Border Collie Montage - a WIP continued

Work on the Border Collie montage continues, albeit slowly – I say slowly as it is taking a lot longer to finish than I’d planned with just under 75 hours spent on it so far. The dogs are almost finished, just need to work on the legs and white areas of fur on the sitting dogs as well as the inevitable touch ups here and there.

That just leaves the background to do, with all those greens (sigh). I know how I want to go with this and how I want it to look but somehow I don’t think my vision will materialise onto paper if I jump in and do this straight away. So I'm putting it to one side for a couple of days to go back to it with fresh eyes but also to give me time to play around with my paints and pencils and see what different shades of green I can mix - I prefer to mix/blend colours where possible as green straight from the tube can be too bright and garish, not what I am after. Lots of grass studies as well I think before I move on to the montage.

I'd Rather be in the Studio!

I’ve just finished reading Alyson Stanfield’s ‘I’d Rather be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self Promotion’ and highly recommend you get hold of a copy if you can – for the motivation factor if nothing else.

I remember reading somewhere that you should, sorry need, to be dedicating at least half of your art time marketing – sometimes more! If you’re like me and don’t spend anywhere near this amount of time on marketing and come up with countless excuses not to, then this is the book for you. It will provide you with the tools, techniques and guidance to get your name out there in the art world and make your time away from the studio more enjoyable – no excuses allowed.

I have certainly come away from this book full of ideas but more importantly motivated enough to put them into action. I am more organised and focused which can only be good for my art.

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is for artists of all kinds. Painters, sculptors, ceramist, jewellers, photographers, and others will benefit from the easy-to-follow self-promotion practices in this book.

Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets – in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.

The book includes online worksheets and downloads.

Border Collie Montage - a WIP

WIP
20X16 Coloured Pencil

All my art time has been spent recently working on a montage of two beautiful Border Collies. Being 20x16 inches and mainly in coloured pencil, it is taking many an hour to complete, with many still to go, but I do think the end result is worth it.

So far I have completed the main head studies and have made a start on the background (although you can't see this in the cropped pic above), which in this case will be a view of Irton Fell in Cumbria. Completing the background will be interesting as I’m at my least comfortable when it comes to working with greens, I always have been and probably always will. Thankfully there aren’t that many green animals about or I really would be in trouble:) I'm hoping, weather permitting, to get a photo showing the full montage soon - watch this space.

Summer Breeze

Summer Breeze
Coloured Pencil
24.5cm x 33.5cm

This is a drawing I started a while back and have now added a background to. I am someone who very rarely adds a background to their work, preferring to focus all my attention on the subject, and I want to explore this more. But I don’t know – when I don’t do a background I can feel something’s missing and if I do one I more often than not think it looked better without. Almost like it is taking something away from the subject. There really is no pleasing me sometimes.

Summer Breeze is one of those drawings where I felt a background was needed and when added I had no regrets. As far as backgrounds go it’s simple and uncomplicated but I’m pleased with how it turned out – enough to turn it into prints.