It has been a crazy few weeks, not only with pet portraits, but also my animals, so apologies for the lack of the updates!
We started off with poor Murray getting a nasty skin infection. The trouble is he is the master of invisibilty in the summer, we barely see him him. You can guarantee every April/May we say the same thing, where is Murray anyone seen him? Then we realise the weather is nicer and he is off. By the time I caught it he wasn’t in the best way. I feel awful, but straight to the vets and thankfully the treatment is working!
Then Maggie followed and I was beggining to think that she had caught whatever Murray had, turned out not and it was something else. And now it is poor Luke. I am pretty sure he has torn his cruciate ligament. So with some sedatives we are off to the vets later and probably an x-ray in the next few days. He can walk on it, but I have been carrying him up and downstairs and on and off the bed to take the strain off him. He didn’t like this to begin with, but he has soon got used to the new normal and waits for his pick up now!
I shall let you know how the poor boy gets on later today. Oh and the guinea pig has a growth on her foot! Yes that’s all four pets in 2 weeks. They are worth it though. Especially when Murray spends all night next to me purring. And the good news is he is 15 and otherwise in perfect health!
So back to the pet portraits and I have been juggling a fair few. I am getting more interest in my coloured pencil pet portraits which is very exciting as I am loving coloured pencils as a new medium and I can’t wait to do many more breeds. So far I seem to have a lot of French Bulldog portraits. I have been working on the gorgeous sable Luna and I have another Sable to do shortly too, not forgetting the gorgeous Scotch I completed a few months back. Time is flying by as it seems like yesterday. it was the first official coloured pencil commission and the first of many pet portraits to be posted in lockddown!
Pepper’s Dog Portrait
Pepper is a recent commission that I loved from the moment I started to the moment I finished. She is a beautiful cocker spaniel and the portrait is one of my largest sizes at 20×16 inches. Originally she was due to be framed for my client, but lockdown has made it impossible to get the frame I need for her. I have to say all my clients have been so accomodating in this difficult situation and I cant thank them enough for that.
My client gave me a selection of wonderful photos to work from, but we settled on the one of her resting on a fallen log. She has a beautful smiling face and the whole composition is beautiful.
Below you can see the reference photograph for Pepper’s portrait.
I love the colours in the background, you can see purples and blues and many other colours. It is the perfect background for the panpastels to tackle. I also decided to remove the log that goes through the top of the of Pepper’s head as it looks really quite odd!
Here you can see the portrait compared to the reference photograph. I think Pepper is one of my favourite dog portraits I have completed this year.
You can see I have lowered the colour shifts in the background so they are at a more comfotable height. It feels like they were at an odd positon, but overall I wanted to keep the background very similar to the original, I am really pleased with how it worked out. Don’t forget you can see more dog portraits here.
Coloured Pencil Dog Portraits – Romeo.
I have had much more interest in my coloured pencil pet portraits recently, very exciting to get the commissions rolling. Funnily enough it has mainly been French Bulldogs, so it was lovely to get this sweet chihuahua to draw. I have to remember to say draw with pencils rather than paint!
He is a birthday gift to my clients partner. As a chihuahua owner myself it is always an extra delight to paint this breed.
I think there is a definite style between my pastel work and coloured pencils. It is not unexpected that a different medium would produce different results. The amount of detail I can get in the coloured pencils is the main thing. I am pleased though, I feel it gives my potential clients more choice over their pet portraits. I really need to do some more acrylic ones….
Luna, French Bulldog Dog Portrait
French bulldogs have been a popular subject at Sarah’s pet portraits over the last few months. I completed Scotch’s pet portrait in coloured pencils and I really felt it was the first portrait with them that I felt I had mastered hwo to use them much better than before. I was therefor really excitied to get a commission to do Luna’s portrait in coloured pencils and that iw as of another french bulldog.
Woody’s Dog Portrait
It is back to the pastel pet portraits and again it is another dog portrait. This time of the gorgeous Woody. Woody’s portrait was the result of a gift voucher purchased a while back. I am a huge lover of labradors and I was excited to get to paint Woody’s portrait. I decided to keep the background in rather than doing something plain. It was almost like a revisit to my double dog portrait of two labradors I completed earlier last month, with the winter light and I loved the scudding clouds in the background. I am delighted with how Woody turned out, I think you will agree he is a rather handsome young dog!
