PET PORTRAITS

Commission a Portrait - by Melanie & Nicholas

Archive for November, 2010

Here are the first stages of the double dog portrait I have been working on in oils to the size of 18 x 14. I thought I would wait until Nick had completed the pastel horse portrait so that all of the stages of this portrait were together. Nick is starting back next on the large oil painting of Stig on a Scotland beach. I have taken one photo of it already so will post it when this one is complete. its looking lovely already.

oil dog portrait

Next stage to Dog Oil Portrait

oil dog portrait

First stage of Oil Pet Portrait

Here is the final scan of Nick portrait of Monty and his owner. Its come out really well and we are hoping the recipient will be thrilled. Its a 24 x 18 pastel portrait and will hopefully be framed later this week. The weekend was busy for us both, dog training on Saturday, with an old freind visiting in the afternoon and then sunday I baked the Christmas cake and made picked onions and christmas chutney. I think this is the most organised I have been. We are both on schedule for the completion of this years portraits and I will post my double oil portrait of Pippa and Cracker tomorrow as I have a fair few stages to add.

people and horse portraits

pastel horse portraits

pastel horse portraits

This is the next stage of the horse portrait with his owner. Its coming together well now and Nick has started to put the undertones of the owner in.

shire horse portraits

As you can see Nick has got quite far on this portrait, the background is now all in and it gives a lovely backdrop to the horse and the owner. The colours are fresh, fitting the light of the day and Nick has omitted the houses and buildings which were in the background of the photo.

shire horse portraits

This is today’s stage with Nick working on the portrait, he has started to block in the dark areas of the horse using pastel sticks.

portraits in pastel

This is the very first stage of Nick drawing out the shire horse portrait with his owner. The portrait is a 24 x 18 in pastel and I think its going to be a stunning piece. As you can see Nick drew the horse and his owner out in pencil to start with (so he could erase anything if necessary) and is now starting to add the pastel in very carefully so he doesn’t loose his initial lines. Of course with something like this you have to keep drawing and redrawing through the process, to make sure everything is correct. I’m looking forward to seeing this one complete, it will be a good one for the website.

portraits in pastel

portraits in pastel

This is Nicks portrait of Jemima framed in a lovely black curved frame that works really well with the colours in the portrait. I have added this frame to our website and you can see larger images on our framing page.

Both Nick and I have been very busy, we have drawn out and blocked in most of the portraits in oils for Christmas so that they can sit in the drying rack for a while to dry. Nick is doing the very large oil painting of Stig and the 12 x 10 of Ellie and I am doing the other three oils – Dani, Monty and the double portrait of Pippa and Cracker. I will add the first stages of Pippa and Cracker here soon, I don’t want to add too many at once, other wise it will become a little confusing.

While Nick is waiting for the large oil paintings first stage to dry, hes working on the pastel portrait of Monty and his owner, you can see the photo composite the client list on the right and I will add the first stages tomorrow. I have taken a few of Nicks hand holding the pastel working on the portrait which have come out well, so I will to add those for you to see.

framed cat portrait in pastel

framed cat portrait in pastel

We have now received the pastel horse portrait back from the framer and it has been framed in a traditional wooden frame which I think really brings out Chester’s coat colouring well. Hopefully it will be on its way to the client this week and I have added it onto our framing page on our website too – Traditional Line Frame. I have also picked up the cat portrait so I will blog that asap too!

portraits in pastel framed

portraits in pastel framed

Its that time of year when you are usually thinking about what on earth you can buy your family and friends for Christmas. In this day and age where its so easy to buy anything and everything, from a real shop or a virtual one, most of us have everything we need and more….apart from perhaps an original Melanie or Nick portrait! Purchase one of our gift vouchers and the recipient can commission us in 2011 for a portrait of  their dog, cat, horse, children, grandchildren…even the pet ferret!

This year we are offering a beautiful Pet Portraits Gift Voucher pack and to accompany our professionally printed blank 7 x 5 glossy cards, you will also receive our newly designed and professionally printed flyers, postcards, business cards along with your gift voucher and a personalised letter. These are all packed in a plain white board backed envelope so that it doesnt ruin any surprises through the post. Alternatively we can email you all of our material for you to print on your home printer – handy if you are really late…and we have done this for clients the day before Christmas Eve!

If the recipient is online over Christmas and you would prefer a virtual voucher, then we can create them a unique and personalised webpage with photos of their pet, poems, messages from family, photos of the family and even the composite of how the portrait is going to look if aplicable. This, along with a message from Nick and myself the voucher can create a stunning and ultra unique gift for Christmas.

All of our gift voucher recipients can contact us in the New Year to arrange photos, composites and they can have input into how their portrait can look – plus watch their portrait develop on our blog – something that they will be delighted with. Eveyone can add to their voucher for any portraits –  size and medium plus frames.

You can read more about our gift vouchers, online webpages and view some photos of our voucher packs on our website – Pet Portraits Gift Vouchers – and don’t hesitate to email us at any time if you have any questions!

gift voucher pet portraits

Here’s the pastel portrait of Kenny and Mac framed, I hope to send it off to their owners in the next few days. The ‘Honey Wide Frame’ works really well with their colouring. Its a very traditional frame that works well with a lot of our portraits and matches with a wide variety of home décors too, so its quite popular with our clients. Hope you like it!

framed pet portraits

framed pet portraits