Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art: May 2009

Saturday, 30 May 2009

pet portrait of spaniel

16:14 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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And now it's beginning to look a little more like a spaniel! This is Bodie whose pet portrait is a surprise gift for his owner, you can see the reference image at the bottom of the page and you can see pevious updates here

And here is a close up of the eye area, this was a bit difficult to achieve as there is very little layering can be done on drafting film so the blending was done very carefully otherwise the colours would matt out and then not take anymore layers of colour. You can see just how many pencil strokes are needed to give the 'fur' look!!!

And a few updates from the garden, this is our Gypsy posing for me, well actually she was waiting for Ronnie who was just to the side of her, she only has eyes for him!

And this little cayuga duckling hatched today, 5 from 6 eggs and possibly the last one may well hatch aswell so that's a very good hatch rate indeed. He or she was chirping away quite loudly so was obviously fit as a flea and keen to get out into the big outside world.

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!

Labels: dog paintings, dog portraits |

2 comments

Friday, 29 May 2009

pet portrait of spaniel

15:30 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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Well I've kind of made an impromtu art studio outside on the bench, not that I have a studio inside, but you catch my drift! After my laptop purchase I'm able to sit outside in the glorious sunshine and play on the internet, go shopping and do a bit of art! Fab! The only downside is I am being continually hounded, and that is the right term, by Willow. She constantly drops her ball at my feet to play football, her life now seems to revolve around a walk in the woods and then football, regardless of what anyone else wants to do! Bless. Anyway back to Bodie's pet portrait, this photo is not the best due to the bright sunshine (not complaining at all) but lighting is a major issue when trying to show all the detail of work. However, a few more techniques I have discovered about the wonderful support drafting film.

Use a medium colour for the base, in the case of Bodie I chose a palish medium brown and was able to add darker shades or highlights where needed. I think if you choose a very light or dark base colour it would take too many layers to get back where you wanted to be as the layers are very restricted.

Don't use an eraser! This does leave some sort of residue or may even remove the surface of the film, but I have found that after rubbing something out the next layers of pencils on this area are severely reduced, sometimes even another single layer is impossible. Even pencils can be removed by a damp tissue on drafting film (always use a new clean tissue not a cloth as the colour may remain on the surface unless fully removed.

Don't leave your pencils out in the sun! Sounds an odd thing to notice but due to the need for such fine points on pencils, warm weather softens the points and makes them drag a little making any lines so much less fine, I did find a use for leaving pencils out in the sunshine when using coloursoft pencils on cartridge paper as they blended even more than usual.

And I've framed my amur leopard, I couldn't find anyone local who cut made to measure mounts so I bought a larger frame and used spacers to prevent the portrait touching the glass directly.

So it's now back to football, letting all my furry friends out when it cools down a bit and actually getting something to eat (breakfast hasn't even happened yet!)

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: dog paintings, dog portraits |

4 comments

pet portrait of spaniel

00:09 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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This was what I got up to this afternoon, I started a dog pet portrait (Bodie the spaniel from yesterday's post). After the leopard portrait on drafting film I thought I'd have a go at a pet portrait on it too as I liked it so much, anyway this is where I left it before the sunset and I have since carried on some more, which will be updated in a later post when the sun reappears to take another photo.

And due to my holiday I had to take Willow for a walk, and Zac and Gypsy came for company!

So this was puddle number one Willow found....

.... and puddle number 2

....and number 3!!!

Hence her rather bedraggled appearence when we got home! Gypsy was black instead of her usual white as well....

...and so after a good brush and wash, she did look a lot more presentable.

And finally some news on Pickle, after yet another vet trip today it would appear poor old Pickle has got a urine infection and his squeaks are in pain rather than him being on the point of death which is good news, he is now on pain-killers (did you know they do them for guinea pigs!?) and should start to feel even better in about a week's time.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: dog paintings, dog portraits, pets |

6 comments

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Dog Pet Portraits

21:40 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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Bodie

Snoop

These two are my next couple of commissions, back to pet portraits, yippee!!!

After a lot of emails flying back and forth regarding Bodie's portrait which is for a surprise gift, this is the image that was finally chosen, the problem on this occasion was a little unusual in that there were too many very good photos to choose from and Bodie had posed in an array of positions and to be honest I could have used any of them, as for dear little Snoop, this photo was the clear winner, he was a bit of a poser as well but this one shone through so really this one was set in stone and the portrait is a special treat for Snoop's owner herself, go on treat yourself!

I've also done some work on the family portrait but today the sky was just so grey I couldn't get a good photo to post so you must all keep your fingers crossed for a ray of sunshine tomorrow so I can take a shot.

