I have been working on three portraits this week, this pet portrait, a triple dog portrait and a lab with a green background. Here is the final scan of the coloured pencil portrait. This was on 10 x 8 fabriano paper and the client was very pleased with the outcome. I will blog the lab later as its very nearly complete. Its been lovely here this week in the studio, the weather has been beautiful and they said on the news that it has been the warmest April since records began! Lucky UK! Anyway more pet portraits to follow!

This is my latest pet portrait just off the easel, a portrait in coloured pencil to the size of 16 x 12 of two gorgeous Irish Wolfhounds. I’m just about to complete a small coloured pencil of a dach that i will post in about a day or so!

Hi everyone,

It again has been quite a long time since i blogged any of my pet portraits work in progress, however if you have been keeping up with my work in progress pages on my website and my pet showcase blog you’ll know that i have painted and drawn a few portraits without any progress steps. This is mainly due to time factor as I have been working really hard of late doing some overtime to get a little caught up. Im still working to a 14 week timetable and we have planned a 3 week break in july so i need to get myself organized before then!

So the main portrait i have completed over these last few weeks is absolutely huggeeee! It was my first commission from japan and it is 30 x 20 on fine grain stretched canvas. There are some steps below, but it doesn’t really show it at its best, there were so many stages it would have been impossible to show them all. I started back in January and blocked in the basics and background and have been dipping in and out every since.

In my spare time i have been working on a portrait for my mother-in-law to give as a 60th birthday present. We sneakily took photos of their dogs, on the presence that we want to go for a walk on a sunny Sunday morning and could we take the dogs! Great white lie as it worked perfectly and the owners were none the wiser! They will be receiving the portrait next week and i know that they will be really pleased as the lab cross is getting older now and they are already worrying about loosing her so its the perfect gift for them. They were both great posers and modeled for us well – plus we got exercise at the same time! :)

Well i can honestly say this painting is one of the largest i have completed. Its a 30 x 20 and is for my very first client in Japan. It has taken a jolly long time to paint too..and don’t even ask me how i scanned it in! It took me pretty much all day yesterday and was like a puzzle putting it altogether. But here it is – finally! I started it back in January, i drew it out and painted in the background and let the background dry. I then blocked the dogs heads in and left them to dry. Then i started on the painting and detail. I had to do other portrait in between for a couple of reasons, one for deadlines and two because it was such a mammoth task i needed to keep looking at it with fresh eyes. So finally its now complete! I hope that you all enjoy it! :)

I really enjoyed painting this pet portrait. There aren’t any work in progresses for it unfortunately, i needed to get cracking with it and so taking photos and uploading them to my pet portrait website takes time. As i mentioned in my previous post i have been snowed under with my paintings and so im working flat out at the moment. It was lovely actually to work through it without having to stop, I painted on a 10 x 8 fine canvas in oils.

Its been busy as usual over the last few weeks since i have blogged about my pet portraits, i have completed quite a few portraits along with a few upheavals here in the studio. One day last week we didn’t have any electricity due to the replacement of poles in our area and yesterday no water! Its likely that there will be some more days without electric as they have more work to do, so a few days off on the horizon. I am unable to work without a lamp and of course no emails!

However i have still been working hard, i have been doing a lot of overtime actually as i am still behind and have an ever growing waiting list so i need to get a bit caught up with things. Hence working most evenings and weekends. This is one of the paintings I have completed, if you look at my work in progress blog you will see that i repainted the background as it wasn’t working dark. Once it was lightened it tied everything together. It will take slightly longer to dry now so its safely in the drying rack adorning the studio! This particular pet portrait was painted on 16 x 12 in oil on canvas.

I’m about to post a couple more pictures so stay tuned!