Bonnie

Bonnie

rabbit

rabbit

Lisa

Lisa
colour 8x10

Mrs Blore

Mrs Blore
graphite 8x10

Oakley

Oakley

About Me

My Photo
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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Tuesday 29 September 2009

Pet Portrait Competition Entry No 14


Meet Buster. Click on the image to see more detail.


This is what his owner has to say...

This is Buster. He is now just over 1 year old and he is our first family pet. We had him from being a puppy of 8 weeks old, loves chewing things, especially wallpaper! All our family, especially my two boys, aged 8 and 10, have come to love him and we wouldn’t be without him.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Sunday 27 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac



with black background


with white background

A little update for Willow, Gypsy and Zac's dog portraits. I've added some more of the grape vine (it grows up the outside wall of our house) on the reverse side of the drafting film. Using the reverse side of the film makes the background look subdued and almost out of focus which is ideal. To show the dogs in more detail I added black card behind the film, this has enhanced the white of Gypsy and Zac's fur, although the light has caught it a little. At last you can see Gypsy's feet in detail. I'm not sure which I will eventually use, the black does seem to show the dogs up better but until it is completed, I really am not sure, what do you think?

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Wednesday 23 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac



Apologies for my lack of updates lately, other things have taken over somewhat but I am getting back to portraits! This is where I've got to with the dog portraits of Willow, Gypsy and Zac. Willow now has almost got legs and Gypsy needs her feet worked on some more. Other than that I have started the background, this could be a long job, I may have to put it away soon as commission deadlines are looming, I had thought I would get this finished pretty soon as it was Ronnie's birthday present!



And for anyone thinking of Cyril, here he is, almost on solids now. He eats hazelnuts, maize and a few peanuts and his favourite are grapes but he is still drinking milk every now and then. Soon he will have to be released but he is a little too tame so I am going to take him to a rescue centre where they can prep him ready for the big outdoors! I've raided all of the hamster toys and he has a wheel which he can just fit into to race in, a bridge which is his favourite, some branches to climb across which he keeps chewing through, and best of all he uses the hamster ball so he can roll around the floor for exercise. He's almost got the hang of it but keeps jumping in it and banging his head until he gets into a grove and rolls off into the sunset across the carpet!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Sunday 20 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac


I've moved on a little with this dog portrait. Willow is now appearing in the portrait. I shall be able to work her chest area in full before I move back across to Gypsy, if I work any further down I will probably manage to smudge everything. They look a little less like spare parts now but there's still a long way to go, as I have said before this is a very large portrait and it does seem to be taking an age to get anywhere but I am pleased with the likeness I've achieved for Willow, wouldn't it be awful if I couldn't paint my own dog!!!!





Anyway, here she is in a bit more detail, you can see the chest area will need a lot more work to create the fluffiness factor but it is getting there. I'm also beginning to like collars now, I do have a fascination with eyes but I think collars are fast becoming a favourite too. Perhaps I should finish her ears though, she does look a bit funny with only half of one!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Friday 18 September 2009

Pet Portraits Compeition Entry No 13


Meet Chocolate. Click on the image to see more detail.
This is what her owner has to say...

 Chocolate is a mini lop doe, she is very energetic and loves nothing more than racing around the garden and eating up my plants.
If you would like this image to be painted as a pet portrait please leave a comment from 1st January to 1st July 2010 stating 'vote' somewhere in the comment, any comments not stating 'vote' will not be counted. Non voting comments are also accepted.

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!

Pet Portraits Competition Entry No 12




Meet Ginger. Click on the image to see more detail.
This is what her owner has to say...

Ginger is a mini lop doe, she is a quiet bunny who loves to sit in the shade and make herself look beautiful.

If you would like this image to be painted as a pet portrait please leave a comment from 1st January to 1st July 2010 stating 'vote' somewhere in the comment, any comments not stating 'vote' will not be counted. Non voting comments are also accepted.

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!


If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.


Thanks for visiting!
Tuesday 15 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac



I've made more progress with the latest of my dog portraits, here is a little more on Gypsy's dog painting. It was quite difficult to take a photo of her, the image was either too bright and showed very little detail or was too dark and looked very grey and over worked. I think this is about as close as I can get it but it still looks very grey when in fact the background is an off white but hopefully you can see enough. I've noticed I need to add a little more dark around her left eye (the right as you look at the dog painting) as it looks a bit small due to to lack of definition so I will go back to do that. Funny that I didn't notice it when working on it but after looking at the dog portrait image here it is very noticable to me.






Then I did get a little bored with white so I moved across to Willow and changed all the whites and creams for greys and blacks! I have three different blacks, ivory black, mars black and black so this gives me three additional colours to work with, they are all derwent but you can tell the difference between them which is surprising.






Anyway, here are all three together, although they look like spare parts at the moment!

I've booked myself into a few shows over the next month or so and I hope to take this piece with me if I don't get it finished soon. I went to the Lea Show with my stall on August bank holiday just gone, of course I forgot to charge the battery on my camera to take any photos but it was very well attended and I did get a lot of interest but only time will tell if I make any commissions. I sold quite a few cards printed with my artwork and a few prints which paid for the stall fee and I had a lot of enquiries about my pet portrait competition so hopefully some more entries will arrive soon. Of course I took Willow as she is a bit of a show stopper so I plonked her at the front of my stall so she could obligingly sniff anyone who came close enough to stop them and then I dragged them in. She has an odd habit of nudging people on the back of the leg to let them know she is there and it worked, she got a huge bone for her efforts and we did manage a few forays around the ground but it is difficult to man a stall on your own. I did leave her in charge of the stall when I popped next door to the ladies and she did well, when I got back she had a few browsing people in. What a good girl!

