Norwegian Elkhounds - a WIP

Keeping a blog really brings home to me how time flies by and I often look at what work I have done between posts and more often than not think I could/should be doing more - like now.

It's almost two weeks since I last posted and in that time I have been working on a large colour pencil portrait of two beautiful Norwegian Elkhounds and this is where I am at (pic has been cropped) .....

Working with colour pencils can and does take time - a lot of time - but, despite having an overwhelming urge to paint something quickly, I still favour them above other media and think the finished result is worth it. That doesn't stop me wishing on occasions that I had more to show at the end of a working day and have been known to despair at 'how little' I have achieved that day. All that said I do love watching the portrait 'come to life'.

The Elkhounds were originally going to have a full outdoor background with lots of greenery but the more I worked on the dogs the more I felt the greens would overpower them. I was reluctant to start the background and, after many a sleepless night to think the best way forward, it's been agreed to turn the portrait into a montage. A lot happier with this decision I am now working on four pencil head studies to complete the portrait. All going well I should be able to show you 2 of these tomorrow - 3 if it turns out to be a productive day!

Artists block?

What a week - and not in a good productive way with work flying off the easel. Instead I have binned two attempts at my latest commission as I wasn't happy with how either were progressing. Normally, although frustrating, this wouldn't be a problem but when I'm on a tight schedule with deadlines to meet it is precious time wasted.

Three days on and a switch from pastels to colour pencils - not to mention many thoughts of self doubt - I am a lot happier with how it is turning out. This is going to be a large portrait with full background so will show some in progress shots in another post - need to work on it a bit more to have anything worth posting (am also hoping to have an A3 size scanner over the weekend to make things easier).

I can however show you a portrait that is finished - except for a bit of tweaking here and there - of two short haired tabbies. Brothers Harry and George are drawn on Fabriano Artistico paper with colour pencils, size 16 x 12.

Cairn Terrier

My latest commission using pastels is of a Cairn Terrier called Sherry. I was told she is soft and gentle and being a terrier, bright, alert and full of life. The photographs certainly showed this and I wanted to capture this side of her in her portrait.

Personally, and I don't mind admitting this, I find this type of dog, i.e. terriers of the long haired variety, the most challenging to draw - mind you I haven't tried a poodle yet! It's all that hair which I find a bit ....... overwhelming before I even start. I don't help myself by trying to portray every hair I see and can get lost in the detail.

With Sherry I made a conscious effort to see her as 'tonal shapes' and not 10,000 single hairs layered this way and that and found pastel as a medium helped in not getting too caught up in the intricate details.

On a totally different note I wanted to share with you - you being just about the last to know - a bit of good news. As regular readers will know I have been taking Zara (my gorgeous boxer puppy) to training classes with my daughter and earlier tonight she passed The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme Bronze Award. She did really well and was so good - well done Zara!! Silver award here we come.

Springer Spaniel Montage

This week I started working on a montage that's been on my waiting list for an embarrassingly long time now. The main subject is a beautiful Springer Spaniel called Meg and will be a first for me in two ways ......

At 24 x 18 inches it will be the largest colour pencil portrait I have done to date and all going well will look quite impressive when finished. It is also my first montage on paper (I have completed many in my head). Doing a montage has been on my 'must do' list for ages but thanks to work commitments haven't found the time. I will still get this done and then plan to offer 'montages' as an option on my website.

In the meantime I'm enjoying working on Meg's montage which I have named 'Meg and friends' (there will be a rabbit, partridge and pheasant in there as well). So far I have made a start on the main pic of Meg which shows her amongst the reeds - another first when I get round to doing them! This is what I have done so far ..........

And putting the reeds off to another day, a couple of head studies ......

What a difference a day makes....

..... or 2 or 3. Have now finished the portrait of Lara, the boxer, after putting it to one side for a few days so I could look at it with 'fresh' eyes. I wasn't really happy with how it was progressing but couldn't put my finger on why. Having this break helped as when I looked at it again could see the colouring wasn't right - she was looking too orange - funny how these things seem so obvious after looking at it afresh.

