Back online

Well i'm eventually back online. I was very pleased to discover we could get broadband out here as it's in the countryside a bit, so I thought we might be restricted to dial - up. I think I would have gone raving mad putting up with that after years of broadband!! We are sort of settled in the new house, just the usual sort of teething troubles with buying an old house that's been empty for over a year! It's also smaller than the last one so finding room for everything has been fun.

But i'm officially back to work tomorrow with Pebbles' and co's portrait to complete and a graphite Springer Spaniel to start and complete by the end of the month. I will have some updates on Pebbles, Pickles and Arillus tomorrow.

I think i've finally changed my address details and telephone number on everything, including the website, which I did today. I'm having fun with my printer at the moment. It is printing, but very very slowly and the computer is telling me the document hasn't printed when it is actually printing. Hopefully it will survive for a bit longer and not pack up completely!

I am feeling very motivated at the moment, so my year is officially starting in February, not January like everyone elses! 2009 is going to be a year of artwork.

Pet portraits in progress - Tiny and Taylor

I have two pet portraits to post work in progress updates on, so thought I may as well blog them together.


The first is Tiny. This is a graphite 12" x 16" portrait. It is only a small update, but there will be more to see after the weekend:

The second is Taylor. This coloured pencil portrait is really coming on now and the next scan is likely to be the final one. Here is today's progress:

Pomeranian Pet Portrait

Here is a pet portrait I have recently completed for a customer for a Birthday gift. It was a repeat order from a customer I did a pet portrait for last year, so I was really pleased they liked the first one enough to order a second one. It is 8" x 10" in graphite pencil.

Here is Pepi, a Pomeranian....

Coloured pencil portrait

Here is a scan of one of the pet portraits I am currently working on. It's a 10" x 12" coloured pencil pet portrait of a corgi / collie cross called Chacho.


It's been fun getting back to the coloured pencils as most of my recent commissions have been in graphite and Chacho has such gorgeous colouring. I've also recently purchased some new coloursoft pencils in different colours so I now have the full range of browns and golds which I think helps create richer colours rather than gaving to mix them, which sometimes makes them a bit 'muddy'.

No more Christmas commissions

I have decided to close my waiting list to any orders required before Christmas. I was thinking today at work that I could probably manage one or two more on top of my current list, then came home to find two orders in the post from the same customer and an email order form. I was just sorting those out - doing deposit invoices and adding them to my waiting list spreadsheet when another customer called to confirm a go ahead on an order discussed a couple of weeks ago. So - 4 commssions ordered in one day! That's a first.

Last year I was still accepting orders at the end of November and ended up rushing in the week leading up to Christmas and i'm not doing that this year. I shall be organised. I have 11 pet portraits to comlpete between now and Christmas which is plenty, so there should be lots of artwork to add on here in the coming weeks.

If you were thinking of ordering a portrait for Christmas I do supply Gift Vouchers as an alternative.

Hello!

Hello, just thought i'd better post on here so if any readers are still reading they know i've not died!

Basically, i've been doing very little in the way of artwork recently that I can show on here. I have been working on a commission for a Christmas present that is taking ages and I've done a bit on vada the cat's portrait, however it's such a small amount an update would be a bit pointless! I've been doing loads of extra hours at work and I also have baby rats that were born 4 weeks ago, so the rats have been taking up an incredible amount of time - I have three separate groups to free-range at the moment and try to let them out for at least an hour each! But don't worry - very soon me and the 'vermin' are moving out to a studio, which means they can come out while I draw. The studio is a section of our workshop/shed/garage that has been partitioned off. It has two windows and central heating. Steve is currently putting up shelves and building me a desk and I am painting a rat cage. The room has been painted - it's a very pale, girly pink and I'm looking forward to having my very own space where I can pile up rubbish everywhere without Steve moaning at me. I'm planning on putting up photos and posters on the walls - hmmm, I've got an Orlando Bloom one somewhere.

My waiting list is growing - I now have six commissions:

• A birthday gift of a lab and his owner (required mid Nov)
• A welsh cob (required early Dec)
• Two German Shepherd Dogs (required mid Dec)
• Vada, black cat (started)
• Christmas surprise commission (started)
• A Terrier cross - Taylor

My plan is to get Vada and Taylor's portraits done first as neither of them have completion dates and I am very bad at getting stuff done without a date looming over my head. The lab will get done alongside these and all three will be finished by mid November. That then leaves me free to do Christmas commissions.

So now you know what i've been up to and what i'm going to be up to and hopefully there will be some portraits to show you soon.

It's nearly Christmas!

I had my first query for a Christmas pet portrait a couple of days ago - I can't believe it's that time already, these people are so organised.

Pet portraits make fantastic Christmas presents - they are incredibly personal and are an excellent way to preserve a memory of a past pet. If you can't get hold of photographs I also sell Gift Vouchers so you could always give a voucher instead.

Personal work in progress pages

I can't really show any of the pet portraits i'm working on at the moment, as the two current ones are both surprises. When customers commission a pet portrait that is a present for someone and they don't want it shown on the blog, I make them a personal work in progress page. It's just a page I put on the internet that only they have a link to so they can still watch the progress of their pet portrait online and can add imput if they wish. Here's an example of one: Pet Portrait work in progress.

