Hi All,

I thought id update you with the painting that’s on my easel. I have been working a lot lately and I have a pencil drawing on the go as well. I have been working on the painting early morning and afternoon and the pencil afternoon, evening. I hope to blog the pencil by the end of the week.

Hope you are well and for the UK, I hope you are all coping in this heat!

Nick and I were asked to present our work in our village last night and we were delighted to be part of it. We have only lived in the village two years and we have been welcomed here so warmly. We moved from about 12 miles away so didn’t really know anyone here, but have met some wonderful people. The evening was to raise money for the village and it was held in our local school (neuadd yr ysgol in welsh) which has been closed for some years but it still a strong part of the community where events and classes are held continually. So we were more than happy to help out and went in the afternoon to set up our artwork and help set out the tables.

We then went back at around 7pm so that nick could prepare his demo drawing, he drew a portrait of a girl from a photo while he was there, so that everyone could see the process. I gave a short speach to introduce us and our work and showed the latest portrait the Rhodesian Ridgeback too. We held a little competition for the children, one of the oldest residents of our village sat for the children so they could draw her and we gave a prize to the winner and sweets for all the rest of the children who entered.  At the end of the evening we were presented with a bottle of wine which was a complete surprise and were were quite overwhelmed and was lost for words when they gave it to us.  We both hope that they raised plenty of money for the school and the village : ) and a couple of photos below show our small set up.

Here is the next stage of the Lake District Painting. Its really awful weather outside, its pouring with rain here I think we are gearing up for a storm! Candles are at the ready in rural Wales..oh and the lights have just dimmed. I had better post this quick!

Hi Everyone,

For those clients who have been watching my blog over the last month or so, might have seen Maxwell as Lord Nelson. I have now started a new painting of Maxwell in a wonderful landscape in the UK. The area in question is in the Lake District which is a National Park in Cumbria and the area, more specifically, is Innominate Tarn. Its is a small tarn situated at 520 metres above sea level, near the summit of Haystacks which is famous huge ‘hill’ in the Lake District. After painting it I think I really have to go and see it for myself. Its not too far only about a 5 hour drive so its definitely on my to do list for a short break when I get the chance!

I will be adding the next stage tomorrow, I will be blocking in the ground plane for Maxwell to stand on which will be grassy, rocky, ochres greens and browns.

This is one of my latest portraits that has been framed by Mike our framer and we love the outcome. The frame is really unsual and it was a special request by the client and we hope to add it to our range very soon. This portrait is being sent off to the client tomorrow for a birthday next month. We hope that they have a wonderful surprise.

This is my latest pencil portrait of a Jack Russell called Paisley. She is unfortunately not with us any longer so I hope this is a wonderful reminder for the whole family. I really enjoyed drawing him especially with those lovely big soft eyes. I just need to add her name to the portrait and she is ready to be packed and posted : )

Hi All,

Heres the final scan of the Rhodesian Ridgeback oil portrait which has been completed for a birthday in July, just in time as it is off to Ireland on Monday. It will be dry by then but its hot off the easel. I have been working on a pencil portrait of a Jack Russell in the drying times of this one and its nearly complete so I will post it asap.

Poor Nick is suffering from Hayfeaver at the moment, its mid summer here and all the grasses are out Its quite hot at the moment but the weather is about to break so im hoping for a few rainy days, which makes a change for me to be wanting wet weather. He suffers quite bad so we are all saying poor Nick at the moment : (

Melanie has been very industrious this weekend while my parents were here and has created a video introduction for our website. Its great for clients who haven’t visited out site before as it not only welcomes them to our site but also gives a quick tour of the main areas of the site too. You can view it on our home page here – pet-portraitartist.com

Heelooo!

We have just had a long weekend off with Nicks parents who came up to visit us from Cornwall and we did not stop! We have attacked the front garden and its now weed free, has plenty of horse manure dug in around the plants and we have covered it in bark and it looks lovely and very cottagey! It took us a good two days to make it weed free and to tidy it up as it was getting a little unruly. I have been able to keep the back garden weed free but the front was getting away from me a little so hopefully it will be easier to maintain now. I will hopefully take some photos for you to see soon.

While Nicks parents were here I re-shot the video that was on the top left of my blog. I have posted it below for you to see and I have also added it to our home page too. I hope you like it : )

Finally we have spent the entire day battling our computers and have done the yearly job of reformatting. I am nearly back together, just have the adobe suite to install, but will try to do that tomorrow as its getting late now.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and also a good fathers day too!

Hi All,

As many of the artists who read my blog may know, I have been looking for a replacement tutor for my coloured pencil course for a long time now. I have many commitments with my pet portraits and as my commissions grow I have to prioritize my time. I adore teaching my students, helping them progress taking their artwork to the next level and I am still teaching my Pet Portrait Diploma and Young Artists Courses. I also look after the London Art College website,  news blog and forum, and so I felt I needed to pass on the coloured pencil course so someone else. I am not as inspired these days with coloured pencil as a medium, most probably due to all my other commitments and I wasn’t able to give the time need to devote to it, and I felt that it really needed to go to someone who could breath new life into the course.

We had quite a few applicants who were all amazing artists and tutors. The second part of the application was to create a mini critique and Nick, myself and the course administrator of the London Art College had a really difficult time to decide who we felt would be best for the job. The final decision came down to three applicants, then to two and the lucky applicant was Julie Douglas!

I would like to thank all of the applicants personally as i know how difficult it is do create the assessments, particularly if you have not had any background training or experience in writing critiques, creating audio critiques or the visual ones too. I wish all of the applicants every success in their future careers  as I know that many of them have a lot to offer and sadly we only had one vacancy.

Julie has allowed us to blog some of her wonderful artwork below, you can view the images larger on the LAC News post I have made and you can visit Julies Website too.

We wish Julie all the success for teaching on the Coloured Pencil course and we hope that she settle in well with our team of tutors!