Funnily enough while I had decided to change the colour of her fur I found out from her owner that the photograph I was working from - although taken outside - wasn't a true representation of her colouring and she was in fact a lot darker all over. Her ears, for example, are completely black in real life but looked light brown on the photograph!!

I have now made all the necessary changes and am a lot happier with how it looks. So here she is, Lara, the boxer..........

Boxer update

Another stage in my boxer portrait. Worked on this over the weekend and would be further on if I wasn't so easily distracted.

Being a mother of 2 children, and having a husband who works nights, I have found I can do a lot of work undisturbed in the evenings and had planned such an evening last Saturday. Unfortunately I caught a couple of minutes of 'Grease is the Word' on TV and ended up watching all one and a half hours of it just to see who got through! Sad I know, but I was a BIG Grease fan when I was a child - still find it strange that my daughter is too and like me knows the words to all the songs.

Anyway, I digress, all was not lost and had I been focused could still have a couple of hours behind the easel - I even got as far as sitting there with pastels in hand. But then my daughter decided she wanted to watch one of her DVD's about cheer leaders and boy meets girl etc. I don't know why I'm admitting this but I found myself engrossed in this also and it really wasn't worth watching. So where I could have had 4 hours well spent at my easel I chose to spend it watching rubbish on TV!

I've put my boxer to one side for a few days to start work on a Springer Spaniel montage that has been on my waiting list since before Christmas. Looking forward to this portrait with all the different images to portray - 8 in all - and will post updates as I work on it.

Boxer in progress

This is a commissioned portrait I have just finished of a collie and jack russell in colour pencil. Taking just under 2 weeks to complete this portrait is definately up there in the 'taking forever' column.

Next up on my easel is a beautiful boxer in pastel. I have found it very hard to get past the 'ugly stage' with this portrait - for some reason this stage lasts longer for me when working in pastels - and had to keep reminding myself that it would all come together. I think it's because, certainly in the way I work, that there is a lot of blocking in with the pastels and the detail comes later, i.e. I'm impatient! Here is where I am with it just now - as you can see still a long way to go.

Rising temperatures

We have been really lucky weatherwise the last couple of days and, if the papers are right, boasted higher temperatures than some popular foreign holiday resorts. I did not, however, laze around in the garden lapping up the suns rays - although I was seriously tempted - and instead worked on my commissions, unlike some......

My husband and Zara having a rest .....

After playing on the trampoline!!!

And not content on keeping me company, preferring instead to make the most of it and watch the world go by .....

But thanks to my strong willpower I finished this portrait of Bonnie .....

Sadly, while working on her portrait Bonnie was put to rest after, I am told, 18 wonderful years of life. Hopefully her portrait will help in some way to keep the memory of Bonnie alive.

A Collie in acrylics

I can't believe 26 days have passed since my last post especially when I made a promise to myself to update it more regularly. This promise does still stand and I fully intend to update my blog on a regular basis from now on.

So what have I been up to in the last 26 days? I would like to say lots and lots but as I have had the builders up converting my garage I haven't done as much as I'd planned - again!!! What is it with this year?? I could go into detail giving you an insight into the mess, stress and upheaval I have been subject to but suffice to say I don't work well amongst chaos and am easily distracted. Definately a disadvantage to working from home. But I can't complain (now that it's all over) as we now have the space for a dishwasher! It arrived this afternoon and I can honestly say it will be one well loved bit of machinery. One less thing to do around the house can only mean more time behind the easel.

Despite everything going on around me I have completed 2 portraits, one of which I can't show just now thanks to my camera. The other is an acrylic painting of a Collie called Bonnie, pictured below. The photograph I had to work from was taken over 20 years ago and was not clear but despite this I am happy with the results and more importantly my client was too.

I am always on the lookout to try something new be it pencils, paints, paper and enjoy seeing what results I can get from them. For Bonnie's portrait I used Golden Fluid Acrylics that have a consistency similar to heavy cream making them an excellent choice for detail work.

I did have my reservations about this paint - mainly its consistency - would it would be thick enough to use on canvas board and would I get complete coverage? But I needn't have worried there as you get the same richness of colour offered by the Heavy Body Acrylics but none of the 'gloopiness' - the consistency of the paints gave a pleasantly smooth brush stroke. I really enjoyed using them and can't wait to try them on paper and other supports.