And talking of grey days, Willow and myself are on holiday from the day job this week so we have been wandering aimlessly about the woods all around the house, for the first time ever I remembered my camera but the weather was wet and windy and so any photos would have been a bit of a let down.

Latest update on Pickle:

After much investigating on the good old internet, I'm beginning to think that maybe poor little Pickle has a kidney stone, anyway I will be able to give you a more correct diagnosis after yet another vet visit tomorrow, I have found out that although normally dandelions should be given sparingly, if kidney stones are suspected they should be given freely to possibly move the stone on so guess what, Pickle is one happy little boy tonight after his feeding frenzy on lots and lots of dandelion leaves. Aside from that he has spent most of the afternoon running about the garden, he's a bit up and down but is now being spoilt with a full bowl of fresh veg and fruits every day, twice a day, I reckon I could have bought 2 dozen more guinea pigs with all the vets and food bills! Anyway as you can probably guess I would spend my last penny on my little furry friends!

Plus I've added my next portraits along the bottom for you to see, I have a few I'm awaiting images for (two more spaniels) plus two donations plus I have to find the zebra photo I'm working from so keep coming back to see what I'll be doing next. As those of you who follow my blog and visit me quite often, you will probably realise I am a bit of a flitting butterfly in that I just lurch from one portrait to the next at times so please be aware the reference images may not be in any particular order!

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: dog paintings, dog portraits |

5 comments

Monday, 25 May 2009

Amur Leopard by Wildlife Artist Karie-Ann Cooper

10:54 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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Well they did say the weather was going to be bad today, so when Willow decided to wake me up at 6, I thought I'd get on with the leopard wildlife art which has been staring at me for a while! At long last every inch of paper is now covered! It was a long hard slog but I did finally get there and as we all know I'm sure to go back to edit areas and tweak this and that but on the whole you now get the general idea that everything is in place, phew! As for the weather, it has not rained one drop yet, sack the weather reporters I say, they really are rubbish.

And just because I can't help myself, here is the beautiful Willow, as always, waiting to play football, she is now so superb at catching the ball as soon as I kick it and before it touches the ground that I reckon she'll make the best England football goalkeeper ever! (although it may be my talents at the beautiful game are pretty poor)

I've also added lots of pictures to my flickr account from the steam rally at Abergavenny and you can see all of those panels here from the truck I posted yesterday plus I've changed my website to match my blog now so you can take a look at that here. I'm also working on SEO for my website and that does take time and effort but I am slowly creeping up the rankings but I'm sure this time next year I'll still be doing the same!!! Wish me luck.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: pets, wildlife art |

3 comments

Sunday, 24 May 2009

Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art - not!!!

16:46 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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Well isn't life grand, now that we've had two days of sunshine in a row I'm starting to feel a little summer in my blood, however as we all know the great English weather is not very consistant and especially as it's a bank holiday tomorrow with most people having a day of work, the forecast says to expect rain again! Monday and Tuesday of last week were a bit of a wash out and we were working so far from the truck we got stuck out in the pouring rain for hours (day job) as a result we looked liked death on legs, all cold and soaking wet so after that I have decided to make the most of every minute of sunshine so that this year's wonderful summertime does not pass me by, hence the lack of updates, lack of art and much fun out in the great outdoors!

As you can see Willow appreciates the outdoors life aswell, she is no carpet dog and will happily stay outside in the rain rather than having to stay indoors! She's pretty good at football now, although she has punctured this ball (I treated her to a new one today) and will drop it at my feet every few paces so I can kick it and she can chase it, when other things distract me she simply lies by her ball until I get back to her, the problem is she can play for hours!

Anyway today was Abergavenny steam rally, a great day out and for the first time in 3 years it was a sunny day! Last year we even had to buy umbrellas and a pair of wellies! And for once, I remembered my camera so I've taken a few pics you may or may not find interesting. These cars are all Alvis cars, an old make unfortunately not around anymore, they were high prestige cars as you can probably tell and I love them, I really do have a bit of a thing about cars, more so than Ronnie, in fact a lot more! When I am rich and have ample spare cash I don't want a Rolls Royce or anything but I would give anything to own an MGA roadster. What a car! Unfortunatley I didn't get a photo of one today but I'm sure if I remember my camera to the next 20 shows lined up I'll get a photo to show you!!!

And as always there is a bird display, there were in fact two lots today, the man on this particular stand was brilliant, he brought every bird to me so I could take photos and he let me stroke them all

The bird above is a long eared eagle called Ellie, she is twelve years old and they still have her parents who are nearly forty! She was just a star, bit of a poser and took no notice of all the hands wanting to stroke her.

