pencilpix

30/12: GREAT END TO THE YEAR!!

2011-12-30T15:48:00.000Z

Just a quick post to wish all my Blogger friends a very Happy New Year.

How I wish my New Year's resolution could be to dispense with computers .... but in this day and age I think thats an impossibility :-)

My computer has finally died .... the Tech Guys tried to deal with the problems remotely but suspect that the problems are being caused by a corrupt hard disk so its been taken to computer hospital to be fixed - hopefully by the time we get back from holiday.

We fly to Fuerteventura on Sunday morning so my next post will wing its way from sunny climes assuming David can get the netbook set up for me to use ...

Enjoy the celebrations everybody and look forward to catching up in 2012

CHRISTMAS COMMISSIONS ORDER BOOK FULL

2011-12-25T09:51:00.014Z

My 2011 Christmas Commission order book is now closed (21 September). I have reserved some space in my diary to accommodate Gift Voucher recipients should they wish to redeem their vouchers before Christmas. But I will need these to be confirmed by end October.

So here's a topical message from Gizmo - a beautiful cat I portrayed a couple of years ago (pastel on Fisher 400 paper).

Just click the start arrow and sing along (not)!!

20/12: LAST CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT 2011

2011-12-20T17:13:00.000Z

I was asked to lengthen Maggie's mane a little, then the portrait was approved. This is how it looked in the two different size mounts/mats. Ignore the shadows around the edges of the mounts/mats - they're simply laid on top of the portrait for demonstration purposes and not fixed

The smaller mount with aperture 14 x 10" to fit standard frame size 18 x 14" (which is what I call my 'medium' size)

and this is how it looked in the slightly larger mount - aperture size 16 x 12" to fit standard frame 20 x 16".

My client preferred the larger mount so it has been packed up and despatched to the Post Office this afternoon for delivery tomorrow.

Although that was the last of the Christmas commissions I will be working on the terrier I posted about recently, and also I will finally get back to a couple of graphite commissions which have been relegated to the back burner for a while.

Charlie's mum is pleased with the likeness but has reservations about the colour of his coat which she feels needs to be a little darker so I've been doing a little work on that. It is always difficult gauging fur/hair colour when relying on photos taken at different times of year/different light conditions etc., and its even more frustrating that colours will look different depending on the viewing monitor/screen.     Poor Charlie dog was woken from his nap on the bed to be sat next to the photos I'd been emailed so my client could confirm which photo showed the coat colour most accurately. I'm told he was very confused by it all!!

I will be doing my usual Wednesday voluntary day job at Pilgrims Hospice so will work more on Charlie on Thursday.   I'll then try to scan/stitch the portrait to get a more accurate picture to email to Charlie's mum. Taking photos, even with daylight bulb lamps, at this time of year is very hit and miss.

19/12: A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS

2011-12-19T12:49:00.000Z

I've emailed this photo to my client and am awaiting feedback regarding any 'tweaks' required before I add the final touches .... I will do a little tidying up whilst waiting to hear but hopefully I can complete her today or tomorrow morning and despatch the portrait for delivery Wednesday ... cutting it fine!!

This was the previous WIP photo.

In an effort to simplify my size/price guide I refer to 'small' 'medium' and 'large' portraits as my 'standards'.

This mare is a 'medium' size so she is drawn to fit a mount with aperture 14" x 10". However, I often 'expand' the portrait so my clients can, if they wish, use a larger mount/frame. The horse/dog/cat is no larger but there is a greater expanse of background visible. In my next update I'll photograph the portrait showing different size mounts to better explain what I mean

17/12: HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE and BEAT THE QUEUES

2011-12-17T22:06:00.000Z

For a modest fee you can get 'up close' to my lovely old mare, Roxy!    At this time of the year when she is encased in Winter rugs 24/7 she can get a little 'ripe' which I don't normally mind or even notice whilst at the stable yard

Today, we did our usual round of family visiting - both mums and David's daughter/partner/grand-daughter - it was dark and very cold by the time we got to the stables to visit Roxy.    I had to spend time cleaning her legs with antiseptic wash which isn't a great task in this cold weather and I realised too late that I didn't have a heavy stable coat with me ... so I decided to keep my 'day' quilted coat on whilst doing the necessary.

Being in such close proximity meant that when we left the yard to drive home the 'essence of Winter Horse' soon permeated the car as the coat, and I, warmed up.    I wasn't really happy when David suggested doing our weekend shop on the way home tonight rather than making another trip out tomorrow but .. what the hell!!.

As I started to warm up in the heated interior of the supermarket there were a few wrinkled noses and accusing looks when I got up close to other shoppers ... I was very embarrassed to start with but soon realised how I could use this to my advantage .... the crowds parted as I headed purposefully towards my selected food items and any slow movers were soon sent packing if I stood right up close to them and waved my arms around a little :-)

All offending clothing went straight into the washing machine when I got home ... but it was quite an eye opener. If only I enjoyed shopping - I'd be tempted to try this technique when the Boxing Day sales start on Monday ....

and here's the lady herself

16/12: LAST ORDERS

2011-12-16T23:06:00.000Z

This is my last Christmas commission, a beautiful mare I started work on today. I'm using pastels on Fisher 400 sanded paper.

I've got the base colours blocked in now and will work more on the finer detail on Sunday. Last posting day for Royal Mail Special Delivery is Thursday 22nd (guaranteed delivery 23rd) but I'd prefer to have this in the post a couple of days earlier. It's a 'last minute' order which I agreed to fit in as I can't resist a horse :-)

Although we escaped the snow/hail in our little part of the World, the weather has been very overcast and the light wasn't good for taking photos - even with daylight bulbs!

So, in my usual undisciplined style ... I outlined the horse, removing her bridle and rug at my client's request. I always have to draw in the eye first but then I got fixated on the ears for some reason (!!)

The ears won't look quite so odd once I start strengthening the colours elsewhere

Getting there .....

I'm really 'flitting' around on this one ... but I'm pleased with how much I achieved today. Its a combination of starting early and not getting distracted by the computer which 'died' on me yesterday. Its been taken back to 'factory settings' and is still not working properly, refusing to run Firefox, Chrome, Paint Net. I/we (this is a job for hubby I think) now have to really get tough with the 'Tech Guys' who we pay a monthly fee to for support. They've never managed to sort out any problem for us yet so I've had enough!!! Their boast is that if the problem can't be fixed they'll replace the machine with a brand new one FREE ... Watch this space :-)

14/12: NORMALITY RESTORED (ALMOST)!

2011-12-14T09:06:00.001Z

Yesterday was one of those days when it seems anything that can go wrong, will go wrong .... had to check it was Tuesday 13th and not Friday 13th.