Like all good things though there was a downside and with these paints I felt they dried a lot quicker than the Heavy Body Acrylics both on the palette and on the canvas. I found myself having to mix the same colour several times and having difficulty with blending. They do say practice makes perfect and I'm sure with more practice I'll find ways to overcome these problems.

Busy busy

Four or five months ago I was complaining to my husband how I had no time to draw 'my things' as I was fully booked with Xmas orders (which is great of course) and how I really missed it. He told me not to worry as I would have plenty of time come January onwards. How wrong he was!!

Surprisingly (I say this going on previous years at this time) I have been really busy with commissions and now taking orders for May. Obviously I am really pleased with this as people are finding me some way or other and like my work enough to commission me.

So while I miss not having the time to do my own work for the time being I can't complain as I'm doing something I love and get great enjoyment from. Saying this, I intend to find that extra hour here and there to update my website (long overdue in my opinion), draw something for me (can't wait) and brush up on my photography skills (more about this in another post).

Now for a portrait........ this is my latest, completed using colour pencils, of a Golden Lab called Wallace. I have to say he was sooooo good and sat there all the time while I snapped away with my camera!

Aches and pains

Once again I find myself running behind schedule and Zara is not to blame - at least I don't think so.

Every Wednesday evening my daughter and I take Zara to puppy classes which, by the way, she loves. Unfortunately she spends the majority of the hour pulling and ends up on her back legs trying to get to the other puppies (I'm sure she was a meerkat in a previous life!) and she is STRONG. By the end of the classes I feel like I have done a round with Mike Tyson and literally ache all over in my efforts to keep her from jumping enthusiastically over the other dogs.

For some reason I haven't felt well in the days following. Two weeks ago my arms ached enough for me to take painkillers and last week I ached from the hips up like I had flu of the trunk!?!?!? Of course it could just be coincidence that I happened to have aches and pains after puppy classes that's why I'm keeping an open mind.

Whatever the reasons it stopped me from putting in the hours behind the easel. However, I did finish this portrait of a Great Dane that I had the pleasure of meeting called Meg.

I visited Meg to take photographs to work from and she was HUGE - compared to Zara she was like a horse!

Meg was to be completed in pastels and therefore my first choice of paper would have been velour but not with this portrait. Unfortunately there are not a lot of colours to choose from in the velour and I wanted it to be on blue paper. So Meg has been drawn on Canson which always leaves me wanting to use colour pencils with the pastels - I like the results you get with this combination.

German Shepherds

Zita and Sulley
12 x 10 Pastel

As mentioned in my last post here is the completed portrait of Zita and Sulley, the German Shepherds - or Alsations if you prefer to call them that. I never know what to call them and chop and change as the mood takes me although I do know that they were called German Shepherds first and Alsation came after the 1st World War but dont ask me why - I think I might Google it and find out.

A cat and a dog

'Mollie'
16 x 12 Colour Pencil

Proof that I am now back on track and working on my portraits, even if running a bit behind schedule.

Mollie is my latest commission and she reminded me a lot of our cat who we sadly had to rehome a couple of years ago (a long story). Next up on the easel are 2 German Shepherds in pastel. Both are nearing completion and I should have a picture to show you early next week.

Still trying to find that spare time to draw and paint Zara - I have lots of things I want, and can't wait, to do with her. In the meantime I am camera happy, clicking away while out on our walks hoping to catch the perfect photo to work from .............. and to proudly show anyone who isn't bored by now! Here are a couple of my favourites taken last week.

Gorgeous or what!

Confessions

Ok, I have a confession to make - I've been somewhat 'lazy' behind the easel and haven't done very much since the holidays. The reason?

Well on the one hand I could 'blame' Zara. Being the only one working from home I find myself, on the whole, her sole carer. Thankfully she is almost fully toilet trained so don't have to follow her every move but now I have a problem with guilt. I feel I should be spending more time with her - those eyes of hers get to me every time - and do feel guilty working on my drawings. When I get a chance to that is as I am forever having to stop to attend to her needs for one reason or another.

