The beginnings of my next dog portrait... This commission came about through another referral - so wonderful to receive work through word of mouth - a big thank you to all my clients for passing the word!

This beautiful dog had a lovely glossy coat - so the rendering on this portrait should be fun and eye catching. I really enjoy drawing in the fur - creating lights and shadows in the coat it really brings the portrait to life.

Here are the photos of the finished portrait. As you can see from the photos I tried to render in one of the horses lighter than the other - hopefully giving the ghost like effect my clients were looking for. It wasn't easy - I had to control the urge to darken my tones and shaded very gently.

I love to take on challenges with my work and this was certainly testing my skills. I hope Amber will like the finished portrait - I enjoyed creating this drawing for her.

Here are a few photos of my latest portrait. This portrait is large - 19" x 24" and portrays a young lady and her two beloved horses. One of her horses has passed away so I will be rendering him in with an almost ghost like feel - a gentler approach - it should make for an interesting piece! This portrait is going to be a Christmas present and I'm working hard to get it done in time for her to have it for Christmas.

It's definitely a challenge and an added challenge by adding a person in the portrait - but I love innovative portraits and I was happy to take this project on - I just hope that my client will be pleased with the finished result.

Sorry for the somewhat lacking photos - my light wasn't great for taking pictures - I assure you it's better in real life - I hope you like it?!

My latest dog portrait. I loved drawing this dog - the fur is so much fun to shadow and bring to life. I love my job and really enjoy what I do!

To create this portrait I worked from 2 photographs. The reason for this was because each photo had different strengths and I wanted to incorporate the best from both to draw the best portrait I could for my client. 

This is Henry the Fjord. I have met him in person and he is a real sweetie. The photograph of the portrait does not do it justice - you need to see it in real life to appreciate the depth in the piece.

The finished watercolor painting of my beautiful horse Tristan. He was just a baby in this picture and it was a bright and beautiful winter snowy day. I'm pleased with the finished result - it's been a while since I have worked with watercolors and I really enjoyed painting this piece. I use only the highest quality paints Winsor & Newton Artists Watercolors on Arches Watercolor Press Paper. I hope you like it! 

Depending upon popularity of this piece I am considering making prints of the original and also Christmas cards.

The beginning stages of my watercolor painting. Watercolor is in my opinion the hardest medium to use - it is completely unforgiving - once you have put the paint down you have to act quickly to move it around the paper before it dries. It's also a bit of a guessing game as you never know what you'll get until you've applied the paint - the upside to this is that it makes for an exciting experience with many happy surprises.

I am very excited about my latest creative endeavour. This is my horse Tristan as a colt. I absolutely adore this photo and the photographer has kindly given me permission to make a painting from it! 

I am going to do it in watercolors as I think this will work best for this photograph. It's a wonderful Christmas scene and if the painting comes out well I may use the image for Christmas cards.

Stay tuned for updates!

The finished portrait. I changed the composition of the original photograph to make the piece more aesthetically pleasing. The photograph I was working from was mostly just a shot of the horse's head with little to no neck to be seen. Instead of drawing a floating head I think it looks better if you can see some of the horse's neck too. 

Another horse portrait. I started with the eyes today and now beginning the shading in the fur. This horse has a lovely blaze which will make the piece quite dynamic I think.

The finished horse portrait! Phantom the Friesian stallion. This drawing was a real pleasure to create. His long mane and muscled neck are an artist's dream subject. I'm so fortunate to be able to do something I love!

It's getting closer! I'm working on the the lights and shadows in the coat and defining the muscle structure in the neck. I think this will be my new favorite horse portrait. The Friesian breed are such a pleasure to draw.

My latest pencil horse portrait. This beautiful young Friesian stallion is called Phantom. I know this horse personally and he is a real head turner! This photo shows him in his winter woolies but he's gorgeous none the less. I'm really hoping the owner will like the portrait I'm creating for them.

The finished kitty! Such a beautiful cat. Sadly this little sweetie passed away. Many of my clients have me create portraits of a pet they have lost. It's a special way to cherish that pet's memory.

My first solitary cat portrait! This is a very special portrait as the lady who I am doing this for actually started my pet portraiture business! The first drawing I did for her was of her two dogs and now she's coming back for a second for her mom :o).... it's in the early stages right now but I love the pose this cat is making - a testament to the character of this sweet kitty. I didn't make up the composition of this piece - this cat used to actually sit up like this and I am drawing it directly from a photograph.

The finished piece!

The finished portrait. I really enjoyed drawing this one and I'm very pleased with the finished result. 

I have finished with one of the dogs and now on to the next! I am really loving this piece - I think this may be my favorite one I have done so far (but then I usually think that right about now!). One of my goals as an artist is to always do better - I want to improve with each portrait. I decided to change the layout/format with this piece just to try something new - and I like the way it's turning out. The vertical page layout having the dogs at an angle and diagonal from each other adds to the composition and makes it more appealing to the eye.

Work in progress...

Here are a few photos of my latest portrait. I've always wanted to show the initial start to a drawing... it is my favorite time during the process as it is so exciting to bring something to life from the paper. The eyes are the most expressive and in my opinion important part of a portrait - that is why I always work on them first. I also love to do a lot of detail in the fur. Graphite pencil gives you so much control when creating a piece of art that it's a real joy to work with and definitely my favorite medium. 

My first BLOG how exciting!!