It started when we got a call cancelling a meeting David and I had been about to attend - we've waited 29 weeks and got the cancellation call 2 hours before the appointment. The person we were meeting was sick and as she worked from home and had all the relevant papers there, nobody could take her place.

In the ensuing telephonic 'discussions' I totally overlooked my appointment at the spine clinic so got a call from the receptionist and had my wrist slapped :-)

Having unexpected time on his hands, David thought it was an opportune time to test the burglar alarm system and replace worn batteries etc., so the deafening shrieks coming from the house at various intervals weren't just from me!! Oh it was heaven in our house yesterday :-)

and as evident from last night's panic Blog post ... Windows wiped out all my emails. I check emails periodically through the evening and all was fine at 7.30 but at next check every mail folder was empty. The system hadn't crashed and there had been no updates so far as I could tell ... but the messages had all vanished. David tried unsuccessfully to find/restore them for about 2 hours. This has apparently happened to lots of LiveMail users judging by all the cries for help posted on the 'net.

Eventually I found a way to reinstall a previous session of Live Mail which recovered all messages barring those received/sent yesterday so feeling a little happier now.

Anyway, I did more work on the little terrier and have emailed this to his 'mum' for guidance regarding his coat. In the reference photo there is a lot of hair obscuring his eyes - I've omitted these but waiting for approval or otherwise before carrying on. Its easier to add more hairs than to remove them.

Colour isn't true as the photo was taken early evening in artificial light.

I'm out for the day doing my voluntary 'job' at the Pilgrims Hospice eBay office ... back at the drawing board tomorrow ... happy days!

13/12: NO EMAILS - URGENT!!!

2011-12-13T22:37:00.001Z

As of 2000 hours this evening my Windows Live Mail account has been wiped out ... every message box is empty so I have no history of sent/received/stored emails.

Having done a Google search for a solution it appears that this is not uncommon with Windows Live Mail but I cannot find a way to find/restore the missing emails.

Does anybody have any ideas?

Please ... if anybody has emailed me since 8pm this evening, re-send the message as if I haven't responded its because I haven't seen it.

Needless to say I'm at my Wits end and will appreciate any help

OK - I found a way to restore Live Mail (Previous Version) which has reinstated all emails up to 0930 today - so all I have lost is emails received/sent between 0930 and 2000 hours.

12/12: STUFF!!

2011-12-12T20:37:00.001Z

Stuff! is the title used by me and an artist friend when we couldn't think of titles for our emails .... and tonight I'm tired and can't think of a title for my Blog post!

I made the adjustments to the Cocker Spaniel this morning, and the revisions have been approved. So she has now been mounted (pardon me) and packaged up ready for despatch in the next day or so:

and ... on to Charlie!!

I received an email this morning from Charlie's 'Mum' who had popped in to have a look at my Blog and discovered the first progress pics.    I normally don't send WIP pics to my clients until they've got past the 'ugly' stages where I've generally just laid down some basic lines/colours before building up the finer detail.   So I was pleased, but a little anxious about her thoughts at this stage.    She told me she won't be checking in again so she won't 'pester' me.

But, Hello Tracey :-)   I do hope you will look in regularly to ensure I'm on track with Charlie. Once I've got the basics in place I'd really welcome your thoughts to ensure that the end portrait is just as you want.

I did a little more work on him today - I'm concentrating on getting the base colours in place which will really start coming to life when the top layers of fine/stray hairs are added.     In the reference photo Charlie is 'backlit' by bright sunshine which makes the outer hairs look really white and bright ....

Unfortunately, I had to photograph this using flash tonight so the camera has emphasised the white bits that were drawn in to check that they'd show against the background ... but this photo is just to show that I've not been idle today and I'm having fun with this lovely character.

I won't be spending much time at the drawing board for the next couple of days so .... back on Thursday with the next updates!

11/12: SUNDAY COUNTDOWNS!

2011-12-11T17:48:00.001Z

Two weeks today till Christmas Day ............... OK that's over with then :-)

Three weeks today till we fly off to our house on Sunny Fuerteventura for some R&R after the hectic couple of months we've had in the run up to Christmas (portrait work and voluntary jobs).

I'm happy with how my Christmas portrait workload has gone, especially as I slotted an extra one in at short notice!

Although I've shown some Work-In-Progress photos on my blog I'm reluctant to add the subjects' names in case they show in a Google search ... so just to say that the portrait of the beautiful rescue dog shown in my last Blog, has been approved and packaged up today ready to be posted next week. I use Royal Mail Special Delivery service which guarantees delivery before noon the day after despatch (and provides insurance)

The 'daughter & dog' portrait finally got signed, framed and packaged today ready for delivery to the local seafront Hotel who will hold it for my client till he visits Kent with his family in January. Unfortunately I will be away (in the sunshine) so won't get to meet him on this occasion although he has hinted at another project in the future so we'll no doubt meet up then :-)

Here's the photo of the cocker spaniel I emailed for critique/approval today.

I've been asked to remove the brown colour from her chest fur (no longer there following a bath today) and to remove the collar and brighten one of the white areas ... these are all minor 'tweaks' and easy to do before the pastel is 'fixed' but I'll wait till tomorrow and make the adjustments when the light is better.

Whilst waiting to hear back regarding the spaniel's portrait I made a start on the next dog portrait (not necessarily required for Christmas). I received a photograph in the post showing the dog in the pose my client wants me to use but the photo is bleached and its not possible to see much detail in eyes/nose/mouth etc .. I've also been provided with some digital photos by email from which I can extract the details I need.

I sketched the dog in graphite on Fisher 400 sanded paper then realised the fur/hair colour really wasn't going to stand out very well against the colour of the support so I have coloured the background slightly using Pan Pastels (generously supplied by Colorfin for me to trial) this will be adjusted as necessary as the portrait progresses.

Very early days yet ... but as usual I needed to see some features (eyes in particular) which to me gives the portrait personality as I work on it ... its a very basic sketch but I'm happy with the sizes/measurements/placement of the major features

I've started adding some colour to the ears and nose but at this stage I'm sitting next to my computer flitting between the various emailed reference photos to check detail. In the hard copy photo showing the required pose, the dog has his Winter Coat and locks of stray hairs are obscuring one of his eyes, so there's a lot of artistic licence being used in this portrait .... I'm enjoying the challenge.

He is another rescue dog ... so nice to hear the happy endings for these lovely dogs/cats/horses who haven't had the best starts in life.

09/12: MORE DOGGY DOINGS!

