Shamus - Stage 3

Shamus - Stage 2

This is stage 2 of Shamus. I'm guessing that I've put about 5 hours into it so far (give or take).



I've really got to get into the habit of timing how long it takes me to do these drawings. I have timed some in the past and came up with some general times. I think, generally for an 8x10 drawing, it takes me 8-10 hours for one pet. For an 11x14 drawing of one pet, I think it takes about 15 hours. Every drawing is different though and some go more smoothly than others. Maybe I should carry a little stop-watch around in my pencil case!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I travelled home to Moncton (about 1 1/2 hrs from here) and spent time with my family. I had a lot of visiting to do and it was great to see everyone. It was a busy 4-day weekend!

Sadly, my little sis wasn't with us this year because she's in China, teaching in Shanghai. My mother and I are heading there this February for 2 1/2 weeks and we're quite excited! Neither of us has been to China so it will be quite an adventure.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! I will post an update on Shamus again very soon.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

Shamus - Stage 1

This is Shamus the cat. It's a little hard to see the outline, but it's there if you look closely.
Pencil on 8x10 white paper.

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little Christmas greeting from me. Click on the link below:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=fabf2e35cb5bc7ffe119eedG06121816

Waiting list as of Dec 13, 2006

1. Shamus - cat
2. Noah - cocker spaniel
3. Abbee - cat

This brings me to about March or April if all goes well.

Seven

This is Seven, our little 4 month old kitten. I drew her in pastel (Nupastels) on 9.5 x 12.5 black velour paper.

I discovered velour paper while reading a book by Lesley Harrison, called "Painting Animals that Touch the Heart". She is an amazing artist, and the softness that she is able to acheive in fur is unbelievable. This is partly due to the fact that she uses velour paper. I ordered some online because you can't get any around here, and I love it. It is sort of a fuzzy, velvety paper, and really neat to draw on. I like it much better than regular pastel paper which is quite rough.

I'm keeping this drawing for my portfolio because I need to build up more of a collection of my original art. Right now, most of my originals belong to other people!

Please vote for me!

There is a website called "Animal Artists Hall of Fame" where animal artists can advertise their websites. It is at http://www.thedogmuseum.com/animal-artists/autorank.html. In turn, we are required to put a link to this site on our website.

Each person's website is ranked, based on the number of votes that they get. The higher the rank, the more exposure your site gets. I'd like to ask you to vote for me!!

It is very easy to vote for my website: visit http://pagesportraits.com , click on the "Prices etc" button, click on "Links" at the bottom, then click on the "Hall of Fame" banner....done!

I appreciate your votes!

Waiting list for December

I've finished all of my commissions for Christmas! So next it's Shamus the cat, then Noah the cocker spaniel. After that, I'm free.

Last year, I got tons of requests in Nov and Dec to do portraits for Christmas, and I was unable to do them because I was booked up. This year I've hardly had anyone asking. Maybe it's because people are checking my website and reading my blog (where it says I'm booked), or maybe it's because I've raised my prices a fair bit since I've started doing this. It would be great if lots of people are checking out my sites, but it also sort of feels like not as many people are interested :( . I hope that's not the case.

As for the prices, when I started doing portraits, I really underestimated the time it would take me to complete a portrait. Many artists don't like to charge too much when they start out because they feel a bit guilty charging what a portrait is really worth...I felt that way. In time though, I had to start raising my prices because I was severly undercharging for the amount of time and money that I was putting into each portrait.

For you, the client, the increase in price means that your piece of artwork is worth more. It also means that I have become more popular as an artist; an achievement that I am quite proud of! As animal art becomes more and more popular, so will the value of your portrait.

Mercedes is finished

Here is the final scan of Mercedes (Sadie). I'm just waiting for the ok from the client. I'm quite happy with this one. It was a nice change to do curly hair, rather than straight. This could be one of my favourites actually!