Here’s Nicks Next Pastel Painting and its a bespoke size, pretty large at 19 x 28 inches. I think the photos have come out a little bluer than the original however when I take the final photo with the photography lights Ill make sure the colour is correct. I have some lovely photos to blog of a client with a portrait  next and also Paco’s portrait is framed and ready to send to the client so I will also add photos of that too!

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.

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.

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.

Lots happening in the studio today. Here’s the next stage of Nicks pastel portrait and we have collected the portrait of ‘Honey & Mum’ which I will blog in a jiffy! We have also posted the double portrait of the cats off this morning too. I’m just about to pack up the new framed portrait and also the pencil portraits of the 5 separate portraits of dogs I drew about a month ago, they are heading off to Australia this week. Will post some images of the frame asap.

This is Nicks next pastel painting that’s on his easel, he has actually been working on it for the last few days, however I have been a little behind with the blog. It is a 20 x 16 pastel portrait and will be framed using the same moulding as the Chocolate Labrador. These are the first three stages. We are off to collect the pencil drawing from the framers tomorrow so I will take photos and post them soon too.

The portrait of the Labrador in oils on canvas is going well. Here’s my latest stage. Nicks just nipped to the framers to collect the two portraits, I have stayed behind as I have a bit of a cold : (

Here’s the next stage of the portrait with the background blocked in, I have gone for a very neutral graded background using some nice umbers, ochres and warm tones adding the darks and lights to fit with the tonal ranges of the dog.

This is my next portrait in oils on canvas to the size of 12 x 10, I have got Nick to take some arty shots of me painting and am quite happy with his photography skills! I will be adding some more photo tomorrow as I have already blocked the background in but haven’t taken any photos yet. Back soon!

This is the next stage to the Portrait that’s currently on Nicks easel. He’s doing well with it. The weather is quite dull in the studio today so the colours haven’t come out quite as expected. I’ll get the photography lights out for the next photo I think.

We have had a lovely couple of days, we had relatives visit and we all went to see Toy Story 3d which was fantastic. It was quite sad, but it was extremely good. This is my first 3d film and its nothing like the cardboard glasses affair we had when we were kids. It was really quite real. We have a new snazzy cinema opened near us so the screen was so sharp too, everything was so clear. I love animated films and now with 3d they are even better. Well worth a visit and our visitors enjoyed it even though I did have to sit for the whole film with my little niece on my lap holding her glasses on! She loved it though! : )