An Ending and Hopefully a New Beginning

Since my last post I have had to say goodbye to one of my collies, Chelsey, who was only three years old. From start to finish her illness only lasted about ten days and right until the last moment we never thought it was life threatening. But once she became distressed the right thing to do was give her release.
As I had never bred from her I didn't have a post mortem done but the vet thinks she had some sort of acute liver failure.

I had planned to mate Roma at her next season and after a lot of deliberation we took her to visit the dog we had chosen last weekend.
Roma thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and in fact escaped from the run we had put her in to rest and went back to the scene of her mating, perhaps hoping for part two.
Here is a recent photograph of Roma , she is still naughty but maturing nicely. We have got our fingers crossed that we will have the patter of tiny paws in due course.















On the painting side I am almost finished with Gabby the Norwegian Forest Cat, she needs a little bit more work on her shadow and a little bit more work on the grass. This is mainly coloured pencil but I have added tiny hairs of acrylic. I will post a close up of the fur so anyone interested can see how I've done it.

Back to Art

Since my last post my son has had major heart surgery to repair coarctation of his aorta. We discovered he had the condition almost eighteen months ago and he finally had the operation. This meant a couple of days in intensive care, followed by several days on an ordinary ward. The care he received in hospital was fantastic but now he is home I can finally return to my neglected art.

I am carrying on with several projects.

The 3rd Norwegian Forest Cat is now coming together after a phase of looking 10 foot tall, I hope she will continue to shrink as I start work on ther back.
I did the path by laying down several colours of pencil then blending using the Zest It Pencil Blend Solvent, this worked really well in giving a less defined look to the path. I might well go back and define a few foreground stones.


animal art
coloured pencil
Norwegian Forest Cat
Zest It
Unison Pastels






The Zebra's continue to move forward, or backward depending on the viewpoint. I am nearly ready to start putting the forward facing Zebra in. This one is all coloured pencil on Arches Hot Press Watercolour paper.













The Lemurs have not moved forward but I have purchased the Light and Dark set of Unison pastels which I am finding really useful. I will hopefully post an update later

Dianna Ponting Workshop

I have just attended the workshop that Canadian artist Dianna Ponting held in Lancashire, UK.
Dianna is a lovely lady and a wonderful artist, I thoroughly enjoyed my two days.
We were using pastels and Dianna had brought lots of her own for us to try out. I was particularly impressed with the Holbeins and the Terry Ludwig darks, although I still have a real fondness for Unison. I like Schminke and Sennelier but find them both very soft and only useful in the final layers.
I was working on Royal Sovereign pastel card in Raw Sienna, which is quite harsh and retains plenty of pigment.
On the first day we all worked from the same photo, but on the second we moved onto our own projects.
I was going to work on my friends Norwegian Forest Cat, but forgot to take the photo, so I used one of my own photo's of a mother and baby Ring Tailed Lemur.
I didn't get a lot done, but pastel moves much faster than coloured pencil so I hope to finish it over the weekend.

Drive-ing Me Mad

Another week of chaos in the Mason house, just when we had all recovered from the kitchen rebirth, the builders came to block pave the driveway. I have to say that these two guys are excellent, they come early in the morning, only require their cups to be refilled and tidy up every evening. However once the original drive was dug up, and the steps removed we were left with a two foot drop to ground level. No problem, until you remember that I've torn my calf muscle and can only move my leg a fraction in any direction. My two sons continued to hurtle out the door, dropping to earth with a thud, they even continued when the newly laid cement was drying waiting for the block paving to be added to the two semi-circular steps. They suggested I blame the four huge footprints on cats when the builders queried them the morning after.
We also can't walk on the paving that is already down until the silicon sand has been added, but you try explaining to my dogs that they have to walk down a strip 4 inches wide when they can see terra firma all around.
I think the paving has been re started three times now and I can see the £ signs shooting upwards.
Five days later and the paving is creeping nearer the door, sons and dogs are banned from leaving the house in case they move it yet again. Clinton is looking at the lounge window wondering if it is open wide enough to fit a Collie through, guess what's underneath it, correct, unsealed block paving, I think I'll close the window.

