Update - new horse and dog portraits

Holiday time but luckily I'm still busy. I have just completed several cat and dog commissions and am now working on a pastel portrait of a cute spaniel. We've also been out and about to the local zoos and parks and I will soon add photos to the photography galleries - I really enjoy this. We saw two meerkat babies yesterday - born in early July - I can't describe how cute they were. They're so very very tiny! I'll post some artwork in progress on here again soon.

You can check out my latest work here:

http://www.finepetportraits.co.uk/NewPortraits.html

Horse portrait - work in progress 2

And another WIP scan...

Cat portrait WIP

This is a new WIP scan of the British Shorthair cat (the horse portrait is finished but I can't show it until after the recipient's birthday in June). It's not easy to make the fur look soft but I hope I'll get there. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do any work this weekend due to a migraine with all the bells and whistles. Quite awful really and I don't feel great today either but at least I can sit up straight and don't feel quite as sick anymore. So hopefully I'll be able to get some work done today as the cat's owner can't wait to see the finished portrait. She's a lovely lady who I've drawn 4 portraits for in the past. Don't you just love customers who keep coming back for more!

I have finished one of the photography pages (the one about my favourite zoo animals - meerkats!) but I'm still debating whether to let you have a peek or wait until all the pages are finished (in the distant future...it is just SO time consuming!). I won't spend as long on the other pages though...I just wanted to add some meerkat information and make it a 'proper' meerkat web page. I guess you can tell that I love meerkats! ;o)

Horse portraits in pastels

There is actually something I can show you! I did two horse portraits on velour paper last week...both pastels. I used my own reference photos and had loads of fun!

New horse commission

Here's a photo of the horse commission I am currently working on. It's a pretty bay mare called 'Widget'. She is being drawn in pastels on A3.

Meerkat portrait in pastels

I am currently working on a very special 'commission'. I love meerkats and so does my Mum, so this one's for her. :o) I met this little meerkat at Marwell Zoo near Winchester earlier this year and took the reference photo myself (along with about 300 other pix of various animals I might want to draw at a later stage).

Anyhow, this cute meerkat is being drawn in pastels on velour paper and this is how far I've got:

Cat pastel portrait

The pastel portrait of the black cat called 'Annie' is now finished. Here's a photo:

Border Colle pastel portrait finished

I have finally managed to take a photo of Benji's pastel portrait so here it is:

Portuguese poodle in pastels

This is Rosie - a Portuguese poodle. She used to be a stray but was rescued by an English couple. Now she is a much loved pet and still lives in Portugal with her English owners. Rosie is being drawn in pastels on A4 sized paper.

Dog portrait continued

After a lovely sunny weekend I have now made some progress on the dog portrait; I am currently working on Benji's head and I think it's coming along nicely.

Progress on Dutch Warmblood

I have made some progress on the Dutch Warmblood mare. My scanner seems to find it hard to blend the colours - the way they are on the original - and over-emphasises shades of 'orange' and 'red'. Anyhow, I am quite happy with how the original has turned out so far and will now move on to the second head study. I'll spend some more time on this one once I've done the background, which will be a light beige.

Thoroughbred horse portrait finished

The fourth Thoroughbred horse portrait is now finished as well. 'Otxoa' is enjoying his retirement together with the other TBs I've drawn: Carlitos, Simply Sharp and Sharpolino.

Arabian head study finished, Thoroughbred WIP continued

After a very interesting weekend visiting some Exmoor ponies and watching my first ever Polo match, I have been working hard today and just finished the portrait of the Arab gelding:

I have also made some progess on Otxoa's portrait:

Progress on Arabian horse portrait

The pastel of Spirit the Arab is coming along nicely as you can see here:

The client has chosen a soft light blue background which I think is a great choice and will set Spirit's head off nicely.

Welsh Cob portrait finished

The pastel portrait of Geoffrey the Welsh Cob is now finished - and luckily, Blogger has finally let me upload the scan! ^^

Progress on Welsh Cob portrait

I made some progress on Geoffrey's portrait today. I am working from an excellent reference photo so I am really enjoying it. The better the photo, the better the portrait.

Welsh Cob portrait started

I've been working hard today! In between adding the finishing touches to the portrait of Moritz the Haflinger horse and working on Carlitos' drawing, I also managed to start another equine portrait.

This one is of a beautiful chestnut Welsh Cob called 'Geoffrey'. At this stage, I am not yet worried about the fine detail such as the look in the horse's eyes but mainly about the proportions. They have to be 100% correct from the start...if you get them wrong at this stage, you won't be able to do much about it once you've started using pastels on it. So I always make sure everything is exactly where it should be before I pick up a pastel pencil. I'm still debating whether to change the angle just slightly and add a little more 'body' to the left hand side of the horse.

Welsh pony portrait

The pastel portrait of Welsh pony gelding 'Romeo' - whose young owner is, believe it or not, called Juliet! - is finished. Here's a scan:

Horse finished, pony and cat started

Still keeping busy...and enjoying it! I have started a new pastel commission of a Welsh pony called 'Romeo', finished the Trotter's head study and am also working on a new cat portrait. Here's some scans for you to look at (in case there's actually anyone out there reading my blog!). ;o)

English Thoroughbred foal

I have finished the foal. So this is Simply Sharp's son "Sharpolino", drawn on Daler & Rowney heavy weight pastel paper.

Simply Sharp - portrait of a Thoroughbred mare

My next commission is a pastel portrait of an English Thoroughbred mare called 'Simply Sharp'. She is one of 4 Thoroughbreds (all related - apparently, 'Sharpo' is a well-known racing horse) that I will be drawing for this client, including Simply Sharp's young son 'Sharpolino', and two others called 'Otxoa' and 'Carlitos'.

So this is the draft of Simply's portrait that I just completed:

Welsh Cob gelding portrait finished

I have just finished the pastel portrait of "Ijsbrand", the young Welsh Cob gelding. His name is Dutch and means 'burning sword'. His owner is delighted with the portrait. More horse portraits to come so watch this space!

Chartreux tomcat in pastels

I have already started Al Capone's pastel portrait, a full body study. Unfortunately, the reference photo is rather small and Al Capone has his eyes half closed. Anyhow, here is a scan of the work in progress:

Update on new horse drawing

I've done some more work on my new horse drawing. I've been adding layer after layer of different foundation colours, which is quite time-consuming. Coloured pencil portraits thus take considerably longer than pastel portraits. It's fun though!

New commission started - Boxer dog

I've put my horse's character study to one side for the moment and started my latest commission - the head study of a Boxer dog called 'Gina'. Sadly Gina passed away just before Christmas and is sorely missed. Gina will be drawn in pastels.

Shetland pony mare - two more steps

This one is fun! Such a sweet little face...

This is what Lisa's muzzle looked like this morning....again, I used different shades of purple and blue as my foundation colours.