On the other hand I could blame myself and lack of motivation (post holiday syndrome I like to call it). I had work to complete the week beween Christmas and New Year and decided to take the following week as my holidays. My promise to start work 'tomorrow' changed daily and all of a sudden it is the 21st January! Whatever my reasons it is not a good start to the year and, whether Zara likes it or not, it's back to normal hours tomorrow.

I haven't been all bad and finished updating my website galleries with my Christmas commissions which included pencil drawings of Seonaid, a lurcher and Italian spinone cross....

And, staying with lurchers, 2 brothers named Miller and Fynn.....

I am never happy with how my graphite pencil portraits scan or photograph but it gives you an idea.

So what's next? Looking forward to future commissions which include 2 German Shephards, a Great Dane, Greyhound and a colour pencil montage of a beautiful Spaniel. First up though is Mollie the cat and I will be adding her to my WIP pages tomorrow.

The story so far

With the Christmas rush over things have calmed down a bit behind the easel giving me some time to update my website - well that was my plan. My computer had other ideas and decided to 'crash' on Christmas Eve. The timing couldn't have been worse with nowhere open to take it to be fixed - if it could be fixed!!

I spent all that week convinced I had lost all my data. That worry combined with my severe lack of sleep (thanks to Zara) didn't make me the greatest company to be around. But it is only a computer I hear you say - this is true but I have EVERYTHING stored on my computer, pictures, website, client details to name but a few. As it turned out I needn't have worried as I was, and I quote, "very lucky I didn't lose everything on my harddrive". I have learnt a valuable lesson after all this however and that is to back-up all my data and updates on a regular basis.

So with my computer back I have made a start on updating my website with my Christmas commissions beginning with the colour pencil portraits. The portraits I will be adding to this gallery include.......

Amber, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Lenny, the Collie

and Millie, the Chocolate Lab

All beautiful dogs, don't you think?

Our new addition

Now that Christmas has come and gone (hope you had a good one) and all the chaos that goes with it I'd like to introduce you to our new addition to the family in the form of a 12 week old gorgeous boxer puppy we have named Zara.

Zara was a surprise present for my daughter who has been desperate to have a dog for more years than I care to remember but couldn't due to her dad's allergy to cats. However, the lady we bought her from kindly agreed to take her back if it turned out he had any reaction to her. Thankfully, almost 2 weeks down the line, all is going well which is probably just as well because we couldn't part with her now even if we had to and would probably end up getting a room somewhere for my husband instead!

Although we love her to bits I don't think any of us were prepared for the amount of work involved in looking after her. I have had 2 children and can honestly say they were a lot easier - at least you could stick them in a nappy and leave them happily in their chair or whatever and not move. Zara is happily peeing and pooing her way around the house so find myself following her every step - not easy when I have commissions to finish.

To top it all she is not letting me sleep through the night and will howl to get out. Now on night 12 I have never felt, or looked, so tired. I have to keep reminding myself that it will get easier and we can start to take her out for walks come Tuesday - if she'll go that is! On the few occasions we have had her out in our driveway with her leash she just sits there and wont budge no matter what we do so Tuesday could be interesting. One thing I am sure of though is that she will be well loved and the subject of many a drawing and painting for years to come.

Christmas countdown

Where has November gone? December looks like it is going the same way - far too quickly - I can't believe it is only 2 weeks and a bit to Christmas!

With my nose stuck in front of my easel for the past so many weeks (lost count) completing Christmas orders I pretty much haven't had time for anything else. I haven't bought any cards, presents, decorations, i.e. Christmas essentials, and my kids are starting to get a bit worried while my husband moans about being an artists widow. I have planned to take Sunday off to, amongst other things, put up our tree so hopefully that will spur me on to buy presents to go under it (at least that's what my kids are hoping).

So what has been taking up all my time and flying off the easel? Unfortunately I can't show you as it has all been Christmas orders so have to be careful that I don't ruin someone's surprise. I can, however, show you this border collie cross saluki as the recipient is not a fan of the Internet or computers and stays well away.

She really is a beautiful dog, especially her eyes - it's almost like she has dark eyeliner on. Anyway, she was a pleasure to draw and more importantly my client was delighted with the finished portrait.