In the midst of chaos I have managed to continue with Gabby, Norwegian Foresat Cat 3. I have added some pines, a bit of grass and started underpainting a path for her dainty feet. Pity my sons and dogs haven't got feet that size, less reworking of the drive would have been needed. That has reminded me that one of the neighbourhood cats used the level, packed sand as a litter tray.

cat portrait

The Grass is Always Greener

My torn muscle has kept me away from the computer for a while as I need to keep my leg elevated, so my blog has suffered, but the swelling is a little better today so I'm back.

There is a double meaning to today's title, on the one hand it is the working title of a wildlife work in progress, on the other it refers to someone 'borrowing' my name and art.

Last week I was alerted to the fact that 8 of my images had been posted on DeviantArt by someone using my name. I was upset, more by the use of my name than my art, as I fully accept there was no intention to sell my work, just use it to get attention.
I was also, to put it mildly, simply furious and emailed several online friends to tell them what had happened. The instant support I got from my friends in the on line art community was wonderful and helped me through a difficult few hours. Several people posted comments on DA identifying the artwork as belonging to me, and my great friend Katherine Tyrrell highlighted my problem in her blog, see www.makingamark.blogspot.com
I complained to DA, and have to commend them for the almost instant response to my email, they removed my artwork and banned the person who had posted it.
End of story, well almost, I'm still unhappy that this person used my name and have to wonder why they didn't create their own artwork to share, perhaps the 'grass is always greener' It did make me wonder if I should continue to post my work online, but I decided the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Back to my artwork, this is a coloured pencil portrait of four Zebra, three looking one way, one the other, hence 'the grass is always greener'
It is on Arches hot press watercolour paper and is approximately 16 x 8 inches. I wanted to do something a little bit different rather than just a Zebra portrait.
My focus will hopefully be on the Zebra facing the viewer, but it might be a while before I get there, the stripes tend to form one blurry mass when I've worked on them for a while.
I'm creating the black by layering the following Prismacolour pencils, Cloud Blue, Deco Orange, Light Blue, Pumpkin Orange, Grape, Indigo Blue then Polychromos Soft Black. I am burnishing some areas with the Cloud Blue. The white is mainly Derwent Signature, Rutile White which I use a lot as it it is a thick creamy white when layered heavily.
coloured pencil
wildlife portrait
painting

Well Done Juno

On Sunday I was showing Juno and Jorja at Bath Championship Dog Show under one of the top UK Judges.
The showground was rather muddy and Juno who was in the ring first, took a bit of cleaning to restore his paws to their natural white.
But he was on his very best behaviour and didn't put a paw wrong in his class, which he won.
He then returned to the ring to challenge the other class winners for the Dog Challenge Certificate and again behaved really well. To my absolute amazement the judge awarded him the Reserve Challenge Certificate, meaning he was the 2nd best dog on the day. He is only 18 months old and still quite immature and this was my first RCC, so it was a really special win.

The day did not finish on such a high note, as while running Jorja in her class I tore my calf muscle and had to limp out of the ring. It is not often the owner retires with faulty movement!. Jorja went on to get 3rd in her large Limit class handled by my husband who can not run either due to knee problems, but he did manage a better pace than I would have done.

Knowing when to Quit

I've just abandoned Norwegian Forest Cat 3, but I really should have done so a couple of days ago.
Early on I realised the wall I had painted was too high in contrast, the cat could not have competed with it and as the cat was the focus of the painting, well, end of story.
So why did I carry on when I knew it wasn't working, I don't know the answer, the only thing I can think of is that I really don't like to be beaten. However I could have saved myself two wasted days if I'd given up earlier, next time I'll go with the gut feeling.

This then, is version 2, same cat but different pose.
I think another thing bothering me about version 1 was that the cat was very static, so in this one there is some movement.
I am using my favourite drafting film and so far it is all worked in coloured pencil. I have added some water to the sky using a water brush. On drafting film you can move ordinary coloured pencil around, and blend as easily as when using water colour pencils.
I apologise for the poor quality of the scan, the light here in West Yorkshire is too poor for a photograph, but I will update later today if the weather improves.



