Bonnie

Bonnie

rabbit

rabbit

Lisa

Lisa
colour 8x10

Mrs Blore

Mrs Blore
graphite 8x10

Oakley

Oakley

About Me

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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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Sunday 29 August 2010

Horse Portraits



Well this is what I've been up to. I'm at a fair this coming weekend so after looking through my display items I found I was seriously lacking in the horse portraits department so I got on with this little number. I did get on with it at a rate of knots so the progress shots are shown below. My only thoughts now are whether or not I should add a background, just a subtle graduated background instead of plain white...I'm not too sure....







Also I have some sad news, my little guinea pig Treacle has died. She had a tumour removed at the beginning of the summer and looked to be fully recovered but she then went off her food so I had been making sure she had enough to eat. The past week she had been so well she was running around the garden with Bob the rabbit, her best friend. Sadly on Thursday morning I knew immediately something was wrong as she always races about and squeaks madly when someone is in the house but there was no noise and she had simply curled up and gone to sleep. We buried her underneath Bob's favourite tree stump in their pen with lots of hay to keep her appetite satisfied.



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Saturday 21 August 2010

Dog Portraits, Oscar

Oscar looks slightly odd at the moment because the underneath of his chin is missing so he seems to have a slightly narrow pointed muzzle.
As mentioned in my last post, I'm discovering this support is not suited to blending really as fine detail is lost. I've been using derwent coloursofts and prismacolours which are really creamy pencils but have now spent quite a while sorting out all of my pencils back into brand types and the leonberger will be completed with derwent artists and studio pencils to see if finer details can be portrayed when using drier and harder pencils which don't blend quite so easily.


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Friday 20 August 2010

Dog Portraits, Oscar

So things have moved on a little with Oscar's portrait and the ear is now starting to take shape. It's surprising how many colours make up any fur, although this is a liver and white spaniel I can see pinks, chocolates, blacks, even a touch of purple here and there and that is why it takes so long to produce any sort of art. Even graphite portraits contain hundreds of shades of grey, each of which must be added to ensure a realistic feel.
I'm now beginning to find out the pitfalls of this pastel paper, and although I love the ready made background shades, I'm finding it a little too rough to show fine pencil lines. I want to show individual hairs on he ears but the roughness means the fine lines are being lost and layering is giving a more smooth finish. This isn't wrong by any means but my fine detail type of work is maybe not so suited to this type of paper, but then again I may like the softer portrait it will produce so perhaps my style just needs to change a little. It is a much faster support to work on I find which I cannot explain but the speed with which the portrait is shaping up is fantastic. Anyway, I've now gotten hold of the leonberger photo and I can't wait to start it so I'll need to crack the whip and get on with Oscar.

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Thursday 19 August 2010

Dog Portraits, Oscar

As promised, the first instalment of Oscar the springer spaniel. This is to be a birthday gift but it isn't a surprise as the birthday boy chose his present!
Oscar is a working spaniel and is 5 years old. He only has eyes for his Dad and is quite aloof with anyone else so I've been told.
His owner has always had springers for beating and picking up but it seems Oscar is by far the most intelligent and obedient, thus his owner absolutely adores him and wants a lasting reminder of his most precious dog.
After Oscar I'm hoping to begin work on a leonberger, my first portrait of this breed so that should be fun!


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Wednesday 18 August 2010

Dog Portraits, Bramble

Well I did get back into the swing of things and Bramble is now completed. I've already started a springer spaniel for a birthday gift and I am able to blog it so will do so soon. We are off to Monmouth show tomorrow and then Kington tractor show on Saturday so Willow and myself will be ambling around fields watching Ronnie pick through rusty tractor parts as usual!

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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