Sunday 6 November 2011

06/11: MINI PRINTS AND BLACK LAB PROGRESS UPDATE

I don't want to bang on about these mini prints ... especially as Peter Williams (Mighty Fine Art) has blogged about his and presented them so beautifully on little easels .... but I have now put a few of mine into mounts/cellophane and here they are  'tastefully displayed' on the floor - I just need to add my signature:


Here's one framed .... standard 'off the shelf' 8" x 10" frame




I've spent a few more hours working on the labrador today and have got to the stage where I need feedback from the client.

As you may recall, the dog has lost his eyesight so I need guidance as to whether to portray him as he looks now or to make his eyes slightly less 'cloudy'  its a sensitive point and I have often been asked if I think its best to portray an older pet as a 'younger animal' or 'as they are now - warts n all'.

I don't know the answer to that .. it really has to be the decision of the pet owner.  Personally I wouldn't want to portray Roxy (my elderly horse) as she is now .... she has more grey hairs than me!   But equally, I don't have many good photos of her as a young lady - 20 years ago we didn't have the benefit of digital cameras etc., and I have hundreds of useless photos where she turned her head/flicked her ears/closed her eyes at the critical moment .... you know how it is when trying to photograph our horses/dogs/cats :-)

So ... this is where I finished this afternoon


These WIPs (work in progress) are all photographs taken in differing light conditions as we've had a few computer hitches and I didn't want to waste time playing with the scanner/scan programme.





I know I've said this before but in reality the picture doesn't look as blue as shown - although I have used many layers of blue/mauve/grey/red in the coat.   This is definitely a problem when showing artwork - scans/photos are taken close-up whereas in real life the portrait would usually be viewed at a slight distance and the overall perception will be very different.






5 comments:

  1. I've had to draw a few old dogs and most of the time the owners wanted me to draw them as they were. the only cases that were different were with blind dogs, they wanted the eyes drawn as they would have been when the dog was younger.

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  2. The eyes are the feature I'm most concerned about here ... I've emailed the client for instructions. Hopefully its easier for the client to make the decision once they can see the portrait when its nearing completion.

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  3. Yep, it's best to ask the owner. I'm starting a commission now where the owner wants the dog portrayed as she was at her prime.

    It's looking good, Sue, and it doesn't look too blue on my monitor. But, that's another thing to be aware of when viewing online - the different monitors.

    Are you still having computer problems? Tell your techies to get off their duffs and get it fixed!

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  4. Forgot to say that I do like your minis. I don't know if we have anything like that here but I'm sure we do. What size are the actual prints?

    Let us know how they sell!

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  5. Hi Jan and thanks for commenting :-)

    I'm hanging on till the New Year to really tackle the computer techies etc ... the thought of taking everything back to factory settings really scares me. We 'crash' at least a dozen times every day ... but David is going to put some more memory into the machine to see if that helps any ...

    the mini prints are about 6 x 4½" so not huge. There are several companies offering deals in the UK but so far I don't know of any offering 50 free prints as a 'starter' .....it has been really helpful as I can now see which pictures work and which don't ... also I think I'd try matt finish next time ... these are all 'glossy' finish.

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