Norwegian Forest Cat
pet portrait
coloured pencil

Colour Choices

Because drafting film will not take many layers, initial colour choice is even more important than when using paper for coloured pencil work.
Therefore, although a little after the event I have to admit, I have decided to create myself a colour wheel for drafting film.
To start with I am using two brands of coloured pencil, Polychromos and Prismacolour.
I tried to select a true colour for my primaries, these were as follows:-
Polychromos, Cadmium Yellow, Cobalt and Deep Scarlet Red
Prismacolour, Canary Yellow, Ultramarine and Scarlet Lake.

I then layered these, keeping the brands separate to produce my secondaries. Without fail I found the Polychromos blended together better on the drafting film.
The outer layer are polychromos, the inner prismacolour.

I am going to add to the wheel but will be concentrating on fur colours initially.

New Norwegian Forest Cat

With Jorja's continuing antics I have not been able to motivate myself to start any new artwork for the last few days.
However, I had to get up at 4.30am this morning to ensure my youngest son got to school by 5.15am to catch the coach for his trip to Belgium. Jorja was convinced I could only be getting up that early because her time had come. So the usual choas ensued with a lot of groaning from eldest son who did not have to emerge at that hour and did not appreciate Clinton moaning and groaning, and Jorja huffing and puffing from opposite ends of the house.
So, having extra time to spare I started my third Norwegian Forest Cat painting.

I wanted to try something different on the drafting film so I started an underpainting in acrylic.
For the rocks I put some Burnt Umber and Paynes Grey down and then dabbed it with crinkled cellophane to give texture. Because I personally find acrylic a little bright, once the paint was dry I covered the rocks with a thin layer of white gesso . I can now work over this layer with coloured pencil to add as much detail as required.
For the moss I used Hookers Green & a touch of Paynes Grey left it to dry. I made the same mix again but this time but added a touch Yellow Ochre and then dabbed it on using a natural sea sponge, once dry I used my gesso again. I then mixed Cadmium Yellow, a tiny touch of Hookers green and alittle gesso and painted in some highlights. Again I will work over this with coloured pencil.


acrylic
cat
painting
drafting film

Spring is in the Air, and not just the Air!

I have had to put my painting slightly to one side due to organised chaos in the Mason household.
Last week I had a new kitchen fitted and Jorja came into season. Now on their own neither of them would have been a big deal, but taken together chaos was created.
Imagine the scenario, two strange men take up residence in the kitchen for four days, removing access to water, cooking facilities and more importantly the outside world, unless I went out the front door and round the side of the house.
If Roma had come into season it would have been no problem and Saska decided puppies were not for her long ago, but Jorja encourages the dogs for almost her whole season and we don't want her to have a litter this year. We are only just getting over her last litter, and Roma and Juno are 19 months old.
Clinton and Juno don't like one another when we have a bitch in season and neither can be left with Jorja so I have spent four days moving animals from one place to another with Jorja encouraging the dogs at every turn. She's done an awful lot of turning, usually to position her rear end invitingly for anything that moves.
She was due to go to a show on Saturday under a judge that I thought would like her but she obviously had to stay at home, the score so far is Jorja 10, Gayle 0.
Anyway peace is returning, the kitchen is finished, and Clinton and Juno are finally stopping pacing round the room, Jorja however is still hopeful.

Kittens now Printed

I've come to the end of the Norwegian Forest Cat kittens painting, I made the deadline for taking it to be printed, just.
I decided I needed to add something to break up the large space at the bottom left and decided on a rock. I made the choice because I wanted something to fade into the grass and I could use the same colours as the larger kitten to bring unity to the painting.
Here is the completed print, which is avialable from my website. I have chosen the title 'Sitting Pretty' for the print.

Continuing My Norwegian Forest Kittens

Here are the next stages in the development of my painting.
Once I started working on the second kitten I decided it needed more impact so I added flicks of white acrylic straight from the tube. I found I could retain the very soft fur effect whilst making the highlights in the fur 'pop' a little more.

I also decided that the sky wasn't quite right and removed all the coloured pencil. I then airbrushed a mix of white and cobalt blue acrylic which created a much smoother effect.

















