints hanging on his Yacht.

We had a lovely day today as clients travelled all the way from Devon to visit us and to pick up their portrait. Nick painted their three chocolate Labradors and you can see our clients with their portrait below, they very kindly posed for us in front of our fireplace.

They bought two of their beautiful chocolate Labradors with them, their eldest they left with family while they travelled. Its so strange to actually meet the dogs in person as we dont often get a chance to do this. We feel we become very familiar with the dogs as we study the photos so much and see them come to life on the easel. To meet them in real life its very odd  – you instantly recognise them and feel you know them!

Both Liz and Steve run Blagdon Manor – www.blagdon.com which is a beautiful dog friendly hotel in Devon, UK. Have a look at their website and you will see Nutmeg, Cassia and Mace on there too. Nicks portrait will be hung in the hotel and they also had prints made for their family. Once Tom is happy to meet other dogs without barking we hope to take Tom down there, it will be great to go away and take him with us. We will keep attending the training classes!

Tom enjoyed the meeting too, he obviously didn’t meet the labs as we are still working through his doggy issues but he certainly enjoyed some fuss and attention from their owners. Everyone seems to fall in love with Tom when they meet him, I think its his huge brown eyes and his blonde eyelashes : )

We have just received photos from our client who has taken photos of her mum and Honey the dog with the portrait that Nick drew for them a few weeks ago. These photos will be wonderful for the website and I hope to add them soon.

Here is the final photo of the pastel Portrait of Paco. Its a 20 x 16 portrait and I will hopefully be taking it to the framers this week. It will be framed in the same moulding as the chocolate Labrador and that moulding is now nicknamed the Choc Lab moulding! I think it will be a popular design with our clients.

Tom did well in his training this morning and we finished it just in time before it poured down. He still barks and will do for a while, however the trainer is pretty sure he isn’t scared of the other dogs, she has been watching and monitoring him, we think he’s now just in the habit of barking. What’s wonderful its that the other people in our group have all gone through this before, most of them have said their dogs were the same and have all improved since they ahve been going to training. I think it will take a good couple of months but I will be relieved when he does stop as it will be a lot less stressful!

This is the next stage to Nicks pastel portrait and he’s getting on really well with it and its looking lovely here in the studio. Its never the same in photos as you cant see the softness to the portrait and also the light he has created emanating from the cushion but hopefully the final photo will show this.

This is a portrait I did about a month ago and the client has very kindly taken some wonderful photos of the portrait framed and she also had some taken with herself and the portrait too. I cant thank clients enough when they take the time to do this for me as it just makes the website so special. I am working on the London Art College website today and then I will be getting back to the main site updates and this will be added to it. Its been so busy with things happening in the studio these last couple of weeks, sorting out clients and packing portraits that I haven’t been able to get to it.

Tom’s Training ….

We have also started new training classes for Tom. We had been trying to go to our local classes which were in the town hall, however it just wasn’t working out. It was more of a voluntary scheme with three or four trainers and although we had paid for the use of the hall for the year and the beginners 7 week class we hadn’t actually started the classes as Tom has such difficulty with other dogs. We took him to the hall for 17 weeks just to sit in the hall and watch the other dogs but in the end had to admit defeat. It just wasn’t working for us or Tom and we kind of lost faith in it all. We began looking around for another trainer which could possibly help his fears and scocilaization specifically and we found a lady about 40 minute drive from us. We went to her for 3 one to one sessions and we have now joined her rescue class, the first of which was last Saturday.

The great thing about it is that the classes are held in her ménage outside, which is so much better for Tom than to be cooped up in a hall. Also all of the other dogs have the same or similar issues as Tom. There are about 8 other people and they have all said that their dogs were like Tom, fearful of other dogs and some even said their dog have a fear of people in the home and sudden movements. Its great to know we are not alone! The other bonus is that the trainer has loads of agility equipment which is integrated as part of the training and Tom absolutely loves it! He jumps the jumps, he weaves the weaves, he goes through the tunnel – he is a natural! We are hopefully going to make our own jumps in our garden so he can have fun at home too…that’s Nicks next DIY project : )

Here is the portrait of Honey and Mum framed and I’m just about to pack it up ready to post. Its a lovely honey frame and our framer has hand finished it with wax which we are really pleased with. I hope you like it!