Bonnie

Bonnie

rabbit

rabbit

Lisa

Lisa
colour 8x10

Mrs Blore

Mrs Blore
graphite 8x10

Oakley

Oakley

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artbykarieann
I am a part-time pet portrait and wildlife artist living in the deep dark forest between the Royal Forest of Dean, Herefordshire and the Welsh border. A beautiful and inspiring place to live and create pet portraits and wildlife art.
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Friday 19 June 2009

springer spaniel pet portrait

Not too much of an update on Brodie's pet portrait. This past week has been quite tiring at the day job so I've not done much at all. At least Brodie has 4 legs now and can stand up! I'm still trying to figure out the background but I am working on it I promise!
And talking of work, this was the lovely place we ended up at on Thursday, it's a fishing pond near a place called Steam Mills. This is a man made pond created by the Forestry Commission, isn't it lovely!
I even managed to spot some of the local wildlife (it turned out to be a foreigner who has moved in permanently into this country...a mandarin duck and her little ducklings)
And here they are hard at work, it was quite a busy day with the boys felling some difficult tress and then me trying to help drag them up a bank, I did get ran over by a tree at one point!
As you can see, nothing is ever easy, there were some harder trees to fell, this involved them having to be roped and dragged back in by hand, I found myself on the end of the rope many times and boy did my arms ache afterwards!
And poor Willow was not impressed at all, as she isn't worried by the noise of the chainsaws I did tie her up out of harms way as the trees were felled because I thought she may have come to investigate, even then she narrowly escaped a tree falling on her as it was taller than expected and fell short by about a foot, she just lay down but never stirred!
Anyway, it turns out she was smarter than I gave her credit for and simply moved even further away when let off her lead to sit and watch us from a more comfortable distance. You can just see her ears poking up.
And today was another steam rally, I've added a few pics to my flickr account and you can see more here
And I have got a little video of mummy muscovy duck with some of her new duckling babies (the rest are underneath her keeping warm.)
And yet more news on Pickle:
Since my last post Pickle took another turn for the worse and was returned to the vet, he has had xrays and ultrasound and was found to have at least 4 stones, the largest of which was the size of my fingernail, luckily the vet was able to remove this during surgery, unfortunately he could not locate two smaller ones but they could well be on their way out so that's good news but he still has one in his kidneys so only time will tell if this one can be broken down. Pickle now has to eat lots of apple and beetroot for the acid in them to break down the remaining stones and prevent anymore. He is currently holed up in a large carry cage in my living room so I can keep an eye on him. Poor Pickle, but at long last things may actually be cured so I've got my fingers crossed. I would show you a picture of the stone that was removed but it is a bit gory! Oh and you'll be glad to know he's already had a bit of carrot.
Plus one last thing to report, I'm thinking I may hold another pet portrait competition after the success of the one held last year so I'm starting to think about details on that, any suggestions or ideas from you all on that would be appreciated.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower (see bottom of page). If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.
If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website
Thanks for visiting!

13 comments:

Colette Theriault said...

Brodie is looking splendid Kari!

Unknown said...

Wonderful job on the Spaniel. Photos are great. love seeing them. wow the tree men look like having hard work there.
Oh the baby Ducklings.. they are so sweet. Thanks for sharing all with us.

Debra Keirce said...

What a scenic life you lead! Really!

The Comfort Café said...

Love that Springer pose! Can't wait to see what you do with the background... I get brain fade when I think of backgrounds.

artbykarieann said...

Hi Colleen, backgrounds are a nightmare for me, I find them more difficult than any pet! Still if the customer wants it, they shall have it! And yes, Brodie did a wonderful pose!

Anonymous said...

Hi Karie, beautiful job on your portrait and I love your scenery photos. Very nice!

artbykarieann said...

Thanks Judy, I really am very lucky to live where I do, it's so beautiful and green in summer plus my job lets me visit lots of scenic places that some people don't even know exist as they are so far off the beaten track.

Unknown said...

Wow you've had a full couple of days. Thanks for the update on Willow and the adorable duckies. I'm sorry Pickle had to have surgery but glad he's under your care because I know you on your toes by keeping on eye on him.

artbykarieann said...

Thanks Sheila, Pickle is sat on the sofa watching the world go by and eating carrot right now, he says hello!!!

Art with Liz said...

Brodie is looking fantastic Karie, but then you are an incredible artist. So glad Pickle is getting better and Willow is looking so adorable. I, too, envy your lifestyle, although felling trees wouldn't quite fall into that category.

artbykarieann said...

Hi Liz, thanks for your comments, blogging is so good to boost my confidence. I really appreciate people making the effort to leave me a little note. As for Pickle, he's a star, he's started squeaking again with a vengeance so it's looking good for him now!

Sarah Sullivan said...

Oh Brodie is stunning - wonderful job!! You do such beautiful work!!!
My preschoolers loooved the duckling video...me toooo sooo cute!! Have a great week, Sarah

artbykarieann said...

Oh thanks Sarah for showing my little video, mummy duck is just the best mum I have ever seen, muscovies hiss when threatened and she's constantly hissing and rounding them all up, no mean feat with 11 youngsters!

Copyright (c) 2008 -2010 Karie-Ann Cooper. All rights reserved. All images, words and text remain the copyright of Karie-Ann Cooper. All artwork on this blog is protected by copyright law and must not be used, copied or downloaded without the permission of the artist