Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art

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.

These are my next three portraits, they are all to be completed in graphite pencils. This is Patton, he is owned by Steve Paschketwitz and is from Madison, Winsconson, USA.

Please visit http://www.esmondrott.com/ to see more stunning photographs (including Patton) and information about the breed. The image of Patton was taken by Ann Felske-Jackman.


The two weinaramers above are Olivia and Nina and they feature at Stephanie Horners site http://www.edenweimaraners.com/ and where there are plenty more images of this breed.


Unfortunately I do not have names for these two cuties, the image has been supplied by Rebecca Richardson who has plenty of really great pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainriver



All of the images you can view at the respective web addresses are just superb and are well worth a visit.

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 as promised here are the pics of my new puppy. We went to visit today, they are only 5 weeks old but already are quite a size! The pic below shows my puppy being beaten up by her brother, this was the only time she lost as she really is very bossy.

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.

This is the latest tractor to be rehomed!! It's a fordson major and has seen better days but....it's in good company as we already have three others in varying states of repair
And the international above is actually 99% completed!I managed to crash the David Brown above, into a tree trying not to run over Zac, then I rolled it into a pheasant pen (I blame the mechanic for this as it had no brakes).

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 would like to thank all of my customers who have taken the time to send emails and Christmas cards, plus the bottles of wine, whiskey and champagne (yes I did get champagne) which will undoubtedly be much appreciated over the festive break, so wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

And it was completed in time for Christmas Day unwrapping!!!

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 delivered Timber and Harvey's portrait this morning

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 for most of the day, cleaning out rabbit cages and feeding the birds, a bit of a mammoth task! This is a blue eared pheasant, they are from China, ours is so tame he will come to the fence to be fussed!
And our Reeves, these have really long tails, sometimes up to 4 ft, they are supposed to be kept in round pens to prevent damage to the tail when they are exhibited.
As usual Gypsy found somewhere to dig and get dirty, I think she has shovels not paws!
Some of our Muscovy ducklings with Mum and Bob the guinea fowl with his girlfriend, all going for a stroll around the garden.
These two are Peking bantams, they are brothers and look a bit festive by the holly

Hooray, it's finished. This shot unfortunately is not the best, the grass is much richer in colour but if I had brightened the image the dogs just did not look right. Just need to add a motif to the mount now, luckily the customer did not arrive yesterday so technically I did not miss a deadline!!!

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've managed to get quite a lot of this portrait done, it's a big one, A3 sized so I'm amazed at how much I made myself concentrate to get this done in such a short time. Still not sure I can get it finished today though especially as I'm unsure what time the customer will arrive, luckily he has another reason to visit and is dropping off some straw bales for the chickens so it won't be a wasted journey.As you can see most of the springer (Timber) is in place now and it's back to the labrador (Harvey)Here are some close up of the heads to show the detail.This portrait is also having a motif on the mount, the dogs names are to be put on the mount as well.

I hope you've noticed my new headers on my blog and website, I finally managed to find a good slideshow application, I quite like it, all I need to do is add more images as and when needed.

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 the latest update on Timber and Harvey, it seems to have taken an age to get this far, there were so many layers on the lab's shoulders I seems to have not got very far since yesterday!

I've also received a bottle of wine and a very nice thank you letter from the customer who ordered the corgi and jack russells portraits, it seems they were very happy with them which is good news.

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 Harvey the black labrador, this is to be a double portrait along with Timber the springer spaniel.
I posted the last of my postal commissions today, the portrait above is supposed to be ready for collection this Saturday, although I think this could be a long shot, luckily the customer is local so if the deadline passes I can still deliver it to him...phew!!!
I'm starting to look at things for my new puppy, as we will be working out in the woods and she is jet black I think she'll need a fluorescent collar otherwise I shan't be able to see her!!! Also she needs a bed, the problem with everything is that she will be working straight away as a puppy but will not stay small for long so I think she will get through at least two of everything before she reaches full size, hopefully she won't need two lots of food though!! I'm hoping to visit her again very soon, hopefully this time I'll remember to take photos, last time I was so carried away fussing her I forgot.

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've added the crossed paws to Liam and Clyde's portrait, I positioned it slightly nearer the inside edge to allow for the frame overlapping.

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 it's back to Lizzie, I did tell the customer I had a few bits to tweak, however it was a completely different background! I think this makes Lizzie look as though she is in a setting now. All that grass was murder!

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.

Unfortunately no matter what the weather or how busy I am, the animals still need to be cleaned out and given a run around. As you can see, my newly upgraded pens are just brilliant to let everything out together for them to dig and play in!!!! Actually it's me that plays the most! Click on the pic to expand 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.

The two Jack Russells are now finished, they will be framed up with the corgi and will be ready for the customer to collect.

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 a quick update on the Jack Russells, I always manage to leave something out (such as the ear on the right dog!) and start work elsewhere!