Things I'd like to find in my Christmas Stocking

1. Time, I never have enough of it to do everything I want.

2. Dog hair fixative, for the times when I do not want to wake up and find their fur coats on the floor.

3. Rose coloured glasses, to put on before opening the door to my eldest son's bedroom.

4. A treadmill for dogs, for the days when I would rather sit indoors with a glass of wine and watch them exercising themselves.

5. A ball that brings itself back to me, for the times when I've thrown it a huge distance and every dog runs in the opposite direction.

6. A towel that can dry 24 paws without any help from me.

I'm sure I can come up with a few more so please feel free to send me any of the above.

I have worked a bit more on my cat with the reflection.

A Christmas ACEO

I was planning this years Christmas card yesterday and liked the kitten I was drawing so much that I let him star in his own ACEO.

I added a mouse so he wouldn't feel lonely, and called it 'Waiting for Santa Paws'. It is coloured pencil and acrylic on drafting film.

My 2007 Christmas card is heading for 2008 if I keep getting distracted.

More Cats

I'm glad it's weekend, this has been one of those weeks that go from bad to worse.

I'm having a difficult time at work due to massive restructuring which is ongoing, so that has been on my mind all week.

On Wednesday I slipped on some leaves and hit my chin on a wall that kindly stopped me falling to the floor, but left me with a huge bruise and a bottom jaw that doesn't look to fit the top one.

Thursday we got Juno and Roxie ready for the show which takes place today. We got up on Friday to find most of Roxie's coat on the floor, she told me she was hot in the night so had taken it off. It is not worth taking either of them to the show as Juno is also slightly out of coat, so the hours spent getting them ready was wasted.

Also on Thursday my eldest son's drive shaft on his car rolled over and died. As he needs his car to get to University that took a lot of sorting out to ensure it went to the sick car hospital on Friday.

On Friday I had to have some routine blood tests, as I have had chemotherapy my veins strongly object to anyone even looking at them. They were even less impressed when the nurse told me she had forgotten her glasses, but not to worry she works mainly by touch. All I can say is that her touch let her down on this occasion.

But, Shred is finished and I'm working on a new cat on drafting film.

I used a lot of Neocolor ll on the fur under Shred's chin and then wet it so that I could get a nice slightly out of focus look. I am really impressed with how the Neocolour work so well with coloured pencil.

The other cat is mainly coloured pencil with touches of acrylic, I'm still thinking about how I'm going to do the reflection.

Update on Roxie and Shred

Not having included my collies for a while I thought I'd let you see how Roxie is maturing. She is practicing being a Pointer in this photograph while she does a spot of duck watching.

Rio had trotted on ahead to make sure we weren't in any danger of being kidnapped, he takes his brotherly duties very seriously.

On the art front, here is the update of Shred, at last he is almost finished.

Demonstrating for the UK Coloured Pencil Society

I spent Thursday and Friday at the Art Materials Live Exhibition held at the NEC in Birmingham.

I was demonstrating for the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) and it was great fun. I talked myself hoarse early on the first day, and had to revive myself with large amounts of liquid refreshment, strictly non alcoholic as I was driving. The stand had several artists demonstrating, all very talented and quite diverse in approach, so people got a good idea of just what can be done with the coloured pencil.

I had two half finished pieces there, Shred the ginger cat on ampersand pastelbord, and one on drafting film. People were amazed at the finish you could get on the pastelbord and I got some really wonderful comments, if any of you read this, thank you for making my day.

I got so many questions on how to draw eyes and how to work on drafting film that on the second day I started a new cat. I started with the eye and showed people how to work by building up the layers, and then adding the final highlight to get the glassy appearance. I also did a little of the surrounding fur. I met several architects and graphic designers who found watching me work brought back happy(ish) memories of using drafting film.

The drafting film I use is Polydraw double matt, 75 microns in weight.

Here's what I drew plus a bit more that I added yesterday.

I also had my photograph taken with my work several times, even by one of the other exhibitors.

I really enjoyed my two days, I met up with some old friends, made some new ones and saw some stunning work.

The exhibition finishes today but I can highly recommend a visit next year to stock up on your materials and see some wonderful work. I know that as long as they want me, i will be back on the UKCPS stand.

Several people asked me about workshops or if I would do a DVD on drawing animals in coloured pencil, I will look into that after Christmas.