Hi All,

The Lord Nelson Portrait is officially finished! It was a lovely day yesterday so Nick took some promo photos of me out in the garden, some with Nelson and some without, which I think came out really lovely. I have used a happy smiley one as my blog welcome on the right : )

We are taking a day off today, we have a list of things to do and people to see, although I have to admit I have been up since half 6 catching up on some website updates for the LAC and a few links exchanges. I’m hoping to get at least an hour in the garden to finish the hanging baskets and plant the leeks and runner beans. Especially considering that we have been blessed with yet another sunny day. Is it finally summer in Wales??!!

Hope you enjoy your weekend where ever you are!

Hi All,

The weather has been so lovely, we decided to take the opportunity to take some photos of me with the three horse portraits. As you can see it is very hot and sunny as im squinting quite a bit, however we weren’t able to utilise any of the other areas in the garden as I was unable to hold all of the paintings at once. As you can see I haven’t signed the paintings or painted the edges of the canvases yet, that’s my next job! I hope you enjoy viewing these photos.

Good Morning!

Up early again today, things have been so busy here in the studio, I have been working pretty much non stop from about 7am till in the evening, with a few stops for food and I’m still behind on emails and composites for clients!  I have been getting organised with clients portraits, trying to work out my schedule as I have had so many commissions lately its taking quite a bit of organisation.

I have drawn out and lined in a few portraits in my clients list ready and am about to start the next 30 x 24 painting of Maxwell as the canvases have now arrived.  Hopefully I will be able to get it drawn out and lined in on Sunday.

Today’s Agenda!
Today I am going to be catching up on composites and some student work to assess, and also send the applicants of the Coloured Pencil course stage two of the application. This is partly why I have added critique snippets the snippets on the left side nav, so that it gives applicants an idea how I assess. They will be asked to assess three pieces of artwork either audio, visual or written. All tutors work differently so its just a guideline. I’m so pleased I have the children’s course finished and I am itching to start overhauling the next now : ) There just aren’t enough hours in the day and unfortunately I need a good 6 or 7 hours sleep to keep going!

Lord Nelson Portrait
The sun is shining today which means I am able to take the painting of Lord Nelson outside to photograph, hopefully Nick will take some pictures of me with it too and I will blog them later. I did a photo shoot of Nick with some of his paintings the other day which I have yet to sort out and pop on his blog (as they are on my pc) so ill upload those for him and he can tell you all about them! There’s a really nice one of him sitting on the garden bench with the two paintings framed with our cat Amram.

Amram Update
Talking of Ammy, I am astounded how well he has responded to these diuretics. After being so poorly, which we felt could possibly be the heart tablets he was on, we honestly nearly put him to sleep it was getting so bad. I am so glad I didn’t make that decision as he has now improved a lot from when I blogged about him last. I even think his fluid has reduced in his body cavity. He still has his bad days, but yesterday was a good day and he was enjoying himself in the garden. As long as he is happy, I am happy! And although we got a rather large bill from the vet, we have got a commission to paint the vets dog and frame it, well nick has in pastel, which is fantastic!

Spaniels Framed
The photos below are of the spaniel painting I completed a few weeks ago, we picked it up from the framers on Sunday and I just love how its come out! The back is almost as good as the front! It has now been mailed to the client and this is just a small snippet from one of her emails : )

Wonderful, Melanie — very excited to know it’s on its way! I can’t wait to see it. Many thanks for all the TLC (tender loving care) you’ve lavished on us. Best, Karen

This is one of my latest framed portraits of Kirby the hunting dog. It works beautifully in the clients setting especially with the duck…does Kirby realise the duck is behind him! : )

This is the final scan of the third horse portrait for an American customer. The client ordered three portraits of her amazing horses and I have thoroughly enjoyed painting them. Actually I’m quite sad to have finished them, but hope she gets as much pleasure from them as I have.

Young Artist Course News!

If you have kids who are budding artists from aged 7 upwards, then this course has been written just for them! I originally wrote it, in association with the London Art College in 2003, as we were aware that a lot of children are home schooled, or parents just wanted to give their kids that little extra help with their art. Children can very easily become frustrated with their drawings, they can get to a certain level on their own, but often get stuck and end up doing something else. With just a little bit of guidance they can sky rocket!

I felt it was the right time to update the course, being six years old they were getting a little tired and needed updating up a bit. So I have been working on and off this last month going through each page, adding and taking out sections. I have finally finished and im so pleased with the results. I now have a new system thought the course with headings – Step By Steps, Mini Challenges, Try it Yourself and Exercises and the young artists can identify these by the same illustrations through the course. Ladybird, Bumble Bee, footsteps and a pencil. Each section of the course dis colour divided too so they will know where they are at all times.

I have added some screen captures of the course itself, I have been careful not to give too larger resolution images for copyright reasons, as I’m sure you can understand, however you are able to see larger versions on my website Young Artists Course 1 and the London Art College website too.

I have also added an edited version of a Young Artist Critique on You Tube which can be seen below and on both my website and the London Art College website, along with a couple of pictures to go with it of the artwork of a ‘before and after’.  Students who send work in electronically receive this kind of audio visual critique which is uploaded to the London Art Colleges Artwork Submission Area where each student has their own secure place to login to view their work and critiques. Those students who prefer to use the postal system receive an audio critique playable in their hifi or computer.

I hope that many of you who are reading this have budding artists as kids and you are more then welcome to contact me at any time about the course, or you can contact the London Art College too. Im off now to start updating the second course and I have already planned the third, the outline was written last year but time has escaped me. It will get done though!

Hello all,

This is a promo photo I have had taken of me with a couple of my recent portraits. Melanie took a variety of pictures around the garden, some even with our cat Amram wandering around in, rolling upside down. He likes to know what’s going on! I hope to use a couple of the photos around our websites and on the blog. It was a lovely sunny day and perfect for a photo shoot.

The final horse painting is nearing completion I am just putting the final touches to it, so I will be blogging it soon. Ill see if I can get a picture of myself with the three paintings as I don’t often do three separate paintings for a client, they are usually all in one so it will be a unique picture for the website.

Hi All,

Yet another framed portrait we picked up from our framer the other week and this one is now on its way to the client. Its a dark walnut frame which we felt complimented the colouring of the dogs coat. This was a larger sized portrait at 24 x 18.

This portrait has been received by the client and she is delighted with the outcome. It is a gift from the client to her husband on their wedding day. We very much like this moulding too, its again another new moulding in our range and its perfect for the smaller pastel portraits. This is a lovely snippet of the clients email when it had arrived…

Just wanted to let you know that the picture has arrived at my parents safely.  Mum said it was ‘Beautiful’.  I wont see it until our wedding day in 4 weeks, i also want it to be a surprise! After our wedding i will be emailing you both to let you know how it went. Even though i haven’t seen it yet, what i have seen on Nick’s blog page it looks so real!! Thank you both so very much for what you have done in capturing lily’s features so well.  I will be back in touch as soon as iv seen it. The very best wishes to you both

Hi,

We are taking a few days break from painting as its a UK holiday here. We have friends visiting so are taking a well deserved rest. We have both been working really hard these last few weeks on our paintings and haven’t allowed ourselves a day off. The weather has just been so rainy it has been good to be able to stay in the dry!

I am nearing completion on the Maxwell Lord Nelson Portrait, I hope to have a final photo by Wednesday at the latest.

Will be back in the studio on Tuesday when it will be the final day for submissions for the coloured pencil course tutor.

Enjoy your weekend too!