2011-12-09T19:40:00.001Z

What a difference a day makes - yesterday we were being buffeted with high winds and torrential rain and had to have lights on in the house all day, today dawned with brilliant blue skies and barely a breeze. The birds who had all been conspicuous by their absence in the bad weather yesterday returned in droves today devouring the peanuts and fatballs, making up for lost time ...

This is the latest update sent to my client yesterday for approval/critique - unfortunately the light was horrible so this was the best photo I could manage. You know how some animals just 'touch' you, well this was definitely one of those for me .... she may have been found as a stray on the streets, but what a gorgeous face she has ... just oozes personality I think!

This is the latest dog on my drawing board .... a blue roan cocker spaniel which I'm drawing/painting in pastels on light grey pastelmat - this portrait is smaller than the pastels I've been doing recently and it was a bit of a struggle at first to get all the fine detail into the 12" x 8" size .... my respect for miniaturists has just increased considerably :-)

I started her portrait yesterday but due to poor light conditions didn't take any WIP photos ... this was photographed tonight but will work more on her on Sunday to obtain a better photo I can send to the client for critique. A unique feature of this spaniel is the different colours in the eye membranes - not an artist's error :-) One of the reference photos I have for this dog is a picture of her fast asleep on a chair with those wonderful ears spreadeagled across the upholstery ... it would have made a very amusing study but perhaps not a 'classic' portrait pose !!

07/12: WHAT'S ON THE MENU TODAY?

2011-12-07T08:45:00.001Z

Sorry, no time to post art today as just off for my Wednesday stint as a volunteer at the Pilgrims Hospice eBay office.

En route to my local hairdresser yesterday, I just fell about when I saw this notice on the window of Yantze (our local Chinese Restaurant). I didn't have my camera with me so had to use mobile phone and therefore can't show the whole front of the restaurant where the windows are plastered with notices advertising forthcoming entertainment, tribute bands etc

But given the Brits' suspicions about what sort of meat goes into Chinese dishes ........

I do feel dreadfully sorry for the owner of the missing cat and hope he/she turns up safely soon.

04/12: NO SH*T !!

2011-12-04T21:07:00.001Z

We live by the sea. We accept that we'll be woken by screaming gulls at 5.30am most mornings! but enough is enough!! This post was intended to be about gratitude .... and respect!! but I don't expect the gulls to read or respond. Gulls 1 -v- Humans 0

We live in a very 'light' house with lots of tall windows - Just look at what they've done to the windows in our hallway! Target practice I think!

We love our garden visitors - and look after them as best we can ... but I think they are beginning to take the 'pee'

15 fatballs disappeared from the bird feeders over the last two days ... who ate all the fatballs then??

After a couple of colder days with frosty mornings the birds and squirrels all seem to be more frantic and the garden has been buzzing with activity ... the starlings have been devouring the windfall apples

the hedgehogs have also been busy .... but much to our dismay they've been leaving not-so-little calling cards on the doormat in the entrance to our front door. At first the little parcels were quite discreet and tucked away to the side of the mat ... but recently they've been left slap bang in the middle of the mat so we have to be careful when leaving or entering the house ... I still haven't worked out if the 'packages' are a comment on the food we leave them (they don't like Tesco cat food) or if they are 'thank you' gifts!

We had to make an emergency trip to a local garden centre late afternoon to stock up on fatballs - we were offered packs of 5 fatballs (at £1.09 per pack) or their own brand in tubs of 30 on offer for £7.95. The guy behind the till couldn't understand my questioning the mathematics behind this 'offer' I spent some time explaining that buying 6 x packs of 5 at £1.09 each was considerably cheaper than their discounted tub of 30 balls at £7.95 ... sometimes I despair ....

anyway ... 25 new fatballs in the feeders tonight so the garden visitors should be happy for a day or two.

I had a wonderful message from my client regarding the portrait of the two sisters (delivered yesterday) it really made me quite tearful ... always nice to get such lovely feedback - makes it all worthwhile!

and I did get a little artwork done today - here's the latest on the beautiful dog portrait:

I'm out tomorrow - delivering the Lapphund portrait and having a wander around Royal Tunbridge Wells - its ages since I've been there so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, has changed in the last few years. Many years ago I did a lot of clay pigeon shooting (I was Kent Champion in 1985) and used to buy my guns/cartridges/accessories from Chris Potter Guns at Tunbridge Wells - I wonder if he is still there?

I do have a couple of Christmas gifts to buy so hoping for inspiration as I believe there are some rather nice shops in the new Town! Anyway, David and I don't seem to have a lot of free time together so it will be nice just to 'escape' for a few hours.

Will get back to this dog portrait on Tuesday and, subject to client's comments, hope to have it finished by the end of the week and then its on to another dog and/or some graphite portraits which have been on the back burner.

02/12: TIDYING UP SOME LOOSE ENDS

2011-12-02T17:25:00.001Z

I've had a 'bitty' but productive day, cleared a bit of space in my studio, did more work on the current dog portrait and cleared the last of the apples from our tree/lawns to take to the stables tomorrow - around 200 apples I think (tiny but very sweet tasting)

This is where I've got to with the current dog portrait - I haven't sent any WIP photos to my client yet but will do so on Monday when further advanced

The portrait of two sisters will be delivered tomorrow in a double cream mount:

The portrait of my client's daughter with her dog won't be collected until after Christmas but today we've agreed on the frame which it will be presented in (one of my home stock frames):

The Lapphund portrait will be delivered on Monday - meeting the client halfway between his home and mine (and I'll take the opportunity to have a look around the shops at our meeting place - Royal Tunbridge Wells)!!

The only completed portrait unaccounted for so far is the portrait of Shona ... I'm still awaiting responses to my emails to the client. He works overseas and I'm not sure exactly when he will be back in the UK to collect the portrait - some time soon I believe.

So just two more to complete by 3rd week December and some scheduled for next year which I can bring forward if I have capacity .... at this rate I'll make time to do some housework!

We're off tonight to support our local Group 'Whitstable Electric Theatre' who are committed to bringing cinema back to Whitstable. Tonight they are screening The Godfather (recut version) in one of the Galleries at our local Arts Centre. I'm not a great cinema goer .. I tend to fall asleep watching films/TV but to be honest the chairs are so uncomfortable at the Art Centre I fear the only thing falling asleep tonight will be my backside!

On that happy note - have a great weekend everyone

29/11: SISTERS - ANOTHER UPDATE

2011-11-29T21:09:00.002Z

I have emailed this latest update to my client and just awaiting feedback. I did make some minor adjustments after checking measurements etc with a grid but don't want to do any more work on the girls till I hear what their Grandparents think

27/11: BIRTHDAY BOY

2011-11-27T19:07:00.005Z

Today is David's birthday and this is the first time we've spent it in England for many years. Four years ago (for a BIG) birthday we went to Las Vegas with friends and on 27 November visited the Grand Canyon going the whole hog with plane transfer, helicopter down to the bottom and a boat ride along the Colorado river. Here's a picture of the birthday boy himself ... sailing on the Colorado river dwarfed by something older than he is/was:

and sitting next to the 'driver' of the plane as a special birthday treat (bless)!!