The singing cat

You know the saying about buses how none appear and then 3 come all at once - or something to that effect? - well it feels a bit like this at the moment with my Christmas commissions. Not that I am complaining - far from it, I love what I do and it is great to see people are finding my website out there in cyberspace. So I am now fully booked with orders for Christmas and it looks like I'll need to work day and night from now until then - not easy working nights if you are a soap and 'I'm a Celebrity' fan!(sad I know).

One of my latest commissions was of a cat named Tom and I thought I would share it with you, being that little bit different from usual.

Tom is sadly no longer with us and what's more, the majority of the photographs with him in them were lost when my client's computer crashed. As a result I was shown 3 photographs that showed enough of him to work from and as soon as I saw this pose of Tom it made me laugh. Tom, I learned, was a big friendly cat, very vocal and strong in character. My client decided to go with this pose as it brought back lots of memories - if he was not asleep he was being vocal so it was very typical of him. I love the picture and although I never met him felt I knew him by the time I had finished his portrait.

The portrait is currently sitting in my lounge ready to be mounted before being delivered and it really does make me smile every time I look at it.

Keeping track of time

I am often asked how long it takes me to complete a portrait and my answer is always an approximation as I never physically take a note of the time I spend on a painting/drawing and more often than not I work on more than one portrait at a time making it difficult to be precise.

To satisfy my curiosity (I secretly wanted to know) to how long exactly it took me to complete a portrait I decided to keep a time sheet for my latest commission. So everytime I picked up a pencil I would 'clock-on' and note my start time and 'clock-off' when I stopped for whatever reason - even if just for a few minutes. This exercise was a bit of an eye opener for me as although I would spend all day working on the portrait, once I had added up all the hours minus my breaks for checking emails, telephone calls, taking photographs, website updates, paperwork, lunch, washing dishes - the list goes on (note I didn't mention surfing the Internet!!) - the actual time spent drawing wasn't as long as I had thought.

Obviously each drawing is different and some take longer than others - brindle coats spring to mind - so I can't say 'yes, it takes me ?? hours to do a colour pencil portrait' but as I said it satisfied my curiosity. So without further ado here are a few stages of my latest commission, Poppy and Misha, and the time taken to reach each stage.

Stage 1 and 7 hours 55 minutes later - to which my husband replied 'so it takes you nearly 8 hours to do two eyes, an ear and a bit!!' - Men.

Stage 2, 12 hours 5minutes - Poppy (cream and orange coloured) is near completion.

Stage 3, (hope you're not bored - had considered missing a stage here but thought I've started so I'll finish) and 15 hours 5 minutes later.

And finally Stage 4 taken after 17 hours and 35 minutes.

At this stage I normally sit on (not literally) it for a few days and finish of anything I feel needs finishing. With Poppy and Misha I darkened areas here and there and worked more on the fur around Poppy's eyes. Total time spent, including touch-ups, 18 hours 40 minutes. And yes I kept a time sheet for the next portrait I did - no reason really, just for me because I wanted to.

Absent - but still here

It's been a while since my last post but there are good reasons for this and not because I've been glued to the Internet. I have been very busy, and at times extremely frustrated, working on my Christmas commissions. Extremly frustrated because I've not been happy with the results I've been getting on an adorable Westie I have to draw - I have started it 3 times now and 3 times it has ended up in the bin! I've had challenges, don't get me wrong, and challanges are good but I always get there in the end and it just wasn't happening with my Westie. So to avoid all my hair being pulled out he has been temporarily put to one side where I can see him, hoping that when I look at it again properly it will all fall into place (whatever it is that's not working).

In the meantime I worked on something completely different - a family portrait - which is now finished but I can't show until after Christmas as it is a present - it's a small world after all and it could ruin the surprise. So no pics to show you in this post - not even an ACEO - as I can't find the time at the moment to do my own work. However, next up on my easel are Poppy and Misha, 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Tom, a tabby cat with a difference - not forgetting my Westie of course so should have something to show you soon.

On a different note, I decided to join ArtWanted.com last week and currently have 4 drawings on my portfolio page. It is still a work in progress and intend to add more work and categorize things better but it's a start. To visit my portfolio page go to www.ArtWanted.com/laurajean.