Shetland pony stallion - pastel portrait

So I have tried the new paper I bought (Sennelier pastelcard) and I do like it! The colours come out great and you are able to smudge the pastel (which is impossible on velour paper). I really enjoyed painting this horse portrait - it shows a Shetland pony stallion. I'll soon use this paper again but first it's back to velour. I'm doing a little project for our local wildlife centre. I'll tell you more about it next time!

Horse portrait in pastels finished

This is one of my latest horse portrait commissions. 'Merrie' is a much-loved German mare, sadly no longer with her owner. I hope my rendition in pastels will bring back some happy memories.

NO I haven't left the country! ;o)

I'm still here and promise I shall update my blog more often again. I have not been lazy - there's 3 birthday/anniversary surprise portraits that I have been working on (2 horses and 1 cat) . Oh and one horse that I can show. Here's the work in progress (pastels):

I have also been out and about with my camera - I love taking photos that I might use as reference photos in the future. Last week we went to a British Wildlife Centre - maybe I should show some of my favourite pix on my website. A lot of portrait artists I know are also good photographers - not surprising I guess!
Anyhow, I have also been drawing a pencil portrait of my favourite English actress - Dame Judi Dench. I saw her on stage in London last week (in 'Madame de Sade') and she is as wonderful as I'd imagined. The rest of the cast were great as well.
Seeing Dami Judi on stage had been a dream of mine for years and as we had really good seats (stalls, row D), it was the most mesmerising experience. It is true - there is nothing like a Dame! And certainly nothing like Dame Judi. So I've been trying to draw her - I don't draw humans very often and have to say always find it a challenge - but a welcome one, especially if I 'know' and like the person I'm drawing and know exactly how I want them to look on paper. I hope it turns out the way I'm hoping..and if I recognise the actress I love in my own work then I'll show you the result! ;o)
This is the pencil draft:

OK I'm actually hoping to finish it today. So do watch this space!

Shetland pony portrait

I have just finished yet another horse portrait! This is 'Nayeli' (a native American word for 'I love you'), a cute little Shetland pony mare. She was drawn in pastels. Her young owner is over the moon happy with this portrait. :o)

I've got a rare bird portrait commission coming up next (yay! I love budgies!) and one of a dog.

New dog and horse portraits

I've been busy - no snow in here to stop me from working I guess!
I have finished a pastel portrait of a dog called 'Lissi' (a Border Collie X) and started a horse portrait - also a pastel, of an Arab X gelding. Here's a couple of scans for you to look at!

Spanish horse portrait finished

This is a scan of the finished coloured pencil drawing showing a beautiful P.R.E stallion. Another horse portrait to add to my coloured pencil gallery!

New horse portrait

Here's the first scan of a new horse portrait - another Spanish stallion drawn in coloured pencils...

P.R.E. stallion - horse portrait in coloured pencils finished

He's finished! Took me about 2-3 hours and I used Faber Castell Polychromos, Derwent Artist and Coloursoft.

Horse portrait scan

Today I finished one of the Springer Spaniel portraits, made progress on another and also on the horse portrait so here's another Friesian horse scan for you:

Horse painting finished

Finished! I am rather proud of this watercolour painting - it is only my third and I think it turned out well. I still need to practise watercolours but feel a lot more confident now using brushes, water and paint rather than pencils.

Friesian stallion portrait finished

The charcoal portrait of the Friesian stallion is finished. Unfortunately my scanner threw a wobbly so I had to use my camera. The photo came out far too dark..the paper is actually white.

Another update on the horse watercolour

I am enjoying this one! It is only my fourth watercolour portrait and I like this medium more and more every time I use it. There will be many more equine watercolours I think!

Horse portrait - new scan

We went to Chessington Zoo yesterday and took some great photos. I might draw a tiger soon if I can make some time...and there's still several meerkat portraits that I'd like to do in charcoal. My 'fun portrait' reference photo list is getting longer and longer....

I have made some progress on the second portrait of the pretty Westphalian horse. Her owners are over the moon with portrait 1 so I'm determined to make portrait 2 a success as well! ;o)

Second horse portrait started

This is the pencil outline of the second horse portrait I mentioned; it is of the same Westphalian mare but from a different reference photo and will also be drawn in pastels.

Horse portrait in pastels finished

I just couldn't put my pencils down - I really enjoyed drawing this beautiful Westphalian mare. So here's a scan of the finished pastel painting:

New horse portrait

I have started working on a new horse portrait commission. I have not finished the car and cat portraits yet but this one is a birthday present so I need to finish it asap.

Young woman and her horse

I've been working hard on my latest commissions, the poodle and an A3 sized pastel portrait of a young woman and her Oldenburg mare. I like this composition very much...it shows love and trust between the horse and her owner. I don't usually draw humans in pastels (most clients prefer charcoal or graphite) so I am happy with how it looks so far.