In successive years we've celebrated his birthday in the sunshine at our house on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands).

This year I have taken on more Christmas work than planned so can't 'escape'. The day started off windy and grey here in Kent with intermittent drizzle but by lunchtime the sun made an appearance (albeit weak and watery) so I persuaded David to join me for a walk along the beach where we stopped for a late lunch. We were out for a few hours and the brisk sea breeze certainly blew a few cobwebs away. OK it wasn't shorts and T shirt weather but for late November in the UK it wasn't at all bad!

Have to make a mention of this couple of enterprising lads we met on the beach at Whitstable:

Our local beaches are pebble (not sand) and the lads had spelt out the following message in pebbles and left a 'collection' cup alongside.

So we asked them why they thought we should give them money and they 'performed' for us ..... jumping off the wooden boat launch site and somersaulting onto the pebbles ...... no health & safety issues here then!!

Not sure what their parents would think if they knew what their lads were up to ... but they weren't 'OIKS' they were polite, well spoken and very presentable boys who'd dreamed up this way of earning some cash ...... but those pebbles would be very unforgiving if the boys misjudged their gymnastics!

Anway, as I'd lost the natural light by the time we got home I didn't want to do much to the girls' portrait - particularly not to skintones. I did some work on the dresses and here's the latest progress report - its photographed at my workdesk with daylight bulb lamps each side. Unfortunately, they are different makes of daylight bulb and the light varies (why should that be I wonder if they are both supposed to simulate daylight)?? the right light is more 'white' the left is more 'yellow' as you can see from the photo.

Right, that's it for today .... time to relax for a couple of hours methinks.

25/11: SISTERS - BIRTHDAY PRESENT WORK IN PROGRESS

2011-11-25T18:41:00.002Z

I had the pleasure of meeting these girls recently as they live just half hour's drive from me so I'd agreed to take my camera and try to get some photos from which we could compose a portrait as a birthday present for their grandmother.    They are absolutely lovely girls. The youngest was very lively ... bit like trying to photograph a playful puppy but I managed to get a few usable photos.

I photographed them in pretty dresses/cardigans and then in 'royal blue party frocks' at the request of their Nan who likes the way the dresses bring out the lovely colour of their eyes. So the composition is based on two separate photos of the girls in their 'day clothes' and I'll then draw in the blue dresses.

I'm working to a fairly tight deadline but tomorrow I'll have a break (usual round of visiting the 'Old Ladies' plus my horse is having her feet trimmed so I need to be there to pay the farrier).   Its always a good idea to leave a portrait for a while anyway and come back with fresh eyes and pick up areas that need tweaking ... I'll do some measuring/gridding to check that I've got all the features in place and the right size etc

Oh ... I should add that I'm using pastel pencils on light grey Clairefontaine Pastelmat.    I've decided I prefer the light grey as it means that white highlights/eyes etc show up more than on the white Fabriano paper I used to favour. Pastelmat is a heavyweight paper with a ground cork surface which gives a slightly 'soft' finish and takes the pastel well.

These 'work in progress' stages are photographed at different times of day in differing light conditions so the colours aren't true but this will be remedied as I get closer to completing the portrait.

OK ... Stage One. This is big sister ....

Stage Two ... little sister added

and a little more advanced .... a 'wash' of blue pastel for the dresses.

Lots more to do ... but just an sample of what I've been working on recently .... I still have the dog on my easel looking accusingly at me but I'll get back to her later next week ...

David decided to start the weekend early by opening a bottle of red wine .... but it was HORRIBLE. During our recent daytrip to France to stock up on 'essential supplies' he was very pleased to find a particular red wine he loves at a very good discounted price. We bought quite a lot. Tonight we realised the wine had been discounted because the corks weren't good and crumbled easily. The wine wasn't very nice. We don't have enough of this 'poor' wine to justify another trip to return it to the retailer ... so David's idea is to 'boil' - sorry 'reduce' it down into a usable quantity for inclusion in the gourmet meals he expects me to produce ...... first pan full has just been bottled ... watch this space !

23/11: WEARY WEDNESDAY!

2011-11-23T19:36:00.002Z

Lots of my Blogger friends use 'Wordless Wednesdays' to post brilliant photos etc with no words ... obviously!

Well, we've just got home from our usual Wednesday working as volunteers at the local Pilgrims Hospice eBay office - and we're both mentally exhausted and drained.    So my version is slightly more apt for us ... we are WEARY!

This morning started badly when our window cleaner arrived unexpectedly ... he always sends me a text message announcing his monthly visits a day or so prior to his arrival.    I then realised I hadn't seen my mobile phone since Saturday (I haven't been out since then).   I eventually found the phone under the passenger seat in our car - battery totally dead.   As we were en-route to 'work' at the Hospice eBay office I couldn't charge the phone battery until this evening when I found 7missed messages .... including one telling me my email system wasn't working.   A client I had been messaging regarding her completed portrait had been unable to contact me via email!    AAAAAARGGGGHHH!

I have a lot of tight deadlines to meet for portraits now so may have to 'abandon' Pilgrims Hospice for a couple of Wednesdays - it is incredibly intensive researching/photographing/describing and listing 'better quality' donated items ..... we have to be so careful not to misdescribe items or promote 'fake' brands.   The volunteer 'listers' at our little office are responsible for sales of around £10,000 per month towards the cost of providing Hospice Care for terminally ill patients in our part of the County.

So tonight is relaxation time and tomorrow will be 'nose to the grindstone' .... and trying to sort out why I'm not receiving some of my emails apparently.

I have two double 'human' portraits to work on next .... one is of 2 young girls and the other of 2 slightly more mature ladies.    I am also fitting in a beautiful dog portrait in pastel ..... and I have 2 graphite portraits on the back-burner where I'm doing little bits 'as and when' I can ... they aren't so urgent.

but ....in the meantime here are a few photos taken yesterday.   I noticed a squirrel in one of the apple trees biting through the stalks to make the apples fall to the ground.   I wasn't happy about that as these end of season apples are destined for Roxy (my horse) and her stablemates at the weekend.   I prefer not to take windfall apples as they are frequently bruised and therefore go mouldy more quickly. So to distract the squirrels I sprinkled handfuls of peanuts onto the grass .... which kept them busy for hours, burying them in the grass and borders and flower pots ... and just anywhere they could really - bless!.    It has been damp and foggy here for days but (so far) we've not had any frosts and the garden is confused ... we've just harvested the last of our outdoor cherry tomatoes (in November)???? and even found a half ripe strawberry.    Lots of the flowers and shrubs are having an extra 'bloom' ..... perhaps there is something in this 'Global warming theory' after all :-)

So, some pictures from my garden yesterday and then I'll stop waffling and get back to work tomorrow ...


