Happy Halloween to Everyone! We have carved pumkins this year as usual, its one of my favourite things to do this time of year and I never seem to grow out of it, im a big kid at heart! I love to roast the pumpkin seeds too. Its something that we don’t take too seriously and have a bit of fun, along with some food and wine. Chocolate fondue always goes down a treat! Heres some photos of our pumpkins and fire. Cosy!

These Westies have been completed for a UK client and she has ordered them as a thank you present for when she graduates for her family. The client has also ordered two prints and I will get Melanie to take photos of everything as a record.

The large Horse painting I have been working on last week is very nearly dry enough now for me go back to and I will work on it until its complete. I’m really looking forward to going back to it, its looking great here sitting in the studio. I have a wedding pencil drawing in progress too so I will blog this when its finished.

One of my clients visited the cottage today to collect her portrait. She travelled from Jersey as her family live up here so she coincided the two. She chose me on the internet and it was just a coincidence that we didn’t live far from her family so this is the second time she has visited. I love meeting my clients as I don’t often get the chance. I keep saying that one day I will hand deliver my paintings around the world : ) We took a photo of her with her portrait as you can see below.

This is a portrait I have created for a US client and sadly ‘Furball’ has passed, however this will hopefully be a great reminder for them. The client wanted it to be a surprise for her husband and so this was one of the only photos she had of their cat, I think hes in the process of licking his fur : ) She wanted him to be portrayed outside in grass and flowers, opposed to the photo next to the owners computer, so I added a grassy background which creates movement and interest within the piece. Fingers crossed the portrait now arrives safely and on time.

This is my latest portrait on pencil of Barney the Jack Russell, who is absolutely so cute turning his head to one side, I have really enjoyed drawing him. My next portrait is for the London Art college owners and I will tell you more about it in my next post : )

This is the next stage of the horse portraits in oils on linen. The portrait is a 20 x 30 size canvas and my next stage is to strength up the reins, the white areas and then it will need a couple of days drying time.

Here are some absolutely wonderful photos my client Rebecca has just sent me, they are superb im over the moon! I love it so much when clients are able to send me photos like these as it not only enables me to see the portrait framed, but also with the dog and owner too as I don’t often get a chance to see what the owners look like : ) I especially love the one of Charlie brown looking at his portrait – I wonder what he was thinking??!! : )

These are the next stages to my horse portrait in oils on linen canvas. The full portrait has to be quite small to fit on the page, so I have taken separate photos of each horse so that you are able to see them a little closer. My next step is to now add the background.

I have been working on a beautiful horse over this last week called Dimple. The client requested a green field / tree background to give the impression the horse was outside in the field, and I think this has worked well with the composition. I will be emailing a high res scan to the owner and if you require any changes I will be more than happy to alter the portrait for them.

Here is the final scan of Zachs Pet Portrait : ) I have really enjoyed working on his portrait, especially as he was the first to be on the new canvas we are using. I cant get over how smooth it is to work on, particularly for the detailed areas. Zach is now completely dry and ready to post to overseas.

I’m not sure if anyone abroad has heard of the UK’s postal strikes planned for later in the week, but rest assured it wont affect sending the portraits as these are sent either special delivery, parcel force  or International Signed for, so they shouldn’t be effected by the postal system.

If any of my students happen to be reading this too, I do have a batch of work to send back, so if yours is one of them it will possibly be a little delayed. If anyone is contemplating sending anything, perhaps wait a few days, or you are more than welcome to send them digitally by uploading them to the Artwork Submission Area. Just drop me a line if you need any help.

I’m going to be working on a couple of assessments this morning and then carrying on a pencil portrait I ahve already started, called Barney. He’s a cute Jack Russell and I will post the final scan asap! : )