Apart from the cars, my other favourite section, lorries! Having spent 10 years working in haulage I am fascinated by them, sadly I know all the parts, how they work and just cannot get away from them!

But this one really caught my eye, it was an old scammel truck and it was hand painted, at first I thought the panels were transfers but it turned out they were all hand painted and each one was different, someone, somewhere spent a lot of time and money to restore it to this standard. The gold mounts around each painting looked to be hand carved and then painted as well.

And these are the old steam engines, used for every possible job and in every industry in years gone by, these are worth a fortune and although they run on coal and produce the blackest smoke I've ever seen, the engines are immaculate but the drivers are filthy grubby dirty where they polish their beloved engines all day long.

And so I'm now sat in my lovely flowering garden, we've started to put out the flowers so when completed I'll show you those, and I'm playing on my new laptop!

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: pets |

2 comments

Monday, 18 May 2009

Amur Leopard by wildlife artist Karie-Ann Cooper

17:21 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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Ta da!!! Nearly there at last! This just gives you some idea of what will be happening in the background of this piece of wildlife art. There is still a considerable amount of work to do but at least things are now finally taking shape. I'm almost beginning to like this again now, it has been one of those love/hate things and now I'm on the downhill bit I'm forgetting how much hard work all that grey was!

Pickle update:

Still a bit poorly but he's taken all of his favourite hay to bed for his supper and he is currently running around the garden with his beloved Treacle. He is most indignant about taking his medicine and squeals and screams at me each morning when I try to give it to him and I think his temper gets the better of him as he tries to push the syringe out of his mouth with his little paws so there's a bit of fight in him yet then!

Labels: wildlife art |

12 comments

Saturday, 16 May 2009

Amur Leopard by Wildlife Artist Karie-Ann Cooper

20:31 |

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Well this is the basics of the rock work now completed on the amur leopard wildlife art piece. It still needs blending and shading and highlighting (!) but no more rock work will be added...phew! It was quite hard work to get this far even with the break of a few weeks but now I intend to complete this one very soon.

Today was the Small-holders show at Builth Wells showground. This is one of the further shows we travel to and from now until late September there is one almost every weekend, sometimes two to go to. This is one of my favourite shows as it houses lots of animals from pigmy goats to prize winning bulls, today's excitement came when a group of piglets left their mum to break in with another family through bars in the next pen. There was a chaotic scramble to reunite piglets and mum without a minor disaster being created and eventually the last little piggy did decide to go home! As usual there was a tractor auction and lots of vintage tractors and cars to see and due to it being a long day with far too many people to contend with, I left Willow in the care of Ronnie's Mum, bearing in mind she is almost deaf as a post, she said Willow whined all day until I got back, at least she didn't eat a whole bag of doggie biscuits to herself this time!

And news on Pickle the guinea pig, Pickle seems to have recovered his appetite a little and is now nibbling at his dry food aswell, plus he is now starting to take water himself from his water bottle so things are looking a bit better, he still has a whole two weeks of antibiotics to take so hopefully before long he will be back to his old self again. He has also started to squeak at me a little so that's a very good sign. Hopefully the weather will hold off tomorrow and they can all go out to play in their pens under their new sunshade/raincover umbrellas I bought today from wet and windy Builth Wells (see I can't go anywhere without thinking of my little ones back home!)

And also you can view my entry into an online art competition here and voting begins on the 21st May so when I finally find out how voting takes place I will give you more details.

Anyway, after a very busy week, I'm now off to catch up on all of my favourite blogs I like reading to see what everyone else has been up to!

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: amur leopard, wildlife art |

7 comments

Thursday, 14 May 2009

Amur Leopard by Wildlife Artist Karie-Ann Cooper

16:43 |

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I decided to drag out my amur leopard wildlife art and have a tinker with it to see if I had got over the 'grey' stage I had (too much grey for those who are new to this one) and it has helped to have put it down for a couple of weeks. I've now drawn out the background I want, although I do think it is too pale to see on here, but the rocks are continued a little but not too much before the rest of the background is put in place. So I will get this one done, even if only at a very slow pace.

Please see here for the previous stages of this portrait, you'll see what I mean about grey then!!!

I've also drawn out the family portrait and will start to blog that in earnest very soon.