Early start

I was very cross with myself yesterday as I lazed in bed till 11.10, so I was determined to be up at a decent time this morning. My alarm went off at 7.15 and I was up and walking the dogs by half past. At 8.20 I was sat down drawing. I have been working on two pet portraits today, both are surprise presents so i can't show them on here. Both are in graphite which makes a nice change after the coloured pencil ones i've had recently.

I've found a new method of working with long white fur today. One of the commissions is of a westie and the photos are excellent so I have so much detail to portray. It's taking so long, but I think it will be worth it in the end. Anyway, in the paler, highlighted bits with slightly less detail I have been laying down a pale layer of graphite all over, then using my electric eraser to pick out the highlights then filling in the shadows afterwards. I suppose it's a variation of drawing with negative spaces. It's reasonably quick and is working out quite effective.

Back to the easel

It's time for me to knuckle down and really concentrate on my artwork. My long run of visitors is coming to an end after tommorrow night and my overtime at work is also slowing down, due to people being back off their holidays. It means I will have more time to myself again to work on my portraits.

I currently have one large graphite pet portrait of two dogs on my waiting list, so I will have plenty of time to work on other things whilst working on that. I am planning on working on some more ACEO's as well as completing a couple of graphite portraits I have been working on as 'portfolio' pieces. I am also going to knuckle down and practice the painting. I have got some fantastic books to work from and several ideas about how I want to go forward with my artwork and I think being able to produce realsitic paintings as well as drawings is going to be important.

Of course, anything new will be added here, so watch this space!

Pet Portraits in progress

Today I have been working on three different Pet Portraits. I have added the first layer of 'underpainting' on the coloured pencil portrait of Rosie, the Greyhound. Here it so far:

I have also started two new Pet Portraits, one is a horse portrait, that I only received a few days ago and needs to be completed by 14th May! I'm not sure yet if I can put that one on here though, as it's for a Birthday.

The other one is an 8" x 10" graphite portrait of a beautiful little Westie, called Jack. Here is the initial sketch:

Pet Portraits waiting list

I had an organisational day yesterday and started by writing out a list of the Pet Portraits I currently have outstanding. I have four on the waiting list, which are as follows:

• A greyhound called Rosie, who I started ages ago and is a voucher portrait donated for a website auction in aid of Greyhound Rescue
• A Westie named Jack
• A Brittany Spaniel named Harry, who i've already started
• A surprise for a Birthday

I'm really pleased with having 4 commissions on the list, that's the most i've ever had at one time, except for Christmas.

I also went through my emails ans sorted through the reciprocal link requests, I have quite a few through now, and am a bit fussy about who I swap with - I don't worry too much about the page rank but i'll only link to relevant sites and I don't link to those who send me emails without adding my link to their site first. I just think that's rude!! I had some going back to January!

I have also joined the bandwagon and got a myspace page. It's taking a while to get used to it - the navigation is just useless - i'm still ending up at my edit profile page by accident! I have worked out how to change the background and the fonts and I have a few friends now too. Here it is, just send a request if you'd like to be added as a friend. http://www.myspace.com/lauraspetportraits

Pastels for Pet Portraits

I've been shopping on ebay and bought myself a set of soft pastels. I have been inspired by some beautiful Pet Portraits i've seen painted in soft pastels and by the demos that are currently in the Society for All Artists magazine.

Soft pastels are dry crayons made from powdered pigment, weakly bound in a solution of gum tragacanth or methyl cellulose. They also contain a preservative and often a fungicide. Soft pastels are available in a range of grades - hard, medium and soft - and in different sizes and shapes. I've bought a set of 24 Inscribe pastels to see how I get on with them as a medium. I'm hoping if I can produce good enough results I can offer pastels as a cheaper colour alternative to coloured pencils. I will let you know how I get on - my results will be displayed here first - unless they're truly awful!!

Tortoiseshell cat in coloured pencil

Today I finished the drawing of Motley, our Tortoiseshell cat that I was drawing in coloured pencil. I have mounted it and framed it today as well, and it is all ready to go in the post for Mum to open on Mother's Day. Here is the finished portrait:

And here is a photograph of it mounted and framed. There are a few reflections as I had to take the photo in the conservatory to get enough light, but it gives an idea of the completed present. It's nice to get a photograph of one of my Pet Portraits framed as I just post them out unmounted and unframed so don't get an opportunity to see my artwork 'finished'.

Search Engine listings

I got a bit excited today, as I did my usual check of Google to see where my website is listed and i'm on page #1 for worldwide and uk only search for 'Pet Portraits'! I have my fingers crossed that it stays there, but I know that sometimes things jump about a bit and I am right at the bottom, so it'll only take upwards movement of one site and i'll be back on page #2. It has given me a bit of a confidence boost though.

On the portrait front - I have been working on the background of Strath the Great Dane's portrait, however, my camera battery has run out so I am unable to take photographs. Hopefully tommorrow i'll be able to get a battery and then show you an update.