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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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!

3 comments:

Sally McLean said...

Willow,Zac and Gypsy are looking great and should turn a number of heads when at the show. But I have fallen in love with Cyril.

Laure Ferlita said...

Karie, you haven't lost your touch since my last visit! Love the portraits of your pups! I may have to give my own a go as you've inspired me.

Love your baby Cyril - can you rehab him and let him go or is he staying with you forever?

artbykarieann said...

Cyril is turning out to be a bit popular Sally and Laure, everyone who visits has been introduced and although they are considered 'tree rats' the cute factor and the fact that he is so very friendly is winning people over. We are aiming to release him but it's going to be a bit tricky. He needs to be penned up outside after a while to harden him up and we shouldn't fuss him, then he should be allowed to come and go as he pleases for a few weeks, all of which would be fine if our neighbour stopped shooting them so at that point I think I may have to pass him on to the wildlife trust to let him go, I will be very sad, and I'm hoping I can resist petting him otherwise he just won't survive. He is just so cute though!

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