PET PORTRAITS

Artwork by Nicholas Beall & Melanie Phillips

Archive for December, 2011

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our past and present cleints a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Our studio will be officially closed from Christmas Eve to New Years Day and we will be back working on the 2nd of January. We arent going away anywhere though so we wont be too far away from our emails if clients need to make contact, but we have lots of friends and family visiting on and off for meals over the holiday, plus my birthday celebrations too, so we do want to make sure we are relaxed and refreshed before going back to work in the New Year.

We have had a very successful year and this has been our business Christmas season ever. We also have the longest waiting list we have ever had going into the New Year, as clients can see by the list on the left.  We are set for a busy start to 2012!

We want to thank all of our clients from 2011 for being wonderful to work with, we have had a fabulous time working with each and every one of you and I think that we must have the best job on the planet! Here’s to a Happy and Successful 2012 to all of us!

Melanie, Nick and Tom!

Happy Christmas from Melanie, Nick and Tom!

Happy Christmas from Melanie, Nick and Tom!

Here is Cheeky’s portrait framed! His proper title is Cool Clover. I have added him on our horse portraits website and you can see his page with lots of photos and info here – Cool Clover >> and I have added the framed images below. I have actually been updating the horse website today, it has a new top splash along with an overhauled main gallery page and a couple of new images on the home page so I think its looking much nicer, a bit tidier and pleasing to look around.

My next job is to finish the gift voucher webpage and a few emails and then I will stop for the day : )

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Cheeky - 'Cool Clover' - Framed!

Here is the framed portrait of Scrap and Ellen. You can see the portrait in full, along with the framed images on the portraits gallery page here – Landscape Portrait of Scrap and Ellen >> I have also added the portrait into our framing page and on our facebook page too. We are really pleased with the way the inner slip draws the eye into the painting, the natural colour of the slip and the colour of the frame works so well with the landscape greens. This portrait was posted today on a 24 hour delivery to the client, so fingers crossed it all arrives safely.

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Scrap and Ellen's Portrait Framed

Here is my second post of the day, I have now added all of the new photos of the racing greyhound portrait and the prints to the website. Also added a few photos below for you all to see. The prints have been added to the prints page >> and the greyhound images to the greyhound gallery page >>

Mike our client visited the studio to collect his portrait and the prints.  I took a photo of Mike and Nick which you can see below along with a few photos of the prints and the painting framed. Nick and I are so thrilled with this painting and the way it came out. I have also added photos of Nick and Mike in our testimonials section too, so you can see them larger if you would like : )

Mike and Nick when Mike visited our studio to collect the painting and prints

Mike and Nick when Mike visited our studio to collect the painting and prints

10 full colour Giclee prints

10 full colour Giclee prints

Greyhound Portrait Framed

Greyhound Portrait Framed

Greyhound Portrait Framed

Greyhound Portrait Framed

This is my first post of the day, hopefully of many catch up posts today.

We have spent the last few days entertaining and going out and about seeing friends, Christmas is a good excuse to catch up with people you don’t get to see for months on end so it has been lovely, and I must say we have drunk more tea and eaten more cake than we have in the last 6 months!  Sunday we had friends to the cottage for the day for a meal and I found a wonderful sticky toffee pud recipe which went down extremely well, so that one will be made again over Christmas.

Today is the first proper day in the studio, and I will be hopefully catching up on emails, packing and posting the last two paintings out which I will photograph and blog and generally sorting things out here. I have some gift vouchers, a webpage and some client orders to post in the list too so hopefully that will all be done by the end of the day.

The first post though is dedicated to David’s portrait which arrived to them safely and they will be opening it on Christmas day. I have been meaning to post the photos of it framed for weeks so here it is! I have added the frames to their webpage too David’s Family Portrait >>

I will be back with more posts later today!

Framed Portrait of David's Wife and their three dogs

Framed Portrait of David's Wife and their three dogs

Framed Portrait of David's Wife and their three dogs

Framed Portrait of David's Wife and their three dogs

The last portraits are currently at the framers and I have completed my final drawing of the year : )  I have added a photo below for al to see. its a huge drawing with multiple dogs on. I stated the drawing a number of years ago and left a few spaces just in case the client wanted future dogs adding and I think we have squeezed the most in that we can : ) The photo hasn’t picked up the whole drawing evenly, there is some shine on the pencil of some of the dogs but this isn’t something I can scan easily due to the size.

I have lots more things to blog soon  : )

Montage by Melanie

Montage by Melanie

Here is the final scan of Cheeky! I am going to be adding Cheeky to the website over the coming days and once he is there I will post a link so you can see some more close ups and details. I have also completed the large montage of dogs, which is too large to scan but I will take a photo as soon as I can. The portrait was started many years ago for some clients we know and I left gaps on the paper for more dogs to be added in the future. There is no room left now : )  I still have lots of photos of things to blog so I will be back shortly!

Oil Portrait of Cheeky 20 x 16 by Nick Beall

Oil Portrait of Cheeky 20 x 16 by Nick Beall

Nick painting the final touches!

Nick painting the final touches!

Nick painting the final touches!

Nick painting the final touches!

Here are the next stages of Cheeky, This is a quick post today we I am at my easel drawing a large collection of dogs and I have done three…three to go! I have lots of photos and things to update the website and facebook with soon so I will be back! Schedule is going well and we are all on course which is good news!

Next stages of Cheeky's oil Portrait

Next stages of Cheeky's oil Portrait

Next stages of Cheeky's oil Portrait

Next stages of Cheeky's oil Portrait

Next Stage of Cheeky

Next Stage of Cheeky

Here are the next stages of Cheeky’s portrait in oils, Nick is getting on well and has been adding tones on the horse and in the background today along with the darker tones too. Its been another busy day, I have collected two portraits from Jane the framer, the lady and three dogs and the greyhound. I have taken photos and will post them tomorrow. The 10 prints of the greyhound arrived too, have taken photos of those as well and will add them to the website, three of them will be framed so they are currently with Jane and I’ll pop photos of them on the blog when we receive them back at the end of the week.

I have also added a few of Nicks oils to our Facebook page today too so if you haven’t already ‘liked’ our page pop on over and we can get connected Melanie & Nicks Facebook >> Its great to be able to keep up with clients over there too, i have been chatting to a variety of customers on there recently and its just wonderful to speak in real time too. We are logged in every day so if you see us online and you need us, just say hi!

Will be back tomorrow with more posts of frames and prints. Also about to start my next commission, a pencil portrait of 4 dogs, but this one is slightly different, I’m adding to a montage of dogs I drew a few years ago, adding more of their dogs on there so ill try to take photos when I’m working on it for all to see.

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Next Stages of Cheeky's Horse Oil Portrait

Good Morning! Half 10 on a Sunday morning and we have just popped into the studio to do a couple of hours work. Im going to be doing some admin, client emails, mock-ups etc and Nick will be continuing on with Cheeky’s portrait which you can see the first stages of below. He intends to add the dark tones in today and I will take a photo during the morning to add to the blog. Hope you all have a good Sunday!

First stages of Cheeky oils on linen 20 x 16

First stages of Cheeky oils on linen 20 x 16

First stages of Cheeky oils on linen 20 x 16

First stages of Cheeky oils on linen 20 x 16