A Portrait for Christmas

My latest commission is a portrait for Christmas and it's a surprise, so if you have stumbled upon my blog and you know this gentleman, shhhhh!! The size is 12 x 16" on primed artboard and after sketching the basic outline I started painting the shadows in paynes grey and burnt umber. Next I roughly painted in his shirt, jumper and hair. I used up the remainder of the blue paint as a wash for the background before building up warmer shadows on his face and used a small brush to add a base colour to his eyes. From there I have started to apply the many glazes required to build up a translucent skin tone so for now he looks quite tanned and his laughter lines and shadows are well pronounced. I'm quite pleased with the first few stages - keep watching to see it progress!

Dog painting - Acrylic on MDF board

Freeway and Bee Bee are now finished and looking cute. The final piece is at the top plus a couple more stages to follow on from my last post: I darkened the background before working on Freeway's ears. Then I turned my attention to Bee Bee and tried to make the hair look slightly coarser than Freeway's. I kept fiddling, adding in more detail and making sure the colours balanced based on the photos supplied, et voila!! I hope they like their portrait (and the owners too!)

See some more of my pet portraits from photos

Dog painting - Acrylic on MDF board

I am working on a new commission of two very cute dogs for a birthday present. I started by priming an MDF board size 16" x 24.5" and applying a yellow ochre wash to the background. After sketching in the dog outlines I added texture paste. This creates a slightly 3D effect as I pick out hairs that stick out and create a furry texture. Next I started to paint in Freeway's eyes, nose and muzzle before painting the dark areas in his ears. Then I moved to Bee Bee to paint the eyes, nose and dark arees of fur. I need to work on the background next but haven't decided whether to grade from dark at the top to light at the bottom or vice versa. The ears need to stand out so if you have any ideas let me know!!

Finn - watercolour of a black flat coated retriever

This soppy old dog met me at my car door window with a gruff woof, looked under his eyebrows at me and promptly disappeared off to present me with a teddy bear almost as big as him! He has a few grey hairs around his muzzle and a fabulous single white eyebrow whisker over his right eye. His owner wanted him painted in a similar watercolour style to other dog portraits she had in the house but I've still given him quite a lot of detail. As all photographers and painters know, black animals are the hardest to capture!

See some more of my dog portraits

Whisky the black and white cat!

 My latest commission is an A4 size pastel drawing of a lovely old cat called Whisky. I started drawing him on cream pastel paper but got so carried away I forgot to take photos of the preliminary stages. Here you have the final piece with the one before I fixed it with an aerosol fixative in order to add more detail and intensify the colours. I think I've taken years off him!!

See some more of my cat portraits

Kissing by the Viaduct

These are the final two versions of this commission. The client wanted a stripey red and black tie added in, some books in the foreground and the boy's hair lightened and shortened. As well as adding more definition to the couple I put more detail into the bushes and viaduct and added more texture to the grass using the edge of a palette knife.

Kissing by the Viaduct

Holidaying over, I have now started a fascinating commission combining a few photographs to create a painting which illustrates actual memories and the dreams of what could have been.
In the beginning I sketched the picture onto gesso primed board before adding texture and painting a wash of ochre to give background warmth. I painted the structure of the viaduct in burnt umber as I didn't want to lose my sketch while painting the sky.
Next I worked on the textures of the sky applying white with palette knives over a wash of paynes gray mixed with small amounts of blues and softening the edges with a brush. I also started painting blocks of colour that make up the viaduct and the couples' clothes and skin.
In the third photo you can see I have added greens to the meadow and worked further on the sky to make it appear less foreboding. I didn't want the couple running off for cover as a storm builds in the distance!
Today I roughly painted the trees and started to put detail on the viaduct. I'm quite pleased with these first few stages but there's a lot more detail, depth and texture yet to add. Keep watching!