Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art

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.

As for Willow, she worked her first full day at the Forestry Commission, here she is taking instructions from Cass on how to save energy, luckily we were working in a very good area, no brambles underfoot and it was dry but very cold so Willow wore her coat for most of the day as did Cass, here they are taking a quick nap between rows, look at the ground, this how it should be everywhere, unfortunately this is uncommon and most of the time we fight through brambles and fern up to head height!

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.

I am holding a wildlife art competition, I am looking for wildlife images to use as a reference for my work as a wildlife artist (there aren't many tigers or lions in my garden) so am hoping some of you out there may have some holiday snaps or zoo pics you've snapped in the past that you would allow me to use. Please visit here to see the rules and you could win your image as a signed limited edition print to keep.

Deadline: 30th April 2009 so get digging out those long lost snaps!

Email your chosen images to pencilportraits@rock.com including your name and a postal address should you win.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

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 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 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 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.

And again, a bit more of an update, at least the second snow leopard is starting to take shape now, I've been at this for ages now, my day job does hinder me plus I have all the usual things at home to do when I get home from work plus all of the animals to look after, there never seem to be enough hours in the day. I've just cleaned out birds, guinea pigs, and I still have fish tanks plus the rabbit shed to clean out as well, why can't a day be twice as long! Thankfully I find doing a picure relaxing so it isn't a chore for me and I can happily sit down in the evening to work on some art.

As for the update on Willow, she is currently fast asleep by my feet, she has been to work all day wearing her doggie coat as it was wet and cold and she coped admirably well, at the moment she is just interested in following me so she can stay off a lead, luckily the team saved all the clearer ground for us to train her on, she did get a bit tangled in the bracken, her legs aren't tall enough yet to step over so she has to bound over everything and sometimes she gets a bit stuck! I tried to encourage her to barge through as I cannot always go back for her but I did have to rescue her once when her coat caught on a bramble. I'm hoping she will be quiet this evening, she seems to have rechargable batteries, after an hour's sleep she takes off again but I think her hard day's work will send her to sleep all evening!

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 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.

And here she is trying to catch a butterfly, well almost, I have a four foot cactus with some garden ornaments in and she spent half an hour trying to catch it. She has also taken to visiting my rabbit shed with me now where she promptly lies down and falls asleep making it a bit short of space, imagine how cramped it will be when she grows up!

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.

Then, the sleeping beauty fetched her outdoor coat and settled down for a nap by the vacuum cleaner. She likes the vacuum and tries to catch it!

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.

Worked on down the neck of the snow leopards, this took a lot of pencil strokes and time to work this area, all the colours are very subtle so a light hand was needed.

And now for a few Willow pics......

Willow has an encounter with the three golden appenzellers, she showed marginal interest but is really far too interested in doing dog stuff

Such as begging Zac to play, he did oblige you'll be glad to know

She was in training learning to dig, they told her 'head down and bum up' and this was the first attempt.....

And by the second attempt she had definitely got the hang of things, Willow and Gypsy in tandem operation, how many pot holes will there be when her paws reach full size?!?!

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.

I have been busy, honest!!! This is the start of an A2 portrait of two snow leopards from the now closed Quebec Zoo in Canada. I have been given permission to use a reference image from a flickr photostream belonging to Marie Gassami.
As for Willow, she has been inoculated and has made good friends with Gypsy and Zac already. Luckily she doesn't cry for her Mum which is very surprising and she is quite happy to sleep with Gypsy and Zac so it's all been ok so far!!!

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.

Well Willow has certainly made herself at home! She spent a few hours playing with Zac the springer spaniel which knackered both of them out resulting in 'quiet time' and luckily she is already friendly with Gypsy so they both collapsed on the settee, how naughty!!!
Willow has already met some chickens, the most vital part of her training, there can be no mistakes if she takes a fancy to one as they are pets as well, thankfully she wasn't interested at all so hopefully that's not going to be a problem!

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.