In the last photo you can see I have altered the treeline so that it brings the focus back to the larger kitten's eyes. I have also added a small blue butterfly which fit in with the colours I've been using.
I might need to slightly alter the direction of the smaller kitten's gaze as it is looking fractionally too high to be focusing on the butterfly.

cat
pet portrait
drafting film
acrylic

Continuing My Norwegian Forest Kittens

Here are the next stages in the development of my painting.
Once I started working on the second kitten I decided it needed more impact so I added flicks of white acrylic straight from the tube. I found I could retain the very soft fur effect whilst making the highlights in the fur 'pop' a little more.

I also decided that the sky wasn't quite right and removed all the coloured pencil. I then airbrushed a mix of white and cobalt blue acrylic which created a much smoother effect.

















In the last photo you can see I have altered the treeline so that it brings the focus back to the larger kitten's eyes. I have also added a small blue butterfly which fit in with the colours I've been using.
I might need to slightly alter the direction of the smaller kitten's gaze as it is looking fractionally too high to be focusing on the butterfly.

cat
pet portrait
drafting film
acrylic

Continuing My Norwegian Forest Kittens

Here are the next stages in the development of my painting.
Once I started working on the second kitten I decided it needed more impact so I added flicks of white acrylic straight from the tube. I found I could retain the very soft fur effect whilst making the highlights in the fur 'pop' a little more.

I also decided that the sky wasn't quite right and removed all the coloured pencil. I then airbrushed a mix of white and cobalt blue acrylic which created a much smoother effect.

















In the last photo you can see I have altered the treeline so that it brings the focus back to the larger kitten's eyes. I have also added a small blue butterfly which fit in with the colours I've been using.
I might need to slightly alter the direction of the smaller kitten's gaze as it is looking fractionally too high to be focusing on the butterfly.

cat
pet portrait
drafting film
acrylic

Continuing My Norwegian Forest Kittens

Here are the next stages in the development of my painting.
Once I started working on the second kitten I decided it needed more impact so I added flicks of white acrylic straight from the tube. I found I could retain the very soft fur effect whilst making the highlights in the fur 'pop' a little more.

I also decided that the sky wasn't quite right and removed all the coloured pencil. I then airbrushed a mix of white and cobalt blue acrylic which created a much smoother effect.

















In the last photo you can see I have altered the treeline so that it brings the focus back to the larger kitten's eyes. I have also added a small blue butterfly which fit in with the colours I've been using.
I might need to slightly alter the direction of the smaller kitten's gaze as it is looking fractionally too high to be focusing on the butterfly.

cat
pet portrait
drafting film
acrylic

Spring Fever

Before I carry on with my kittens demo I thought I would share the Collies enjoying the first nice evening when they were playing in the garden.
The first photo shows Saska proving that even at nine years old and with arthritis in her back legs she can run with the rest of them. She did lie down to watch a couple of minutes later. The second photo shows Jorja and Juno chasing one another, they use the bird bath at one end of the garden to turn and the pond at the other.
dog
Rough Collie

The third photo shows Roma taking off in a final jump to reach the winning post first.

You will notice there are no photographs of Clinton taking part in the races, he was indulging in his favourite hobby of watching the sunbeams on the grass. If one dares to land on his paw he can't move until it goes away. The last photo shows him studying his paw with his usual worried look.

Two Norwegian Forest Kittens on Drafting Film

After finishing my last NFC, I have decided to do a series of at least 4, so this is the next one. For these two kittens I decided to choose an outdoor setting to stretch my skill at doing backgrounds.
I have made myself a practice book to try out individual background elements. A normal sketchbook would not be much use to me as I am mainly working on drafting film, so I cut up sheets of drafting film, bristol board and Arches Hot Press Watercolour paper and made my own. These are the surfaces I mainly use, depending on whether I am working in acrylic, graphite or coloured pencil.
My artist friend Katherine Tyrell (have a look at her blog, Making A Mark, link at the left) came for a visit and gave me loads of good advice which I hope I'm putting into practice in this piece.

Here are some progress shots.

I might need to fade out the background trees at the end but I have discovered another drafting film plus, blue tac easily lifts the colour.

