Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art

Work is now beginning on Officer Dibble and Fifi, these two are to be full bodied and on one large portrait. Just this small part has taken 3 1/2 hours already. I always mean to log how long a portrait takes and then forget so hopefully for this one I'll be a bit more reliable!!! I still have to add a few more touches to Dolly and Peggy but the light under a day light bulb is not the best for graphite as it reflects so I'll wait until the day light is better and get on with that today. This portrait is going to be a lot of hard work, Dibble, to the untrained eye looks like a black furry cat, however I think he has every colour of the rainbow in his fur, so far I've added lilac, loganberry, a few greys, browns, fawn, cream and a bit of blue....but absolutely no black!!! He really is furry and I bet he stays nice and warm no matter how cold the weather is. Doesn't he look a laid back fellow!!!I have now drawn in Fifi as well, I couldn't resist Fifi's eyes and had to colour them in even though I am nowhere near beginning the second cat. I have put in lilac and pale grey undercolours on Dibble and all the pencil strokes are in the direction of his fur (all over the place!!) and I am now adding further layers of collour working down his tummy.I've added a couple more layers of the grey and lilac, then added loganberry, brown, cream, blue and dark grey to get to this stage. I am trying to work the entire area with the basic colours to go back to 'top up' areas but I keep noticing bits I need to add this and that to so I'm going around in circles a bit. It seems to have taken ages to get here as there are so many colours in Dibble's coat. It seems as though I've added twenty thousand layers to get to this stage. I now plan to start work on Fifi, the lower cat, and then I will go back to Dibble to add colour where I feel it is needed. Thankfully Fifi is a lot smoother and hopefully it will not be quite as complicated to show the fur going in the right direction.This photo was taken yet again under a daylight bulb so does not look its best but I wanted to show how work is progressing on Fifi. This is about 4 layers of colour on the darkest areas and I'm sure I'll be adding more as time goes by.

Been busy behind the scenes for a couple of days, I've been working on my entry into the pet portrait and wildlife art forum with a rather large tiger portrait. I think I underestimated how long it would take, the deadline is Friday and I've still got a long way to go. I need to have a break from it now though as I'm becoming more irritated with it by the minute. I am hoping to finish Dolly and Peggy this evening and will post an update tomorrow, then I will be starting the cats portrait, Officer Dibble and Fifi, I'm looking forward to working on these two as I have not had much chance to portray cats so it will be a nice change (domestic cats that is, not big cats, those tigers are taking over my life at the moment). I've been investigating pastel pencils and hope to have a go at these after the Christmas rush is over but I've also had one of many sparks of inspiration (not many of them work mind you) so I need to do a bit more research before I can throw myself into my next venture.

Work has started on my next portrait. Meet Dolly and Peggy, Peggy is a golden retriever and Dolly is a spaniel cross poodle. This portrait is to be in graphite pencil I have now started on the second dog, Dolly, who is a springer poodle cross. She has very curly and shiny ears which are going to be a lot of hard work!!!A bit later... Dolly's ear and neck are now in place and I'll be moving back onto Peggy's chest area.I have continued working on this portrait at a fair rate of knots, I've got a lot more done than I ever expected!! I need to go back to the darker areas adding further shading and darken Dolly's face in places nowI have at long last been able to take a photo of Dolly and Peggy in good light (a rarity at this time of year) and posted the final update. I have darkened a lot of Dolly's fur to show more contrast to the shine she has plus I have made the outline of her head more prominent. All that remains is for the mount colour to be chosen now.

...And after approval from the customer, Dolly and Peggy have been mounted in green and will be posted asap.

Annette who made the commission left me the following message...

"received today thank you so much especially doing a last minute job. It is brillant..."

which is wonderful news.