I've also added a guestbook to my website, you can access it on the links bar on the left of this page as well. Visitors can now add comments about my work and website, if you would like to leave me a comment please do so, you can also add your website details which also provide you with a free link. I also spent quite a while adding more links so if you do want a reciprical link just let me know.





And here is the cute as ever Cyril. He's looking just so sweet now, I've just fed him here which is why he has a soggy chin but usually he gets in a bit of a pickle and he has to have a clean up with baby wipes to freshen him up! It seems they are supposed to become wary of humans when their eyes open, alas poor Cyril seems to be people friendly, he starts making noises when he hears my voice as obviously he thinks it's feeding time but he has now taken to diving up my sleeve after I've fed him and we've had a few incidents where has has also climbed up on my shoulder and crawled inside my hoodie for a little nap. Do you know how difficult it is to retrieve a squirrel from behind your head with a bad shoulder, not easy I can tell you!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Thursday 10 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac

A bit further on with my dog portrait of Willow, Gypsy and Zac. I had hoped to be further along than this, I think I was expecting too much, Willow's fur has turned out to be quite hard work and many hours of work! Really not what I had in mind! You can get an idea of how I am working her fur, I use the highlight pencil (in this case white grey and french grey) to put in the fur which has caught the light, then I go around each highlight with back, this is evident on the left side of the portrait, then I use various greys to 'fill in' the gaps creating shadows. Then I'll go back to the black to add more dark and bring the lighter fur forward, finally I use my stabilo pencil (yes I know I like it) to go over the highlights where needed to make them stand out more. Hope that makes sense!


If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art


Thanks for visiting!
Saturday 5 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac



I'm surprised by how much work Willow's dog portrait is turning out to be, I'm not sure if it's because she has black fur or if it just is fiddly, either way I seem to be getting nowhere fast!





As it really is coming to the end of the summer (what summer) we decided to sort out the top end of the garden where the pheasant pens are, it had become quite overgrown as most of the pens have trees in for perches and privet for protection for the birds, we also mowed a few pathways through and it now looks like a secret garden. I was of course accompanied on my photography tour by my faithful assistant Willow, she really was not meant to feature at all today but she always managed to get in on the shot, what a lime light hogger she is!










And here is our golden pheasant, this was one which we bred ourselves, it takes two years for their colouring to come out in full and this time last year he was a dull brown colour, a bit of an ugly duckling he was but now he's a bit of a beauty.

Cyril the squirrel's latest news....

Cyril briefly escaped, I thought he had climbed onto my shoulders and gone into my hood, however when I looked around to recapture him I found him half way up the curtain making for the ceiling! He's also now starting to eat pine nuts so will hopefully be on solid food before long, he's growing up so fast now!

I've also got news of the shows I will be attending which are

Newent Onion Fayre on 12th September 2009

Speech House Dog Show 13th September 2009

Worcester Race Course Dog Show 20th September 2009


If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Thursday 3 September 2009

Pet Portraits Competition Entry No 11

Meet Dizzy. This is the second of two entries for her. Click on the image to see more detail.
This is what her owner has to say about her


We bought her from a first time breeder. She was 4 months and had never been groomed. A prior sale had not gone thru and they had wanted her ungroomed. She is one of the most docile dogs I have ever seen. That is when she is not streaking like lightening thru the house after our lab, Penny. She is like a mini-me of Penny. She follows and does everything the "big" dog does.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.


Thanks for visiting!

Pet Portraits Competition Entry No 10


Meet Dizzy. This is the first of two enntries for her. Click on the image to see more detail.
This is what her owner has to say about her

We bought her from a first time breeder. She was 4 months and had never been groomed. A prior sale had not gone thru and they had wanted her ungroomed. She is one of the most docile dogs I have ever seen. That is when she is not streaking like lightening thru the house after our lab, Penny. She is like a mini-me of Penny. She follows and does everything the "big" dog does.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
Tuesday 1 September 2009

Dog Portraits, Willow, Gypsy and Zac


I've now started on Gypsy, the little terrier who will be sat in the middle of this dog portrait. She's not the prettiest of girls but she is the most faithful little dog I've ever met. She follows Ronnie around relentlessly unless I take her for a walk and unfortunately she does attack most other dogs we meet so I have to grab her and carry her under my arm until the approaching dog meets safety! She's a typical little terrier and digs and rolls in thiings she shouldn't! We're not sure how old she is as she is a rescue dog who was returned to her breeder after being owned for a year, then the breeder had a heart attack leaving 42 terriers homeless (sob story I fell for yet again!) and I'm not sure if all of them did find homes whch is very sad, but luckily for Gypsy, she came to live with us and now has 4 acres and a little forest to run around in so I think she did ok!
She has become Willow's adopted Mum, unfortunatley Willow, who is very trainable, copies all of Gypsy's bad habits! We see Willow do something and instantly recognise Gpsy's behaviour, the problem is usually Gypsy is so small it makes no difference but a huge dog like Willow can wreak havoc....back to training!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. 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
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!
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