The Final stages of the Norwegian Forest Cat

Poppy the Labrador is now finished and hanging on her owners wall, I didn't get chance to take a final photograph but her owners were pleased with the portrait.

Here are the final stages in the Norwegian Forest Cat on drafting film.
I am very impressed with the drafting film as a surface to use coloured pencils on, so far it has done everything I wanted.





































The final shot is the finished print.

Step by Step Cat on Drafting Film

For people who have never used drafting film, it is an exciting surface to try with coloured pencils.
This is how I am working with it to produce a painting of a Ch. Norwegion Forest Cat belonging to our friends John and Caroline Tipper. John and Caroline own and breed the Tiganlea Norwegian Forest Cats and Rough Collies

I am using double matt Polydraw, which means I can work on both sides, a variety of coloured pencils including Polychromos, Lyra, Derwent and Prismacolor and possibly some acrylic.
After selecting the photograph I wanted to use, (out of a couple of hundred I took on my visit) I drew out an outline on rough paper, I then traced this onto the drafting film using a sharp white Polychromos pencil with heavy pressure. One of the advantages of drafting film is that you can erase coloured pencil completely without damaging the surface so the pressure doesn't matter, I simply press on hard so that I can see the lines at a later stage.
I want to completely change the background to put the cat in a more interesting setting and to give him something to look at, so I am going to introduce a Bee into one of the 'sweet spots' in the painting.

My artist friend Katherine Tyrrell provided me with a wonderful photograph of pink flowers growing against a lovely warm wall. So I am going to take elements of that to complete my background.
The next photographs show the development of the painting.

Because drafting film is semi transparent I put a mid toned piece of mount/matte board behind it while I work so that I can see the colours I'm using clearly.

I have started with the cat's head, really to give me a starting point, and as I've previously mentioned I like to do the eye first, because even at this early stage it brings the painting to life. I also put one flower in to see if the colours worked together.

On the next scan, I have started to put the wall in to ensure that the colour, tone etc compliment the cat. For the wall, I am working on the back of the film to start with, which means it gives a softer effect and I can overlap the edges of the fur without damaging my work on the front. I can then adjust or darken on the front of the film at a later stage. I will continue working the painting as a whole now and will scan when there is a little more to see.

cat
cat painting
colored pencil
coloured pencil
drafting film

Where do you draw the Line?

Where do I draw the line?, preferably I don't, at least not on the final surface for my drawing/painting.
I'm defining a line here, as a mark that divides and separates two areas, and in a painting how does that sit with the unified whole.
I had a 'lightbulb' moment while I was drawing Poppy and thinking about her bone structure, I finally realised I should be thinking about masses of colour, tone etc rather than drawing a line and working away from it. Now, if you're shaking your head at my late understanding of a rather basic concept, I perhaps need to add, I did know that there are no lines in nature, I just wasn't applying it.
I am not suggesting I could draw a pet portrait without guide lines because I couldn't, but once my rough drawing is transferred to my final surface then I am going to try to erase the lines to faint suggestions and work in masses. As an example from my own work, I have always defined an animal eye with a hard, black,blue, or brown line. In future I will try to use tiny strokes following the curve of the eyeball to create mass rather than a defined line.
This will become even more important as I continue to move away from pure portraits towards my long term aim of painting animals in scenes. I hope this small step will help my paintings to become much more unified.

Poppy is moving on nicely, I am still working mainly undercoat with pastel pencils and hard pastel sticks. The best bit will be when I add the really soft pastels to hopefully make the painting sparkle.

pet portrait
pastel

When is a Commission not a Commission?