Not much art has been going on I'm afraid, we've had bad frosts and as usual all of the animals outside suffered from frozen water meaning every day we have to go to each pen and unfreeze their water which is quite a long time consuming task. Also my rabbits and guinea pigs have had to be cleaned out, even in cold weather they still get dirty which is a bit unfair! I've also been getting supplies in for my new puppy who arrives tomorrow, I think I now have everything, bowls, lead, collar, id tag, whistle, bed, cage, extending lead, puppy food, treats, toys and a hot water bottle!!! I've booked her into out local vet for her inoculations and puppy check on Monday so it's all go. I'm sure I'll be taking lots of pics tomorrow to post of Willow's homecoming and I now have a camcorder or whatever they are called these days so I shall be able to post videos soon (wait until tractor racing starts again, see if I crash into a chicken pen this year!). Aside from all the animal goings on I have also started a wildlife portrait, so far I think I've done an eye so it's been very slow going but I am going to enter it into a competition if I can manage to fit it in! No rest for the wicked they say and it could well be true, in the meantime... a few guinea pig pics to keep you going until my next post.It's too cold, Sooty is hiding in his bedding...Sweep is looking for his carrot

And Pickle is about to jump ship in search of hay

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.

Done a little bit more on Patton, I must admit I fell asleep in front of the fire and I gave up after that!This is where we are working for the Forestry Commission, this is one of the better areas, look no brambles plus where it has been so cold everything is frozen so there are no puddles either!!!! Still had very very cold feet today though, I think my right foot went somewhere else today as I couldn't feel it at all! This is a compartment of spruce which is very easy to mark but Douglas Fir is the best to mark on a cold day as it does get the heart pumping a bit as the bark is so thick and hard to slash off.

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.

Did a bit more to Patton although the photo has a lot to answer for, I managed to get a shine on the graphite and no matter how many times I retook the shot it still appeared the same, so much for daylight bulbs it's not the same as real sunshine......
....and this was the scene of snow which greeted my geese this morning, it has been cold all day. It was my first day back at 'proper' work today and it was a real shock to the system to wake up to this. Living out in the sticks is great to avoid the madding crowd and not hear banging radios and racing cars revving up but it was a nightmare getting down the track this morning in the little Forestry Commission van. The drive proved a slippery challenge and took several attempts then the 'main road' (more like a forest walk) was thick with ice and then snow on top. Nevertheless I made it and then walked about in the cold all day, we did see a bit of sunshine but it was a bit chilly. Cannot make up my mind if tomorrow will be better, it's supposed to be colder over night, down to -8c in places but we should be slashing the bark from trees tomorrow which does warm us up a bit so it could be better, fingers crossed! Also went to the feed shop and bought some more doggie bits for Willow my new puppy who will be arriving on Saturday when bedlam will break out!

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.

Done a little more work on Patton, not much though as it's been busy today, first I had to have an eye test, which as usual told me I'm blind as a bat, no surprise there but also as it's been so cold most of the day has been spent unthawing and refilling water for the ducks, geese and chickens. Not the warmest of jobs to do on a freezing day. The temperature has not risen above freezing today. When I went for my eye test this morning everywhere else felt and looked a bit warmer than near us, anyway plenty of layers, gloves and a woolly hat soon got the blood warm.But as usual Gypsy found her place to roast away in front of the fire!!! She gradually turns a pink shade when she's well done! She's currently sprawled out by the draft from the door so she must be over done slightly.

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.

Been outside as today was a bit sunnier than the recent days of freezing fog so it was clean out in the shed and all my little animals came out to play. Their pens were in sunshine for a few hours so they made the most of it racing around before it was time to put them all back into their heated shed!!! And back to my current portrait, this is where I have got to with Patton, I have started to add the rocks and water now and it is starting to look a bit more real, this is taking almost as many hours as a coloured portrait with all those layers but the effect looks better than using different grades I think, it is the first time I have worked a portrait using just one pencil. It is an A3 sized portrait.

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.

Work has started on Patton, this is layer upon layer of graphite, all using a 3h pencil, the darker areas have been achieved by repeated layering...and as I toiled away, Gypsy lazed by the fire!!!!

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.