Sat 30 Jan 2010
Spinone Portrait in Oils – stage one
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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Archive for January, 2010
Monthly Archive
Fri 29 Jan 2010
Final Scan of Pencil Drawing Pet Portraits
Posted by Melanie Phillips under Dog Portraits, People & Pets Portraits
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This portrait is for a returning customer, I completed a portrait of Rhodes last year in oils and also a pencil drawing of their family’s dearly departed Newfoundland. This portrait will be sent over seas to Australia next week and I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like hanging on their walls in a slightly warmer climate than the UK!
Thu 28 Jan 2010
The Final Scan of Collie Jack – The Paintings creation
Posted by Melanie Phillips under Painting Creations
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Here is the final scan of Jack, an oil painting on linen canvas 12 x 10. You should be able to view the entire paintings creation in the flash sideshow below. As you can see I have rearranged the client list into months so that its easier for us to organise. We are a little behind in our schedule, so Duncan and Wilson are in the process of being painted as its for a Valentines gift which really isn’t too far away! The portrait is going off to America so it needs a week in transit, so hopefully I will be posting the first 3 or 4 stages tomorrow. Samantha has completed her first stage of drying and hopefully will be back on the easel mid week next week.
We have been offline for a couple of days as we have been reformatting our computers. We have upgraded to windows 7 and so far we love it. Much better and an improvement over Vista. It snowed here yesterday too, we have about an inch outside, but its quite sunny today so I am sure it will melt in a few days.
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Wed 27 Jan 2010
Next stages to Jack, the collie in Oils
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This portrait was started way back at the beginning of January, you might have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the start of it. I will hopefully be adding the final stage tomorrow, so ill post it in flash format so that you can see all the stages together and see how it started from the initial line drawing to the final strokes : )
Mon 25 Jan 2010
Final of Charlie in Oils on Canvas – The Paintings Creation.
Posted by Melanie Phillips under Painting Creations
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Charlie is now complete! The client was thrilled with the final image and said “…..The final result is brilliant. Please go ahead as it is as there is nothing I would want to change – it’s just perfect! Can’t wait to give it to mum and see her reaction – I know we are going to be keeping the tissues flowing!!…..” Im just about to pack up the portrait and send it in the post just in time for the birthday at the end of January.
I have completed a pencil drawing of the New Foundland which is also for a birthday deadline and I will blog that as soon as its scanned!
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Fri 22 Jan 2010
Next stage to the dog portrait in oils
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This is the next stage to the portrait of Charlie, I should have a final photo to blog tomorrow.
Thu 21 Jan 2010
Next Stage of Charlie!
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This is the next stage of Charlies pet portrait, the light has reflected on the surface of the painting unfortunatley so I will make sure the next photo is a little clearer!
Wed 20 Jan 2010
Cat Portraits in Oils on Canvas
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This is the startings of two cat paintings in oils on canvas.
Fri 15 Jan 2010
Posted by Melanie Phillips under All Work in Progress
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This is the first stages of a lovely little dog who is sadly not with us any longer. She was called Samantha and the portrait is in oils opn Linen to the size of 24 x 18. The portrait is now in a drying stage and I am just working on drawing in the cat portraits. I’m going to be working on them both together so that I can get the colours similar throughout.
Thu 14 Jan 2010
Drifts in Wales
Posted by Melanie Phillips under Our Personal News
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This is just a quick post to show you the drifts of snow. Our road has actually been dug out with big digger / snow ploughs – one of which got stuck and had to be pulled out by a jcb! These photos are the two lanes going off of our road, you can see one has been dug out as there are two farms down there but the other has just been left. I would imagine there’s at least 3 to 4 foot of snow in places on the road itself where its drifted.
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.