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.

A portrait of Harry

     I gasped when I saw that I haven't posted anything this June! Forgive me for I haven't been too busy, there's always time for anything you want to do. That's what I believe anyway, though it's an acceptable excuse to say I didn't have time. Because, of course, I didn't. I suppose I will have to make some sort of blogging schedule for myself. I can promise you will here more from me this week anyway!

    Now, I want you to tell me what you think of this portrait I have just finished. Do you think it is good enough to pronounce finished and send it off to the dogs owner? I'm not perfectly happy with it myself but the photos I had to work with were truly a challenge! The lady commissioned it for her friends dog as a surprise so she couldn't very well set up an elaborate photo shoot when her friend wasn't looking. But she tried.

   What do you think? Is it alright?

Simba

Here's what I produced from that photo. The painting was inspired by this video, as soon as I saw it I wanted to do something like that and immediately began. I learn allot from watching these speed drawing/time lapse videos on You Tube, they are very helpful and fun!

So here is my picture, I did it in pastel and pastel pencil on pastel paper, which is very similar to sand paper. 

Ragdoll Kitten Pastel Portrait

Pastel Portrait on board

On Friday I took this portrait into town to his new owner and I got to meet the actual kitten, Enzo. He is a gorgeous little Ragdoll Kitten, very relaxed and friendly. I saw him once as a little baby but it was so nice to be able to meet him as a big boy.