One of the definitions of 'commission' is 'a task given to a person to perform' and for me, that simple statement is what puts me off doing pet portrait commissions.
To me, I see the task as giving the owner a portrait that is a permanent reminder of their pet, not just its physical appearance but something that encompases its personality, and that is where my difficulty lies. If I have never met the animal then how can I 'know' it well enough to include personality. I can get the physical appearance right from a good quality photograph and I can ask the owner about personality, but I still do not feel I am able to include that certain something that defines each individual animal. I have five sable and white Rough Collies that all look similar to strangers, but when I look at them, I see their personality in their eyes, in their movement, in the way they react to each other, and so on. An artist once painted one of my own dogs and while it was a very good study of a Rough Collie it was not my 'Saska'
So, I very rarely accept commissions, and for the ones I do, I like to meet the animal if at all possible. I take my own photographs watching the animal in its own surroundings reacting to the people it loves. When that happens I am confident I can embody the animal on canvas or paper and the commission is no longer a commission but becomes a journey of discovery for me as the portrait takes life.
Even when the above conditions are met I still only take on certain commissions as I am becoming increasingly busy producing my Limited edition prints.
However I have agreed to produce a head study of a delightful Black Labrador called 'Poppy', who I met and photographed.
The portrait is in pastel on a cream coloured ingres mountboard and so far I have transferred my drawing and started working on the undercoat. I have put one eye in as is usual with my work.
I will block in all the ear and then bring it to completion next.
dog
pastel
pet portrait

More About Drafting Film

The more I work with drafting film, the more I like it. So far it has done everything I've asked it to do with littl;e resistance.
One of the nice things I've found is that because it is semi-transparent you can put different colours of mountboard behind it to influence the colour temperature of the whole piece.
As an example I photographed Hallie with a piece of yellow mountboard underneath, then a piece of grey and a finally a piece of white. The white stage is slightly further on than the other two.
This is the white one.

This is the grey














And this is the yellow.

I'm not sure which I like best, and might even decide to go with nothing behind when it is scanned for the prints, which will give a softer out of focus feel to the distant background.

I am going to do a step by step approach to my next painting, so that anybody who is interested can see exactly how it works.





Juno is at another show tomorrow, this time it is Scottish Breeds Championship show at Ingleston near Edinburgh, so an early start is required. Juno is preparing for that by neglecting his squirrel watching and sleeping peacefully. However no self respecting squirrel would be out and about today as it is absolutely pouring with rain, so he isn't missing much. The house has that pleasant aroma that five long coated, damp dogs give off, I'm hoping that I don't have visitors for a while, as all the dogs are out of sight in the Conservatory, leaving me in possession of the pong.
dog
painting

Lazy Sunday?

Sunday started off with a phone call at 6.55 am from our eldest son wanting collecting from his friends house. He had wanted to stay over after a party last night but then decided that he needed his own bed. Now that wouldn't be so bad as we're already up and about sorting the dogs out at that time, but usually the first car journey of the day is to take the dogs for a walk on the moor. They were not happy that they were left behind and proceeded to howl. As my neighbours are normal and do not rise at this hour on Sundays I had to go round giving treats for being quiet, which only worked until I reached the end of the line. Eventually they gave up and decided to sulk instead, at least that was quiet.
Yesterday the sun made a fleeting appearance so we put the dogs outside in their run for a while, they decided they really prefer being couch potatoes and pleaded to be allowed back in. You can see that Roma isn't quite tall enough to see, so she extends her ears like periscopes. Saska decided to let the other dogs do the pleading, her older back legs don't work quite so well now. Juno was quite happy in the run as he likes squirrel watching and there was one doing tricks to entertain him while hanging from the bird feeder.

I am continuing with my painting on the drafting film, I am very impressed with it. For anyone who works with coloured pencil it is well worth giving it a try. The pencil point lasts longer and there are no little flecks of colour flaking off and getting impressed into the picture. Even dog fur has nothing to cling to and floats away to await the vacuum.
If you want to see where I'm up to with Hallie the Dachshund. have a look at my website.
www.gaylemasonfineart.com
I am going to start a new piece either today or tomorrow and will include a work in progress.
dog

After Crufts

Well Crufts is over for another year, so we can all begin frantically trying to qualify for 2007.
Juno did really well, he came 5th out of a nice class of 16, so we went home happy. The light is pretty bad for taking photographs but here we are smiling at the camera.
The smile faded a little when it took us over 2 hours to exit the West Car Park at the NEC, but it's all part of a day in the life of a show dog.
When we finally arrived home, his sister Roma beat him up for being absent all day without her, so life soon returned to normal.







Apart from Juno, another thing I took home from Crufts was the idea of working on drafting film. I saw an artist that I greatly admire working on it and producing the most fantastic paintings. I already had some Polydraw, which is a double matt drafting film in the cupboard so I dragged it into the daylight and gave it a try.

