Getting There...

This truly has been a long "one more week". Settling into a new house, cleaning, organizing and puttering takes up a lot of time. I suppose it's all worth it in the end, because I really do love my new house ... though it still doesn't quite feel like home yet. Putting Brandy in the "art niche" helped a bit, and she seemed ok with being on display. My ever patient little friend.

I was actually able to finish two portraits over the past few months for one of my clients. A lot of drawing during lunch at work seemed about the only time (and space) I had to actually concentrate on my neglected craft (sad, I know). Max, the lab, a gift for my clients boyfriend, and what a gorgeous lab he is! The lucky guy gets to go to work with his owner every day.

Brandy prefers not to be at work with me. She isn't able to get a full days sleep with all the activity going on around her, so by the end of the day, she's fully wiped out and crabby - lazy little dog. I suppose I understand though,  I feel about the same way when I get home from work too.

Done and Done

Ah, the Christmas portraits are complete, shipped and delivered, what a wonderful feeling. These two were a blast to create, with loads of personality in the fuzzy faces, and great reference photos from the clients.

I hope that these two pieces do justice to the beloved animals in them. I will say, I am quite pleased with how they turned out, and am looking forward to getting started on the next one.

 Note: there isn't a line through the original, I had to scan Tequila's portrait in two separate pieces

I will be officially announcing the contest for a complimentary 5"x7" pencil portrait after the holidays are over, so stay tuned!

In the mean time, I hope everyone has a safe, happy and healthy holiday season. Here's to a white Christmas, with snow melting the next day and temperatures in the low 20's for the rest of the winter. Is that too positive? Is there such thing as being too positive? Well, one can only hope.

All the best!!

Busy Time of Year

This is the time of year that commissions always pick up. Of course, they make great gifts at Christmas, but that means I have much less free time - no complaints here though, I love doing portraits!

Tequila, the adorable little Chihuahua, is almost complete. A few more area's to darken here and there, plus an addition of some memorial text and the the portrait will be finished. I've added the other half of the portrait below, and will post the full image once all the bits and pieces are done.

I am also currently working on a beautiful, male Husky for a client, in coloured pencil. This portrait is coming along nicely, and I'm really pleased with the textures and tones that I am able to create with the pencil crayons. This portrait will be completed as  9"x12", and is also a gift for my clients other half. A small sample below of the portrait progression so far.

In the mean time, Brandy has managed to pick up two, yes that's TWO qualifying runs in Steeplechase. A class that we always had difficulty with, and I can not count the number we've taken a stab at it and failed. We have always used the class as a warm-up, something that I didn't overly care about, and it gave her a chance to wind up before the rest of the runs. Steeplechase is always first where I trial, so it was perfect warm-up run. Never in a million years did I think that these "warm-up" runs would amount to anything, but they certainly have now. Our goal, 8 more qualifying runs next year to obtain her Steeplechase title. Lofty? Perhaps. Is she capable? Most definitely. Am I capable? Sometimes I wonder, but we're going for it anyway.

Road Flower

Just a flower that we (hubby and I) found in a dense field of flowers on 10th Side Road in Milton. A gorgeous array of colours, types and sizes that I caught on film. This was a drawing experiment from the photo results in an impressionistic style, heavy coverage and layering with coloured pencil. 5"x7" on Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper.

Dam!

"Northern Ontario Dam" - 2009

No one really knows what my dad does at work. It's been a mystery for as many years as I can remember. During my youth I told gullible friends that he worked for the F.B.I. Maybe I should have used the word stupid instead of gullible, seeing as how the organization resides in the US, and these friends were old enough to know better. New friends? I think so.

He does, at times, service Northern Ontario Dams, that's one thing I do know about his occupation. Some of the images he's taken over the years are quite inspiring. Which leads me to the image posted above. A 5"x7" coloured pencil piece of a remote Northern Ontario dam, photo reference courtesy of my father.

I finished this about a month ago, and haven't a clue why it never got posted earlier. At first, I was not pleased with what the coloured pencils were laying out for me, but after some tweaking and heavier coverage I actually came to like the result. So I think this piece will go to my dad, matted and framed, perhaps as a birthday or Christmas gift. So I'm hoping now that he pays no attention to this blog, and if he does, perhaps he can forget (which he is inclined to do) that he ever saw this post.