Its just amazing how many apples are still on the tree in Mid November:

Chrysanths just love this time of year and are really beautiful just now:

and of course, this time of year is when the cobwebs appear just about everywhere it seems.

and some fungi growing between the paving stones!

and the little 'tree rats' who distracted me in the first place

and just one little 'arty' bit .... a sneak preview of the dog portrait I'll be working on between 'humans' during the next week or so

21/11: I USED TO BE ORGANISED - HONESTLY!

2011-11-21T20:00:00.001Z

I'm still flitting between portraits ... my schedule had to be amended because I'm awaiting feedback regarding compositions of a couple of the 'double portraits' one of which has an early December deadline .. so I'm hoping to hear back this evening to enable me to get started tomorrow.

I've just outlined another portrait - a beautiful dog I'm looking forward to starting as soon as the 'humans' are underway/completed

I'm awaiting feedback from the client regarding this portrait of his daughter and her dog

I've also done a little bit more on one of the graphite portraits but am struggling to see the curls in her hair as the photo isn't terribly clear ...

When I had a 'proper job' I had to be ultra-organised as my Office Manager role involved early starts and late finishes frequently. After work I changed into 'horsey' clothes and drove to the stables to ride/groom my horse then home to cook the evening meal (which was normally prepared the day before) and we ate around 8.30pm every night. I didn't watch TV as most evenings were spent drawing or catching up on 'household' stuff.

Now, I don't have to go to the office every day ... but I've obviously slowed up in my 'old age' and struggle to keep on top of things at this time of year with shorter days and lots of Christmas orders to complete. I do think the internet is partly to blame as I always have the BBC news running in the background and listen to the local radio station broadcasting from Corralejo, Fuerteventura so I can join in with the quiz/competitions and keep up with what our friends out there are up to. I'm easily distracted :-)

I did manage to mow the lawns on Friday which was quite an undertaking as the grass was wet and long and full of fallen apples ... but housework has taken a back seat I'm afraid.

This is what my studio looks like at the moment ... I've got four portraits awaiting collection/despatch in the next couple of weeks and several framed pictures which are still propped up against the walls where they were stacked following exhibitions in September/October ... and several boxes of mounts/frames which need to be sorted and tidied away. I'm posting this picture to embarrass me into doing some much needed tidying in the next few days!

Watch this space ..... !!!

15/11: MAMMOTH BLOG POST :-)

2011-11-15T18:35:00.005Z

It has been a busy couple of days .... but pretty productive and as I'm out all day tomorrow (Pilgrims Hospice voluntary job) I thought I'd risk overloading this post and sending you all to sleep!

Here in the UK we're gradually switching from analog TV to digital TV - working according to postcode (zip) areas.   My Mother's current bedroom TV will not work from April 2012 when the switchover happens in her area so what better Christmas present than a new bedroom TV - saves me hours of wandering round shops looking for pressies ... but life isn't that simple.    We bought a TV and delivered it on Saturday ... plugged it in but no signal ... we bought an indoor aerial (another £25) and drove to Mum's yesterday ... after an hour or so wiggling it round and holding it high and low we found the optimum reception spot - about 6 foot up in the corner of her bedroom ... so a shelf must now be fixed on which to stand the aerial ..... I guess I may end up building the shelf as David is not a DIY man and I'm not sure I can stand the moaning/bad language!!

We also visited Roxy my 'old girl' as she has an embarrassing problem - well she isn't embarrassed but I am!   My horse had lice/mites!   She's had itchy legs for a while which I tried to treat with 'Front Line' spray but the problem got worse and she has sores on legs and hooves so the vet has prescribed ointment which should clear the problem before the onset of wet/muddy winter weather.     Actually this is a fairly common problem with horses who have 'feathers' on their legs.    Before she was retired I always kept Roxy's winter coat clipped off for work - so no feathers.   Now she is retired she stays 'au naturel' and hairy!!

Anyway, on to arty stuff:

I heard back from my client that he loved Shona's hair/eyes but thought her mouth wasn't right.     I thought it was pretty accurate based on the ref. photo but the photo I posted a few days ago does exaggerate the white highlights, particularly round the mouth and hubby (David) had already commented on those. So I scanned the picture (rather than photographing it) and got a more true image.

out of interest, David spent some time 'playing' with a computerised grid programme to compare the original ref. photo and my portrait and this is what he came up with. It was really useful for me as, although I'm pretty pleased overall with the accuracy I had made her ear lobes too big and I need to reduce the 'lip liner' effect and soften the edges of her lips.

A portrait drawn from a photograph is always going to be an artist's representation of that photo, hence here I have brightened the highlights in the eyes which is something I find myself doing frequently to add more 'life' - or at least that's my perception ....

So I've now altered her ear and softened the edges to her lips (not shown here) and my client is happy!!

and ...... there's more ....

this is where I am with the double portrait I started a few days ago .. pastels on light grey pastelmat paper. I now need to contact my client with a link so he can see the WIP pictures and comment ....

Here' I've worked on the dog a little more ... defying all the rules which say 'work left from right if right handed' etc ..... I'm flitting all over the place working on bits that catch my attention :-)

His fur was very deep/rich colour so I'm using lots of different shades of reds and browns

more work on strengthening the colours in his coat/fur

Now bored with dog fur/coat ..... moved back to 'human' and added a little more colour to her hair and started work on strengthening colour of blouse which is slightly more red than pink in the reference photo ... I could never use this as a tutorial as I've broken just about every rule in the book I think :-) and so what!!??

I should also add that these are all photographs ... taken at different times of day in varying light conditions

14/11: A MONDAY MORNING SMILE FOR YOU

2011-11-14T10:36:00.001Z

The moment the Penguins' Holiday photo was ruined .......

13/11: 'BEST FRIENDS' PASTELS ON LIGHT GREY PASTELMAT

2011-11-13T19:27:00.002Z

Had a lazy day today ... think I'm starting a cold as I have a sore throat and general 'thick head' so haven't attempted anything strenuous like mowing wet grass or sweeping up fallen leaves - both jobs are overdue but will keep!

The black lab portrait has been packed up ready for despatch tomorrow.