I'm using a photograph showing my friends Dachshund standing in the Autumn leaves, it is a wonderful photograph so I hope I can do it justice.
I first airbrushed some acrylic to create a soft background, having diluted the acrylic using a mix of gloss medium and water so the airbrush nozzle didn't block up.
I then started working in coloured pencil which just glides onto the film, and even better, erases completely without damaging the film.
Here's the stage I've reached, so far, so good.

Next stage involves rather a lot of detailed leaves, never mind, five rough collies bring in plenty each day for me to choose from.

Preparation

It is Juno's big day at Crufts on Thursday and we are in the middle of preparing him to look his best. This is how Juno views the proceedings.

I have a methodical method of getting him ready. First he has his bath, then I trim his hocks, then starting at his tail I brush all his fur the wrong way, then again starting again at his tail I brush it all into place.



Thing about preparation, made me realise that I work my dog and cat portraits in the same methodical way.
I start with the eyes and work outwards till I come to an area I don't understand at that time. I then find an area I do understand and work outwards from that, and so on, until the whole thing fits together.
As an example here's where I'm up to with the graphite Elkhound I'm working on.
I started with the eyes, because if they aren't right I don't carry on, they are the most important part of an animal portrait to me. I then couldn't quite work out the fur direction on the muzzle, so I worked the nose and now I can see how it will all fit together.
I have also left finishing the ear until I can better judge the light tones.
I also bring each area more or less to completion before I move on to the next.
I would be interested to know how other artists deal with pet portraits.

And as for Juno, well I hope he looks a little bit more lively in the ring.

A Dog's Life

Time to introduce Zeus, father to Roma and Juno, reluctant mate to Jorja (more about that later). His pedigree name is Carostar Castaway at Glenspey, and sometimes we wish he had been cast a bit further away than here.
He now lives with my mum and has a wonderful life ruling everyone with a muddy paw.

Zeus is eight in April and was our second Rough Collie and first show dog, and from the start had a mind of his own. The little things we laughed at as a pup came back to haunt us later on.
For instance, he didn't like the shiny floor at the vets and would have to be dragged to the consulting room on the doormat, or carried. Everyone smiled at him being towed along, but what we didn't realise at the time, was that he had decided he was never, ever going to walk on a shiny floor. He used to move through the shiny floored conservatory by leaping on to the chair and jumping down to the mat by the door. Not being completely stupid we did make him walk on the floor if we caught him, but he would then slink along with his belly inches from the floor.

So he grew up and at six months was taken along to his first small show, and as is usual with open shows held in the winter in this country it was held in a sports hall. Of course the floor positively shone it was so shiny and Zeus decided point blank he would rather suffer the consequences than put his snow white paw on that floor. So we carried him in and explained to him that he would be able to move on mats, he just had to walk up and down it twice, so the judge could see how he moved.
With plenty of bribes we got him moving slowly along the floor, then it was time for his class. We went to the end of the line and he inched slowly up the mat till it was his turn to shine. He stood beautifully for the judge to go over him, then we set off down the mat, well actually I set off down the mat Zeus didn't move a muscle. I went back and tried bribes, no way his eyes said, and just to make sure I understood, he slowly fell to the floor. Thank you, said the judge as I picked him up and carried him back to the mat.
There was no rosette for Zeus that day and even now he doesn't like shiny floors, although he did go on to win several rosettes, usually at Summer shows, on grass.

What Makes an Impression?

While I'm waiting for Juno in oil to dry, and the real furry Juno is beginning his countdown to Crufts I thought I'd share this little story from my human family.
My young niece Holly is five, and likes to paint and draw. She had been naughty one day while my brother was looking after her, so he sent her to her room. There was silence for a few minutes then Holly came back in the room with a little card she'd made. On the front was a little drawing and inside it said 'sorry for being naughty Daddy', but what made my brother smile was when he turned it over and written in large letters on the back was 'Made in England'.
For Holly, the writing on the back of cards she had seen, had made as much impression as the pictures on the front...

Must remember to make sure Juno's tail is as smart as his head when he goes to Crufts.