Fri 29 Sep 2006
Progress of the “Shelties” Pet Portrait
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This stage feels better as im adding the colours of the dogs now and they are looking more ‘sheltie like’!
Stage three, because this portrait is a large size its taking more time to block in the main colours, making sure i keep the lines of the original drawing underneath.
Here i’m continuing to block in the main colours for stage two.
Stage one. Drawing out and blocking in the main colours.
Welcome to our Portraits In Progress Blog. Our portraits are posted here in stages so that everyone can see their portrait develop, along with news from the studio and Tom our rescue dog. Don't hesitate to contact us at any time!
Nick will be completing this 16 x 12 Pastel Portrait, framed and it is for a client in Ireland. They wanted Max depicted with his coat on, sitting in his favourite place. 
These two 10 x 8 portraits will be created in Pencil, by myself (Melanie) and they are hopefully going to be with the client in the USA by the 1st of October for a birthday surprise. We have created portraits for this client before so these will be a lovely addition to their collection. 
This portrait is going to be a 16 x 12 in pastel by Nick. We have completed portraits for these clients in the UK before and this is for a well overdue birthday present!
This will be a 20 x 16 pastel portrait for a UK client and will be added to Nicks horse portraits website as soon as its complete. I think this one will be a stunning one!
This is a 16 x 12 pastel portrait which we will frame for our client who is in the US. Nick will create a subtle mottled background for these two dogs, so that it compliments their coat colours.
This is a special portrait for us as it is for a lady who lives very close to us here in Wales. When we first moved to our cottage she had Dai who sadly has since passed away. We feel very lucky to have met him. This will be a 16 x 12 portrait framed by our local framer. 
This portrait is to be a birthday gift for a UK client on the 5th of October so Nick will be starting this one soon. Its going to be a 12 x 10 oil portrait, sadly Sonny isn't with us any longer so it will be a wonderful surprise to the recipient. 
This is a Christmas commission and its a 12 x 10 portrait which Nick will create in pastel. We will frame this with our local framer. 
Here is a beautiful dog called Ellie and this will be a 12 x 10 portrait that Nick will paint in Oils for a UK client. It will be a great portrait for the website, I hope to take plenty of photos in its development. 
This portrait is going to be completed by myself (Melanie) in oils on canvas for a previous client in the UK. The last portrait I created in early January was a surprise gift for her mums birthday and you can see photos on 
All of the paintings you see on our blog are commissions from clients worldwide. We traditionally hand paint or draw every pet portrait ourselves. There's no digital trickery involved! We start by drawing out the image by hand and follow on with painting in oils, pastel or in pencil and you can follow each stage we make here on the blog on a daily basis.