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!