Well here he is, the newest member of our family (along with a further 5 muscovy ducklings recently hatched). Meet Rex formally known as Peter we think, another rehomed rabbit. He was myxomatosis jabbed on Friday and will have his other jab in a fortnight for VHD (viral hemorrhaging disease I think) so he will the be safe to play outside save for the buzzards. He is a bit of a digger and I've had to dig proof his new pen for him to stop him escaping. Apparently he is a tan breed which are popular in America but not so much here. He's very friendly and follows me around already.

Work is starting on Mickey's other portrait. Using burnt umber I put a layer of colour down to get everything in proportion and for the direction of fur. As usual I have began by working the eyes first and then continued with the face, this is about 4 layers of colours so far and I still need to add more, it's a long process.I've continued working on Mickey's portrait, I've completed most of Mickey's head now but I need to add highlights and lowlights plus I have also put in some of the grass around his paws. I've had quite a few Christmas orders come in now so it's all guns blazing (pencils at the ready really) plus I've also got a birthday commission to do in a bit of a rush so I'll be working my fingers to the bone to get everything done!!! I'm pleased to have picked up so many orders from my website as it was really hard work for someone like me who has no web knowledge whatsoever. The only problem I have now is that I cannot update my website again but I really am not going to waste time trying to fix it right now!!! Back to the drawing board!I've now added a further layer to Mickey's fur, this time I used brown earth which is a rich medium brown colour, the next layers I add will gradually get darker in colour to give the fur more depth. This photo was taken under a daylight bulb so please ignore any colour differences to the previous image.As you can see I've added another layer of colouring to Mickey's brown fur, this time I used loganberry as Mickey has an almost purple tinge where he is so shiny. Nearest the shoulder area I have started work with yet another layer, this time dark brown, you can see the difference more layers make as the fur near the shoulder area is much more blended and looking realistic, I do have yet another layer of brown black to add overall then it will be adding highlights and black in the darkest of areas, as I said pencils are a very long winded medium to use but the finished effect is exactly what I like so I just need to be patient and keep on going!!Again this photo was taken under a daylight bulb but it demonstrates how much difference an added layer makes to a portrait, Mickey's fur now looks much glossier and smoother, this is because as each layer is added, regardless of how light the pressure of the pencil, each repeated stroke smooths the paper (I use quite a rough paper - called tooth) and leaves the surface smoother thereby looking more shiny. I have not worked the lighter areas yet and will need to burnish these to give an even greater impression of glossiness.Mickey's back leg is now in place plus I have added the first layer of grass. I have not worked his middle yet but this will not take long as it is a very pale area not needing too many layers. I hope to finish Mickey's portrait very soon and then begin Dolly and Peggy.Mickey is now almost complete, I need to walk away from his portrait for a while then go back to see if anything needs touching up. I've added a few more layers (very lightly) to the grass and I have put in very dark shading on some areas of fur but on the whole I think there is very little left to do now.

Terry and Lorraine have commented on Mickey's portrait

So it will be winging it's way to them very shortly

I have started work on Hector's portrait, so far I have started work on his head. I am using an HB pencil for the mid tones and a 3B will be used to darken the more shaded areas, depending on how dark areas will need to be I am may use even softer pencils as work progresses. Just a quick update, plus I wanted to show the portrait in a more natural light, the previous image was taken under a day light bulb which did not produce the image I wanted!! I have made further progress down towards Hector's neck now. I will now revisit the head area adding more shading before moving on down his chest.A bit more of Hector is appearing!!!I am now working down Hector's body and have roughly drawn in the outline and marked up the grass which is in front of him so I do not shade over where it is. He is really starting to take shape, I'm really pleased with my progress and to be honest these images do not do him justice.Work is continuing unabated on Hector, I have managed to show the slightly wavy fur texture on his back, until doing this portrait I had though labs were completely smooth all over, however as his fur is a little longer on his back it does kink a little.Only one leg left to do!!! This probably would be finished by now if I hadn't spent yesterday building a pen and cleaning out a cage for my new rehomed rabbit!!! We called into a garden centre to buy gravel for my fish tank and came away with a tan rabbit (tan is a breed) who had to be rehomed as his previous owner, a little girl, had been given a horse so poor rabbit wasn't too popular anymore. He is very friendly so at some point he must have been fussed a lot but he does dig so I was constantly watching him to make sure he did not escape. I'll get photos of him later to post.Almost done, all I need to do is work on the grass area around Hector and the portrait will be finished.And here it is, the finished piece, I left Hector lying in a bed of grass and clover leaves, now I need to just frame him ready for collection.

