Happy New Year!

Just a short note to wish you all a very happy New Year! And a big thank you to all of you who follow or subscribe to my blog! This coming year, I hope to have lots of new things to add to my blog, so stay tuned.

Redesigning my website

Well, it's turning out to be a yearly thing now...I'm re-doing my website again! I seem to get bored with the look of it easily. The fact is, once completed, I wasn't really very fond of my last site. I found it didn't show my artwork as well as I would have liked. Granted, it's pretty, but I want the focus to be more on my work and less on the site itself.

So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll launch my brand new site. I really like the look of it and it's kind of similar to the look of my blog. As it turns out, I really like designing websites and with each one I do, I need less and less help! I can actually claim that I did this new one entirely on my own (with only a few questions here and there!)

So as I get closer to launching my new site, you might notice that there are some weird things going on with my current site. Please excuse the mess! I've had to load a few things early onto the net, and I inadvertently changed a few things on my current site. You might notice the buttons are a little wacky. I'm going to try and change them back, but I may not get a chance to do this until after Christmas. Stay tuned and I'll have the new one up and running soon!

Merry Christmas!!!

Simon - WIP 1 & 2

Here is the beginning of Simon's portrait. I'm really enjoying myself so far because I'm not used to working on coloured paper. And I'm also trying a slightly new technique after having read a tutorial by Christina Langman. Her coloured pencil work is absolutely amazing...especially
this drawing! So far I'm really liking the new technique, although I'm still using some of my own methods as well. I figure I should stick with what I know while I'm working on a commission! Later, I'll do more experimenting on my own time!

Reference Photo

Stage 1

Stage 2

Merry Christmas!

I just thought I'd write a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I think I'm pretty much ready for Christmas now. This year, I actually got my shopping done fairly early, so I'm quite proud of myself. I still have a lot of wrapping to do, but at least the hard part is over with! We go home to Moncton every year for the holidays and this year I have a week off, so I'm really looking forward to it! And it means that I don't have to clean our house!


Our new kitten, "Loki", is settling in nicely. He and "Seven" are good pals now. We still have to keep an eye on him as he is quite taken with the Christmas tree. At one point, he managed to climb as high as the star on the 7.5 foot tree! He got doused pretty well with the spray bottle for that one. I think he learned his lesson because he hasn't tried it again! Not to say he doesn't get into trouble elsewhere. His name definitely suits him, as "Loki" is the Norse god of mischief!


In the New Year, I will be finishing up the last of my commissions. Although I made the decision to stop taking on new commissions last March, I'm still working on them! The reason I want a break is because I haven't had a chance to do my own work in about 3 years! I have enjoyed doing commission work because I've met a lot of really great people, but the pressure of meeting deadlines has gotten to be too much. So this is the year I get to do my own thing! I've got lots of new toys I'm excited to try out: brand new (as of last year, but I haven't touched them yet!) Sennelier oil pastels, new oil paints, some watercolour paper, etc. I also have 3 oil paintings that I haven't touched since I took a class a year ago! So I'll be busy this coming year...hopefully I'll find time to do everything I want to do! And I'm hoping this new freedom will motivate me to come up with some creative ideas. Anyway, I hope you'll keep stopping by to see what I'm up to!

So again, I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday season. And I'd like to thank everyone who follows my blog!

Bandit finished!

Well I've finally finished Bandit's portrait! I've been speaking with the client all along and he seems quite pleased with the outcome. It is going to be a Christmas gift, so I'm excited to hear what the recipient thinks of it.

Bandit's pose in this drawing is different than the typical poses I'm used to, and I think it makes for a more interesting portrait. The client chose this pose because it portrays Bandit's personality, and I think it makes him look like a fun dog, ready to play! I always aim to bring out a pet's personality in their portrait, and hopefully I've done that here.

For my next and final commissioned pet portrait, I will be drawing a Siamese cat named Simon. This one will be a little different as well because I'll be using blue paper instead of white. Simon has beautiful colouring and vibrant blue eyes, so I think the blue background will make the whole thing pop! At least I hope so! I will post the first stages soon.

Bandit - almost done!

Here is another update of Bandit. I'm almost done...I just need to do a little more tweeking and touching up. If any of you artists out there want to critique this, please do so. After staring at it for so long, it's difficult to see the changes that need to be made!

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