The Lapphund portrait mounted and framed ... I'll be hand delivering this one - meeting the client mid way between his place and mine - he's in Sussex - I'm in Kent, approx 90 miles apart.

apologies for the poor photography but the light was fading - I just wanted to give a feel for the 'finished' portrait.

Here's the first 'work in progress' picture of a portrait I hadn't expected to start till after Christmas .. but things have changed and I've brought this one forward a bit ....

Pastels on light grey Clairefontaine Pastelmat:

the light grey pastelmat paper is very light grey and not as blue as it appears here .... when the portrait is more advanced I'll try scanning it to show the colours more accurately. This is really just to prove I'm not wallowing in self-pity with 'man-flu' ...... :-)

11/11: ALL CHANGE

2011-11-11T18:01:00.000Z

Its gone quiet on the 'client contact' front this week - feedback still awaited for 2 portraits and photos outstanding for another. So I've had a bit of a 'juggle' and this afternoon outlined and started work on a double portrait I'd expected to start after Christmas ... got to keep the momentum going! I'll show some WIP pics when its a little further advanced.

In the meantime here's a graphite drawing I've got 'on the go' as its easier for me to work on non-colour pictures once the daylight disappears. So this is coming along very slowly as I'm working on it in short sessions. It isn't required till after Christmas but I expect it to be completed long before then.

The ref photo is an old passport picture so not big or clear but there's enough detail for me to see her features. My problem is the ornate hairstyle which is very dark in the photo so there will be more than a little 'artistic licence' involved

Its drawn on bright white Mellotex paper but as usual the photos look blue - I will be making lots of adjustments to her lip and skintones along the way but want to get the dark hair a little further advanced which will help me to work out the balance.

Right that's me finished for the day - have a great weekend everybody. We had a Royal visit today - well the Queen and Prince Philip visited Margate which is close to us ... I didn't have a car today so couldn't take a look. I understand the local council scurried round cleaning/painting and 'tarting up' the town and the smelly seaweed was removed from Margate Beach in case it caused a 'right royal stink' :-)

10/11: SHONA IN PASTELS ... NEARLY FINISHED

2011-11-10T17:15:00.002Z

Well I'm not sure this looks much different to the previous update but I've worked more on her jumper which in the ref photo is bright white .. but I quite like the effect of the paper showing through. I've added freckles and more skintones and adjusted the colours in her hair. In the ref photo her fringe (bangs) really are much redder than the rest of her hair so I've tried to compromise a bit. I have one other ref photo taken when she was a few years younger and her hair is more blonde than red. Again, much will depend on the client's wishes.

I had intended to call it a day here and email my client for approval/critique .... but David just looked at the picture on screen and said it looks as though she has white claw marks down her cheek! So I'll be making some adjustments tomorrow when the light is better - smoothing out those lines although I think the camera has picked up on the highlights and exaggerated them - I'm sure they aren't that pronounced in real life.

Happy Days!

08/11: GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN ......

2011-11-09T08:30:00.002Z

Here's one I prepared earlier

Knowing I wouldn't be home today (voluntary job at Pilgrims Hospice eBay shop) I just couldn't resist writing this Blog Post (yesterday)

David came home this afternoon (yesterday now) and prodded me in the back ... inviting me to guess what he was holding ... guaranteed to bring tears to my eyes !!!!! Well, really HOW RUDE!!

Here's the 'offending' object: - it looks slightly strange as its wrapped in cellophane/clingfilm here

Well, its something I've been craving for some time - I just love horseradish ... but unfortunately its not easily grown in the UK and we have to settle for the wishy washy creamed horseradish we find in jars in the supermarket. But BLISS!!   David saw this root for sale, immediately thought of me and purchased it!!    I just love the stuff (and even mix it with mustard for a further kick sometimes)!

Now if you've never tried to grate this wonderful root - be warned!!!   It will make your eyes and nose burn and must be treated with extreme caution and only grated in a room with good ventilation - hence my Blog title.       David used the food mixer/blender but ... even so ... it definitely reduced him to tears and made him choke!!    So ... as I said, No greater (grater) love etc....

But I found a way to show my gratitude ......

I went to school in the days when we had morning assemblies and it was considered important to learn the three Rs ... to have to recite multiplication tables forwards and backwards and have class spelling tests (with no holds barred - to hell with the kids who struggled - we can't all hold back for your sake - life's a bitch) etc .... At my primary/junior school some of the lessons were broadcast via special school radio programmes. One such English lesson struck a nerve with me - so much so that I memorised the poem we heard and I still remember it perfectly today - periodically I reel it out for David's edification.   He hates this poem - or at least he hates it when I start reciting

David has no soul and no appreciation of the fact that 43 years on I'm still word-perfect ...   Hilaire Belloc's book 'Cautionary Tales For Children' was published in the UK in 1907 but I'm sure it must still appeal today with its tales of naughty children being devoured by lions or crushed by falling statues .... I played this audio link today and I'm 100% word perfect - how amazing is that? especially when I barely remember what happened yesterday!

Still have to convince David who cringes if I start reciting ... There was a Boy whose name was Jim ... etc
If you want to hear the whole tale - click the link below

Hilaire Belloc Cautionary Tales for Children

Apparently a revised version of the book is available through Amazon ... I'm very tempted!   There are a lot more lessons to be learned

08/11: SHONA - UPDATE (PASTELS ON PASTELMAT)

2011-11-08T17:12:00.000Z

Some more progress on Shona's portrait today. I've decided I DO like the colour background 'as is' but obviously the final decision will rest with my client.

I'm having a little trouble with the brighter highlighted areas of her face as the pale pink and white pastels seem to disappear into the fabric of the pastelmat after a couple of hours (I'm sure its not my imagination)!! I believe pastelmat is a ground cork surface so perhaps it really does absorb the pastel ??

Has anybody else experienced this? Would a light spray of fixative help do you think?

I'm out for the day tomorrow (my Pilgrims Hospice eBay Office 'job') so won't be drawing ....

07/11: LABRADOR IN PASTELS ON FISHER 400 (FINISHED)

2011-11-07T18:06:00.001Z

I heard back from my client this morning that he thinks the likeness is perfect and there's nothing to change. So I added the final touches - a few whiskers etc., and finished the paving stones in the foreground and here he is:

I photographed the portrait with a double mount laid loosely on top to give an idea how the finished portrait will look - the mount is white with a black inner

but then I found another double mount which is ivory with a plum coloured inner and I think this works better as it picks up the pink tones in the paving slabs (apologies if you can't see the pink tones ... joys of technology I'm afraid)!

so now, on to the first of the human commissions ....

When I first started portraying 2 legged subjects I worked in graphite only and then gradually moved onto to coloured pencils (but only if the references were very clear).

