Oil Painting Lessons

I am quite excited to say that I'm going to be taking an oil painting class this fall. I have never used oil paints before and have limited experience with acrylics, so I am really looking forward to learning a lot. I have always wanted to try oils, but have to admit I've been a bit afraid to try on my own without proper training. I've used acrylics in high school (many years ago!) and the odd time after that, but I've never really been taught to paint properly. I've always been quite partial to pencils, but maybe if I really enjoy working with oils, I'll eventually offer it as an option for pet portraits!

Jessie, Bart and Cooper update

Here is another update from the portrait I'm currently working on.

Price Increase in September

I want to inform everyone that I will be raising my prices as of September 15, 2007. If you order a portrait before Sept. 15, you can take advantage of the current prices.

George is done

It's been a little while since I've updated and I've managed to get a bit accomplished. George's portrait is now complete.

I had originally planned on finishing the portrait of Bart, Jessie and Cooper first, but George's portrait was so much more portable and I was able to take it to work with me. Besides, pencil is much faster to draw with than coloured pencil and I estimate B,J &C's portrait to take me close to 30 hrs. Here is what I have done so far:

I plan on working hard to get this one done soon.

On another note, I will have a booth at the Obedience Field Trials tomorrow and Sunday at the Fredericton Exhibition Centre. If you live in the Fredericton area, please stop by and say hi.

New drawings

I'm finally able to post my next two drawings. It's been quite a while since I've had some time to work on them, but here they are. The first is a coloured pencil drawing of Bart, Jessie and Cooper, a Bernese Mountain dog and two Leonbergers. The first image is the reference photo and the next one is the actual drawing. I've put in 6.25 hrs of work on this one so far. The scan of the drawing is cropped a bit more than the real one because it doesn't totally fit on my scanner. The final product will be cropped the same as the reference photo.

The next is George, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier from the UK. The first image is the reference photo and the second image is the mock-up I created on the computer to show what the final drawing will look like. I often do a mock-up when a client has given me several photos because sometimes there are some alterations that need to be made. With George, for instance, my client wanted the head of the image below, but with the collar from another photo that shows his name better. So I created a mock-up to show what just the head would look like with the collar from a separate image.
And below is 7 hrs worth of drawing time to create George in pencil.

I will post again soon.

Bark in the Park

This Sunday, I will have a booth at Bark in the Park, which is an SPCA fundraiser. I invite anyone who lives in the Fredericton area to drop by and say hi. I will be at Odell Park from 1-4pm, displaying some of my work. I hope to see you there!

Back at it.

For those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to start your drawings, the waiting is over. I have done the initial outlines of both Jessie, Cooper and Bart as well as George. I've put a couple of hours into each of them so far and as soon as I get a chance I will post what I have done. I'm sorry that it has taken so long to get at these two drawings, but as you know, things have just been crazy lately...actually they kind of still are, but at least I have some more time now.

You may wonder why I am working on both drawings at the same time. Well one is in coloured pencil and one is in pencil. When I work in pencil, it is pretty easy for me to cart my work around and I like to take it to work and do some drawing on my breaks. I can also work on them while sitting outside, or just about anywhere. When I work on my coloured pencil drawings, however, I use so many different pencils that I have to have my set-up in one place.

So depending on where I am, and what I have time for, that's the drawing that I work on. Since Jessie, Cooper and Bart are due first though, and will take much longer, I plan on putting more effort into that drawing so that it is done first.

So thank you for being patient and I will post the initial stages this week hopefully.

Another update

Well we moved into our new house last weekend and things went really well. We are still climbing over boxes but they are slowly getting unpacked. As you know I haven't had much time to work on my drawings lately, but now that my exam is out of the way and things are settling down, I will be back at it soon...just one last hurdle... I will be away on a conference for work in Washington DC from June 2-6.

I won't have access to email while I'm away, so if you have any questions or comments, I will get back to you after I return. When I get back, I should have my new studio mostly set up and ready to go. I will post the first stages of my new work as soon as possible.

Busy

I haven't been adding any updates lately because I've been quite busy this month. We're in the process of moving to our first house and there is a lot to get done. We move on the 26th of this month, and just to make things interesting, I've also got an exam to write on the 25th for a course I'm taking through work. Yikes! We are doing renovations to the house as well and we had a painting party this past weekend, all before we move in. So as a result, I haven't managed to get much accomplished in the drawing department.

Once we move in though, I'm actually going to have my own studio! I'm quite excited to have a dedicated place to work on my art. Once we get moved and I get this exam out of the way, I'll have much more time to spend on my next two commissions. They are both due to be finished this summer.

Noah is finished!

Here is the final scan of Noah the cocker spaniel.

Pencil - 8 x 10