Well that was weird, I typed 2018, I don’t know why or where that come. We are well into 2019! Strange. Anyway, today has been a fairly busy day. I was out varnishing my large Akita dog portrait today bright and early. I wanted to make the most of the warm weather for the drying time! It was fantastic. I seem to have only done these large pet paintings in the winter and varnishing has to be done over two days or more, dodging the wet weather (has to be done outside) takes longer to dry because it is cooler etc. Gives me a headache getting them done! This was so simple.

The portrait is now hanging on my living room wall, in an effort to keep it nice and safe before it has to be ready to be packed up and posted. My client is delighted, I am just waiting for delivery instructions. I will post the video of the painting again here for you.

https://www.facebook.com/115696751888127/videos/2248945568519849/

And here is the finished portrait!

Akita dog portrait in watercolours on canvas, painted in purples, blues, oranges yellows and magenta

To be honest I don’t have an awful lot to say about today. I have struggled a bit with my anxiety. It’s not been the worst spell, but it hasn’t been fab either. Half term was very stressful so I don’t know if it was the fallout from that or something else. Sometimes you never know.

I did manage to get some work done so it wasn’t all bad. I posted out a print and Ziggy the Jolly Splashes horse portrait.

I have also done some admin, ordered more frames 3rd order in a week! Yes it’s that busy at the moment. I haven’t managed to reply to all my emails but will have by the end of the day tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a better day I am sure

I went and did my Nordic walking this morning and I feel sooooo much better for it. I won’t lie I am anxious about a health issue, but that won’t resolve itself until I have been to the GP and had the relevant tests, so we shall see. But it does help with my overall anxiety and I forget all about my troubles for the times I am walking and laughing with my friends. I feel so lucky to have found them 🙂

Anyway enough of this soppy stuff and back to the real stuff! I have packed up the giant akita dog portrait and tomorrow he will be labelled up and posted. I can’t wait to see him of the wall in my clients house.

I have sketched out another do portrait. Pixie, the chihuahua and you can read all about her in her very own blog post. I hope you enjoy.

I am also trying to settle on another wildlife piece, but I don’t think it will be wildlife, I think it will be a horse portrait. I have an idea growing in my head and I am very excited to see where it goes, so watch this space!

Well happy hump day everyone and safe to say it has been a pretty awesome one for me? How about you? Yesterday we got delivered a lovely new recliner chair and got rid of the old one that was well past it’s sell by date. It caused much squabbling between the children!

Today I got up and my mood was a little wobbly, but I knew I had to dig deep and do my work. What I thought that would make a massive difference was week 4 run 1, kick start the endorphines and lift my mood. I pushed myself out of the door after I posted the akita dog portrait and smashed it! I am not going to lie, I was worried about running for a whole 5 minutes in one go. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, and not as bad as I thought it would be. I have a little niggle in my right knee so I think I really need to get that gait analysis done as I think the right trainers will make a huge difference.

Work wise I have mad great progress with Pixie’s portrait. I love painti chihuahuas as the remind of my Maggie. To be honest what was looking like a quite month has very quickly got filled up with dog portraits! Not that I am complaining. It’s hard to get back into it after half term, but I want to get as much done as possible so I can take a couple of weeks off with the kids in August!

It hasn’t been the best working week but next I will put in some serious hours. I have a lot to get done. The biggest one is Ruby’s portrait, but I plan to work on her all Sunday and Monday,, but she needs to be posted by Wednesday ideally so it will be a long slog to get her done, especially as I dint have a lot of time tomorrow, but it will be fine! A good few hours Sunday and Monday should see the majority completed. Then next up is Digby and Roco’s portraits oh and Remi. It is more the bottle neck of pet portrait completion dates this month that are giving me a headache rather than the amount of work! I will always get it done, even if I have to work late!