The dog, Ford

 A recent commissioned portrait of a dog. I did this in pastel pencils on Strathmore toned tan paper. This portrait went well right from the start. To begin with I had a good photo to work from, clear and nothing getting in the way of his nice pose. I was in the mood for drawing and spent a whole Sunday working on this. The clients were very happy with the drawing and hopefully it is now framed and on their wall.

Now that spring is here, and summer is on the way, my studio is getting warmer and much more pleasant to work in. I think a possum has chewed through the wires in the ceiling because my main light dosn't go any more, but I have lamps and now that the days are longer I have more hours of daylight to work in.

Some of my Latest Commissions

Here are a few commissioned portraits I have lately completed.

Pastel on A2 watercolour paper

 Pastel on A2 pastel paper

Pastel on A2 watercolour paper

   You may have noticed I use watercolour paper allot for pastels. That is only because I only have watercolour and drawing paper. But recently I've been experimenting with that sandpapered texture pastel paper which is really fun to work on but I don't think it is really necessary for a good pastel painting. As the saying goes, 'a good workman never blames his tools', and I don't want to learn to be reliant on tools and materials but concentrate on improving my skills and being able to use anything. When I am a good enough artist to need better equipment to achieve the very best then I will use them. But right now I'm still in training!