And going back to my art competition entry, you can see this here but voting does not begin until tomorrow and I will provide full details of how to vote for me (please, I am asking very nicely)

And as for Pickle the guinea pig, he's still off colour, bless him he's huddled up in his purple igloo but he has managed to take a carrot, some baby sweetcorn and savoy cabbage to bed with him just in case he gets a little peckish. He is not drinking very well so I've resorted to washing all his greens and leaving them a bit wet but instead of his antibiotics being in his water I'm squirting them into his mouth so he has no chance of getting away from his 'medicine' and before I forget, thank you to those who have made comments about little Pickle, he's one of my favourites (can you have a favourite guinea pig? Is it like having a favourite child?) because he squeals at me when I go to the shed each morning until I hand feed him bits of carrot, he is quite relentless, but the past week or so he's just warbled a bit at me but hopefully with the magic potion from the animal doctor all will be well again very soon.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: amur leopard, pets, wildlife art |

5 comments

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Pet Portraits, Wildlife Art, Donations

21:01 |

Posted by artbykarieann |

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A few bits of news for you all art-wise. I've entered my leopard wildlife art portrait into an online art competition and I need you all to vote for me, I'll sort the details out and post that in a couple of days time as the voting hasn't actually began yet so please help me out!

Also I've donated a few gift certificates to animal rescue organisations lately, and I have received an email from Elspeth at Hope Rescue to let me know they had raised a magnificent sum of over £2100 for their organisation which is fantastic in the current financial climate. Please visit the site www.hoperescue.org.uk if you can offer any help but also look to see the wonderful work they do. I'm awaiting images for this portrait but as yet I'm not sure if it will be a people or pets!

Another charity I donated to was www.fourpawsanimalrescue.org.uk Registered charity 1117893©2007 Four Paws Animal Rescue (South Wales) and I am looking forward to receiving the photos of the catagory winner of 'the handsomest hound'.

Please take the time to visit both of these websites as they do wonderful work, as you all know I have lots of rescue pets and animals, ranging from chickens to rabbits to dogs, but as my Mum says 'you can't rescue them all my love' so this is just a little something else I can do to help those poor little fluffy and feathery things that don't have a forever home yet.

And I've now received the proofs of my leopard wildlife painting, I decided to go to a professional printers who are very green and environmentally friendly and I'm so pleased with the results so as you all draw baited breath, prints will be available very soon!

Also I have some not too good news from the guinea pig and rabbit shed, poor Pickle the guinea pig is now very poorly, the vet treated him last week for cystitus and he did perk up a little but today he ahd to have a emergency trip to see the vet again and is now back on a very long course of antibiotics in the hope he will pick up. I took a trip to the supermarket, quite a distance to buy him all his favourite treats, cabbage, carrots, mini sweetcorn, french beans and cheerios so hopefully he's having a nibble on them now as I've tucked him into his little bed for the night. Fingers crossed he's perked up by tomorrow.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Thanks for visiting!

Labels: wildlife art |

3 comments

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Zebras by Wildlife Artist Karie-Ann Cooper

17:15 |

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I've managed to get a little bit more done on the zebra wildlife art piece. I'm not sure if I like it yet, I knew I liked the leopard straight away but hopefully this will be a grower!

So far I've used mainly prismacolour pencils along with a few derwent artists but it is quite relentless, stripe after stripe, and there are two zebras to contend with, so instead of spots before my eyes it will be stripes!

Plus I've gotten around to framing the leopard, ready to take to the gallery so as soon as I have sorted things out, I'll update you all on that plus I will also announce the winner of my wildlife competition tomorrow so tune if you've entered.

And I've just been looking through my camera, and I have so many images I've never posted before so here are a few, with descriptions if I can remember where they all were!!! This is overlooking Ruardean, the 2nd next village to where I live. I took this photo from the back of Bishopswood when we worked there last year. This was some of the machinary used at Bishopswood when we went back to see how things looked after removing the trees we selected. Looks quite scary doesn't it!!! Uusally timber is sold standing meaning the contractor has to fell it themselves, however, this chestnut was felled to be sold at roadside so we had the measure the volume of it so it could go to auction. And this was on the steepest bank I'd been on at the time at Barnhill, the lighter area at the bottom is a very busy and fast main road, it was slippy too, I fell on my backside so many times I gave up counting after I got to twenty and that was on the first time down!!! And this little deer was as interested in us as we were in it. It stood and stared at us for a fair while in a place called Sallow Vallets. Eventually it just sauntered off back into the forest. This is at Westonbirt, another Forestry Commission centre. They have a lovely arboretum and we managed to see it as the leaves changed colour at the start of autumn last year. I've completely forgotten where this image was taken but the view speaks for itself, sometimes we work in places that just take my breath away and we are lucky enough to see them, even locals miss out as they just travel the beaten track whereas we go off out into the bramble and bracken to get views like this.... ...and this, which is at a place called Bark Rack just on the Welsh border. This one was taken near Yorkley and it was the beginning of spring when the sun had just started to peak out after gloomy winter. And finally, the motley crew ourselves, out in the woods at Red Marley