For some reason I never wanted to try pastels for human subjects ... until now that is. I decided to use some of the pastelmat I've had sitting around for ages as it is quite brightly coloured (and looks even more so in artificial light). I figured that I can easily put in a simple pastel background and cover the original paper colour if I think its too bright later on - in my reference photo the background is mottled blue/grey.

I'm using Sienna coloured pastelmat and I selected it as I thought it would provide a good base colour for my subject's beautiful hair/skin colouring. And, so far so good (fingers firmly crossed) ... I'm even thinking I may leave the paper colour 'as is' ... early days yet but this is where I got to this afternoon:

I had to give up as the light is so poor this evening .. I have 2 daylight bulb/lamps but still struggle with colours. I've outlined another 'human' who is to be completed in graphite so in theory I can work on it in the evening light - but not tonight

06/11: MINI PRINTS AND BLACK LAB PROGRESS UPDATE

2011-11-06T19:45:00.003Z

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.

04/11: THE BEST LAID PLANS ......

2011-11-04T22:10:00.001Z

The Best Laid plans of Mice and Men often go awry - or if you are Scottish and a purist I believe the actual words are 'The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley' and I make no apologies for quoting Robbie Burns way ahead of the usual anniversary date 25 January ... it just seemed more appropriate now ....

David was out all day so my goal was to work on (possibly finish) the black labrador pastel portrait. But I've had parcel deliveries, phone calls, emails and visitors - no end of distractions. Here's an update on the lab who is many hours away from completion yet:

Despite what I said in earlier posts, this has been photographed (not scanned) and it has picked up far too many blue tones .. I won't adjust anything yet as I hope to have more progress pics on Sunday. But at least I did make a little progress.

Now for the excuses ..... 2 lengthy phone calls from commission clients - difficulties with getting good photos etc

Courier delivery:     Following my recent post about mini photo prints from Photobox (thanks to Peter Williams - Mighty Fine Art) - I received the mount packs (mounts/backing card/cellophane bags) today from Kadinsky Art and I'm very impressed with their service.   Ordered online yesterday (with a phone call from them to clarify part of my order) and delivered today - beautifully packaged, extremely good value and top class service. I've been 'playing' this evening with displaying some of the mini prints in the mount packs and they work beautifully.

A huge thank you to Tim and Louise Fisher for my 'prize' pack of Fisher 400 paper - so beautifully packaged it took me 20 minutes to get to the 'goodies'

Phone call from the Vet ... we've overlooked payment for Roxy's last treatment (flu & tet jab. The invoice arrived when we were on holiday.    David's excuse is that he wants them to repossess Roxy following non-payment of bill (he is not flavour of the month now)!!

and finally a blast from the past ...... an email from JILL who we met more than 8 years ago at a remote resort in Greece (with her 'then' man). She has just returned from her 9th visit where she met a couple who suggested she holidayed in Fuerteventura next time.

Jill has just booked a holiday on Fuerteventura in January 2012 and remembered we had bought a house there.    David and I will be there for a few weeks from 1 January so I then spent a few hours exchanging emails working out distances between her apartment complex and our place .... and setting the scene to avoid girlie embarrassment about inevitable appearance changes in the last 8 or 9 years (thankfully we've both admitted to putting on a stone or two)!!

As we were:

hmmmm!! I still have that dress in my wardrobe ... and can just about fit into it. Need new clothes!!! note to David :-)

03/11: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF A HARASSED ARTIST IN 1 HOUR?

2011-11-03T21:23:00.005Z

Do you remember The Reduced Shakespeare Company's claim to fame 'Three guys, one dead playwright, and 37 plays, all in under two hours' ??    The troupe who managed to compress the complete works of Shakespeare into about an hour and 40 minutes of high-speed over-the-top theatre?

Well so much has been going on in my life I thought I'd attempt something similar ... so - in a nutshell here's what I/we have been up to (in addition to the usual charity/volunteer work I/we do):

Caught up on 3 weeks worth of snail/email correspondence

Grand-daughter's first birthday (Halloween baby) done (Brownie points all round)! Sophie Louise threw a wonderful party even if there wasn't any jelly/ice cream for Grandad!!

Calendars showing my artwork designed, ordered and delivered (family Xmas stocking pressies)

Personalised Christmas cards designed based on our own photos taken in/around Whitstable ... ordered - for delivery early December.

I took up Peter Williams' invitation to join Photobox and receive 50 photo prints free of charge. Peter (Mighty Fine Art) presents his photoprints beautifully with mounts/backing boards and they are in demand at exhibition and artfairs.

My photoprints arrived - I ordered 2 each of 25 pictures to see how they looked. A few of them had a decidedly pink cast so I emailed Photobox and I was amazed to get a response within a couple of hours. They checked my original artwork and agreed that the problem was at their end and they would reprint the whole order for me FOC.       I hadn't expected that response but I'm now a huge fan.   Things do go wrong in life but if Photobox Customer Service is that good I certainly have no qualms about dealing with them again.

Unlike Peter, I don't cut my own picture mounts but I found a wonderful frame/mount supplier who is doing an excellent deal with 25 mounts/backing boards/cellophane bags for just £9.99 .... so they arrive tomorrow and I'll have yet another little job to complete before the next art fair!

I'm still attending the spine clinic 3 times per week for treatment which is time consuming but I'm now just about back into a routine with my artwork ... about time too as I have lots of work to get on with.

Here's the latest update on the beautiful Finnish Lapphund I started before I went on holiday.   She has been approved so I just need to add the final whiskers, sign the picture and 'fix' the pastel.    It has been an absolute pleasure to portray her as she is so beautiful. She is intended as a Christmas Gift but I have permission to show progress on my Blog.

The Manchester Terrier has undergone several changes. She has such a shiny black coat that the bright reflections can appear 'grey' or white ... this was a scan taken a few days ago (forgive the weird shape as we are trying out a new programme to allow us to 'stitch' scans where the subject is larger than our A4 scanner - not quite got the hang of it yet)

I was asked to make the nose and neck fur much darker so I toned down all the white highlights. She now looks much darker but I'm awaiting feedback from my client before proceeding to add final touches like whiskers etc.

As daylight hours are severely curtailed at this time of year I'm planning to scan my Work in Progress pictures rather than trying to photograph them. I have an old scanner that takes A4 sized pictures but am experimenting with programmes that allow 'stitching' so I can scan my pictures in pieces and then put them all together again - (to be honest ... its David who is doing the experimenting/testing). Scanning is a bit 'warts & all' in that it shows all the tiniest detail in the artwork ... not sure if that's good or bad as I think most art looks better when you stand back a few feet to look at it ... but the scan does show all the subtle colours in the fur/skintones which can be lost when photographing art. Jury's out on this at the moment!