James, Hector's owner left the following comment about his portrait

Hector's portrait has been mounted with black and framed in a wooden frame and will be collected in person next weekend before zooming up north to Hector's home.

I'm back on the case with competition winner Charlie, I've now completed his body and have started on the background. I need to add a little more detail to his rope toy for more definition but I hope to be posting this to his lucky owner by the end of the week.

I have now added more background to this portrait and had wanted to fade the colour out to nothing at the edges, this just does not look right to my eyes so I will be completely filling in the background right up to the edge of the mount. I'm sure this portrait will be completed over the weekend so I'll update with the final shot very soon.

My stall at the dog show, it was rotten weather in the morning and I was very surprised by how many people still turned up to show their dogs, damp and cold weather did not stop these owners. I generated some interest and had enquiries so fingers crossed they will lead to commissions. The marquee took a bit of a battering by the wind, I thought my portraits would take off or fall over but luckily it all held fast. Some of the wonderful contestants, there were so many breeds I managed to get quite a few pics for future reference.
This was the dog that looked most like it's owner section, with their matching scarves, caps and glasses, the border terrier above took first place.
A few more entrants
And this little doggie was wrapped up in a knitted jumper to stave off the cold!!!

At long last I am able to upload some images to my computer, it has taken a lot of patience on my part to sort this out, not being trained in computers I have to learn by trial and error, luckily this time things paid off.

This is my second portrait of Mickey in this pose due to my damaging the original, I began by putting down layers in a brown shade to give myself an idea of where everything should be (see above), I also had began work on Mickey's head at this point, so far I had only used about three colours on his head but more are added as the stages progress.

Due the ease of use pencils provide I can work virtually anywhere on the portrait due to no drying times being required so when I get bored with one area I simply move to a new one. Above I began to add the grass, I wanted to put in blades of grass against Mickey's leg to make it look more realistic as it would be impossible to add green over the brown fur at later stages.

I then began working down Mickey's back, as I have said before Mickey is very shiny so I had to ensure I left his highlights very pale in comparison with his main colouring.

Good news today, I've managed to sort out the problems with my computer, it seems my external hard-drive was not being recognised by the PC and was preventing me using it properly. I'm sure now I shall be able to post some updates as my camera should be recognised. Also I'm off to do a dog show on Sunday at St Braivels, a bit of a last minute thing so I have to organise that, got a few Christmas commissions rolling in now plus my website is now page rank 3, I'm not sure how long it has been page rank 3 as I've only just noticed, and to top it all.....it's Friday!!!!

Well I'm not very happy, my website has decided to disable me, I am not allowed to publish my own site now!!! I have contacted my host but they cannot find out what has gone wrong, my home page is all stripey with all the header links missing so anyone looking will not be able to get any further than the home page. Not very helpful at all. The internet is a great vehicle when it works well, mine always seems to be breaking down though!!!

My little buzzard attacked chicken is on the mend, she stumbled about a bit for two days, she did look a bit worse for wear and I thought she may not survive, luckily today she seems much better and is sat upright by a broody hen and walks about (although a bit wobbly) so she has a hen to sit by and pass the day with plus she is happily ensconced in a wooden summer house with big windows and a bed of straw. What more could she ask for! Also I've been working on my tiger portrait today, I have still got a long way to go and I think I should put it to one side soon to continue with my commissions. Plus it's work again tomorrow, we are now in Ketford which is just across the forest from Red Marley, it seems to be such a long time since we worked in a local area, but I'm not complaining, being out and about in the wood is so much better than being sat in an office any day.