If I work hard enough on my commissions today I might allow myself to start another watercolour painting tonight.... ;o) Can't wait!

Double horse portrait finished

The double pastel portrait of 'Cassie', the Dutch Warmblood mare is now finished. The cream coloured background sets her off nicely.

I am now working on an equine charcoal drawing and a canine pastel portrait for a change....more in my next blog post.

Double horse head study - WIP scans

I am able to show you some WIP scans of the double horse portrait after all! It is of a beautiful bay Dutch Warmblood mare. This is the pencil outline:

I have been working on the left hand head study (as always, working from left to right so that I don't smudge anything with my hand). As you can see below, the first few layers of pastel have been applied and I can now move on to the finer detail. I have done work on the eye, ears and muzzle...and will now spends some time adding more structure to the horse's nose and cheek. I'll keep you posted!

Work on horse portrait continues

I suppose this is how many people will feel after an unusually hot weekend...

We saw this sleepy goat and lots of other animals when we visited the local farm yesterday. However, I did get some work done. I've made some progress on the Haflinger horse portrait. It takes quite a few layers of pastels to get the rich colours right. I have just started working on the mane and will then work my way down Mortiz' face.

Oldenburg mare horse portrait finished

'Gina', the chestnut Oldenburg mare drawn in pastels, is now finished. Chestnuts are not easy to draw so I'm rather happy with the result.

Thoroughbred mare finished/New horse portrait started

The weather has been really weird - hail, rain, sunshine, thunderstorms...so I decided not to go anywhere today and have been working hard!

This is the final version of Simply Sharp's portrait - I think it turned out quite well. I haven't heard back from the client yet but as she has seen all the WIP scans, I am sure she'll be happy with it.

I have also done some more work on Picasso's portrait (I'll show you another scan tomorrow), plus I've started another horse portrait. It is of a grey Warmblood mare called 'Fame' and she will be drawn in charcoal. I have not drawn a grey horse in charcoal yet so can't wait to experiment! ;o)

My latest horse portrait commissions

I've got a lot of equine portrait commissions to do at the moment which I am enjoying very much. I just love horses and, of course, drawing them! I've just done the draft for the pastel head study of 'Picasso', a Dutch Warmblood.
I've also made some progress on the English Thoroughbred's portrait as you can see below.
Back to the easel!

New horse portrait - Welsh Cob gelding

While I can't show you the cat portrait I am currently working on (it's a present to the client's colleague), I can post a scan of a new horse portrait that I started drawing a couple of days ago. It's a three year-old dark bay Welsh Cob gelding called 'Ijsbrand'. He is being drawn in pastels and this is how far I've got:

Busy, busy, busy!

Just as well I just finished the portrait of my horse... I've now got several commissions to work on and more to come: about eight cats, eight or nine horses and a dog. This will certainly keep me busy for a while! :o)

Horse montage finished!

I have finished my horse's character study.

So this is to tell my horse that I still miss him and think of him....he's in my heart always and forever!

New horse portrait commission

The portrait of my horse is coming along nicely - I'll soon be posting another scan. I have also started a new equine commission:
A charcoal head study of a young German Warmblood called 'Discus'. Here's a scan:

Will keep you posted. ;o)

Horse montage WIP

I've been working on the character study of my horse and have done two of the eight small portraits. I'm quite happy with the result - I recognise him immediately. I have never worked this small before with this much detail involved and I think it's fun! I just have to make sure the pencils are really sharp. The head study at the top shows Kolli in his winter woolies so it is less detailed than the one below which depicts him in the summer - turning around to me, as if to say 'hello there, nice to see you - have you brought me some carrots?'. You can see that he was a lot darker in winter. I feel it's great that with one portrait, I'll be able to capture many different aspects of Kolli's character and looks. I have to admit that I still find it hard to look at his photos and draw him...I don't suppose I will ever stop missing him.

Horse portrait finished!

OK I can now proudly present the finished version of the portrait of a handsome P.R.E. stallion. I haven't come up with a title yet...maybe 'Spanish beauty'? But would that sound right for a stallion? If you'd like to suggest something, don't hesitate to drop me a line!
So here it is..I am very happy with the result. Thanks again to Juliane Meyer for the gorgeous reference photo!

One more step..

Hi all,
This should be the final 'work in progress' scan before I complete the portrait.

Hope it is sunny where you are today! We've got lovely sunshine and the crocusses and daffodils are out.... feels like spring!

Fun! Well...apart from the draw at football!

I'm enjoying this one so much I didn't even put my pencils down when I was watching footy this afternoon (well was only a draw anyway...very annoying). ^^ Anyhow, here's another update...soon this beautiful stallion will be finished! :o)

Making progress

As you can see, I made some progress this morning. I have to say I love working with charcoal...and drawing such a beautiful horse certainly adds to the enjoyment!