Well I've had some feedback about Ollie's portrait and it is good news, it seems Ollie's owner was very pleased with her surprise birthday gift so that's a great relief!!! I'm currently hoping to have a page with my pet portraits displayed on a popular dog website so hopefully it will prove popular for both myself and the dog website, fingers crossed, it's still in the very early stages so far but it sounds quite promising plus I'm trying to figure out how I want my background to look on the tiger portrait for the pet portrait competition but I cannot seem to get it quite right, I know what I want but cannot get it down on paper, plus I have a few commissions building up to get on with now so I'm a bit of a busy bee at the moment, my day job does get in the way a bit you know!!! Talking of the day job I passed my assessment for brushcutting, clearing saws and strimming, I sound professional now (it's not true at all) so I should be able to do a good job - who are they kidding!!! And most importantly of all, I saved one of my warren chickens from certain death yesterday, I heard a commotion in the garden so ran outside to find a buzzard about 3 foot from the back door and I am not exaggerating in anyway, sat on a chicken trying to rips it's wings apart, I grabbed the chicken just as the buzzard took off, I would not believe they were so big without seeing one with it's wings out, and how cheeky was it!!! My chicken had a fuss and is now in chicken hospital until her wing gets better, although I'm not sure if she'll ever flap her right wing properly again. Oh what fun country life is!!!

A bit of a rush commission, meet Ollie, a lovely looking horse with unusual colouring which proved a bit of a challenge. Due to it being a surprise I was unable to post any work in progress until Ollie's owner had received the portrait.

I began by drawing in the basic outline of Ollie, as this is only my second horse commission I am still a little unsure of a horse's anatomy so wanted to make sure all the muscles etc were in the correct place. At this point I used four different colours to start to get the correct colouring and depth, I had not put in high and low lights so there were to be several more layers added later.

Below you can see I moved across to Ollie's cheek, I wanted to make sure I was getting the shape of his head correct. I added a few more layers here to the original four colours, I added a darker brown, some brown black to create more shadows plus I burnished a little to start to show up the sheen on his fur. Still a long way to go at this point though.
Below I started to add a little of the black background, this made a major difference to the look of the portrait as it made Ollie's colours stand out much more, it created a really good contrast. I also worked on Ollie's ears which were very pricked and apparently a good indicator of his personality. A very alert horse by all accounts.

Well, it seems ages since I made a new post but I have been busy, I've been working on my tiger portrait for the pet portrait forum competition, all top secret so as not to give anything away yet but I have taken shots as it's been progressing and so far I'm pleased with how far I've moved on. Also I've been working on my second horse portrait which is a surprise present so I will post it after it has been received. And... I've started to build a new website, since starting the tiger portrait I've decided I would like to produce more wildlife portraits so I'm in the process of building a site solely to showcase wildlife and nature art, I've decided to seperate it from the pets and people simply for site optimization. Back to work now, plenty to do and hopefully I'll be able to add images very soon.

Not much to update pencil portrait wise, I've given in to temptation and started work on an entry into the pet portrait forum competition so nothing can be given away at this point, it's all top secret as we all have to put our own version of the image together but I will keep work in progress images and will post as soon as the deadline has passed. The main image is of two tigers and so far all I've managed is part of one head so I think it's going to be a long uphill battle to complete it.

Anyway, we all got wet when the heavens opened so it's an evening indoors drying off I'm afraid.

A few sickies have been pulled today, both Tess and Cass, the golden retrievers are off ill, at 15 they are probably due a few days off from all those years of work anyway. Hopefully they'll be back soon, I miss Cass barking at us to keep us moving, I did say she is a bit of a slave driver. And some bad news, my pet cockeral Fred died yesterday, he received the honour of a full burial in the garden. Now BB the rabbit has no friend to run about with now. I was quite gutted as he would crow when he heard my voice and I could hand feed him. Poor old Freddy.