I've done about an hours work this afternoon on the black labrador but gave up when my computer crashed for the umpteenth time and wiped out PaintNet ... one of my favourite programmes for manipulating photos to enable me to see more detail.

David has spent days trying to work out what is going wrong with my computer ... something in the background is causing horrendous problems but we can't get to the bottom of it. The Help Desk that we pay monthly for can do little but advise us to take the computer back to factory settings .... Yeah right!!

My next commissions will be human subjects 4 in a row (unless I decide to slot in one of the four legged babies if I need some light relief)!!

I'm still missing the sunshine and the extra daylight hours in Fuerte .... but I think I have at last acclimatised and stopped shivering!

31/10: HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2011-10-31T19:20:00.000Z

This post has nothing to do with Halloween ... its just that I've been home for nearly a week so thought I ought to say Hello

After 3 weeks of shade temperature 30deg it took a few days to acclimatise when we got back to Whitstable - the weather here is very mild for the time of year and we even picked a strawberry and a couple of pounds of cherry tomatoes from the garden in the week - no frosts yet to kill the plants (and that really is tempting fate I think)!

We went to France on Thursday to stock up on essential supplies - wine and crevettes mostly. Living as we do on the North Kent coast it is a very easy journey for us and we can easily cross the Channel by Ferry, spend 5 or 6 hours in France and return the same day - very civilised :-)

I will post some artwork in a couple of days ... I've slowly been working on the 3 dog portraits I started before our holiday and it will be nice to have them finished and approved by the weekend as I need to move on to some human commissions fairly quickly now that my motivation has returned.

So that's it from me tonight ... a really boring post but at least I've made a start

21/10: CHIPMUNKS

2011-10-21T08:15:00.002+01:00

Expecting 'iffy' weather today, David and I decided to take a bus into the Capital of Fuerteventura - Puerto del Rosario. Its basically a commercial centre and not very exciting although the Harbour area is quite attractive and today there was a visiting cruise ship, the German AIDA Sol which travels between Madeira and the Canary Islands. It has 15 decks and carries in excess of 2000 people - It was Huge!.

We had a lovely lunch at a little Spanish restaurant/bar and en route back to the bus station I was really pleased to spot a 'chipmunk' playing on a fenced off landfill site - then I realised there were lots of the little critters chasing each other around. The dumped rubble and builders' rubbish obviously resembled the sort of terrain they enjoy with lots of ready made tunnels and burrows.

Known locally as chipmunks, Barbary Ground Squirrels are cute little rodents who were introduced to Fuerteventura as pets in the 1960s from their native home in Algeria/Morocco. They loved this island (don't we all) and its now believed there are more than 300,000 of them living in burrows around the island. The other Canary Islands consider them to be pests and a potential threat to their existing wildlife and crops so stringent measures are in place to prevent migration. They look a bit like our English grey squirrels but are much smaller and have distinctive stripes on their bodies.

In some areas of Fuerteventura the 'chipmunks' have become very tame and are happy to take food from tourists' hands but these were not tame and they were very, very fast. Somebody had thrown food into the landfill site for them so I managed to get a few clear photos when they came to investigate:

This one peeped out from under a rock and had a huge stretch - then stayed like this for several minutes .... looks very strange but he was obviously comfortable

and just in case you're bored with 'chipmunks' - here's a picture of the cruise liner dwarfing all the other boats in the Harbour

20/10: VIEWS AROUND CORRALEJO

2011-10-20T08:47:00.012+01:00

The sunshine has deserted us although it remains hot and sticky so yesterday we went for a long walk around Corralejo, just meandering around the old town and stopping off for a leisurely lunch, glass of wine and a spot of people watching. I took my camera with me hoping to get some photos of the 'older characters' who normally sit around playing cards or talking about the 'good old days' ... but they were too elusive.

Here are some of the pics I took along our route

Fuerteventura is known as a 'windy' island and is therefore popular with surfers and the annual Int'l surfing championships are held at the South end of the island (which is mainly frequented by Germans). We are on the North of the island (famous for its huge stretch of sand dunes-around 7kms I believe). We do have a couple of stretches of coastline where the surf is usually good enough to satisfy the 'surf bums'.

Oops

but as usual its the wildlife I'm more interested in. These little sandpipers are very well camouflaged on the rocky stretches of beach but I love hearing their distinctive call in the early evenings

and this Little Egret made me get my feet wet .... he didn't take kindly to being a photographic model

whereas, this guy had no intention of running away .... far too hot for that!!

You may notice that the cat has the top of his left (our right) ear missing. That shows he has been 'rounded up' and neutered. Our friend Lynn is dedicated to helping the stray cats in and around Corralejo .. she works tirelessly to rehome them and care for sick ones etc. At any one time she has 20+ cats at her home in various stages of recovery and she has several part time jobs to pay for their upkeep. Thanks to Lynn (Cat Woman) there isn't a real problem with feral cats here as there is on many tourist islands.

19/10: BUGS AND BANDS

2011-10-19T11:45:00.002+01:00

Chrissy kindly identified the bug I posted last week as a Scarlet Darter. Hopefully she will also be able to identify this little chap. He also visited our pool for a drink. About an inch long and very thin I wouldn't have spotted him except for the beautiful iridescent blue band decorating his body/tail

His blue band made me think more about the coloured bands worn on the wrists of many of the tourists in Town (mostly those staying 'All Inclusive').

When did this become acceptable to holidaymakers?? Surely its just one step away from having a barcode stamped on their foreheads. From the hotels' perspective it must make life easier as they can identify which tourists 'belong' to them, but REALLY!! I think something must have been added to their Welcome Drinks to make holidaymakers believe they need to spend a fortnight sporting a lurid blue/orange/pink plastic band round their wrist (although once removed, they'll have a nice non-tanned white bit to show off)!!

Sorry, off my soapbox now - I just feel sorry for those visitors who spend all their holiday eating/drinking lukewarm buffet style food at their hotel (cos its paid for up front) and don't get out to sample the 'real' delights of the Spanish bars/restaurants who are suffering from reduced trade as a result of the All Inclusive trend.

16/10: HOOPOE !!!

2011-10-16T20:30:00.001+01:00

Eurasian Hoopoes are pretty common to Africa and the Canary Islands and we've seen them in large groups on wasteland here and even, briefly, had one visit our garden but I hadn't seen one close up

I was really mad at myself on Friday when we walked into town and a Hoopoe landed in a palm tree next to us and spent 15 minutes posing beautifully, fanning out his crest and doing the whole singing/dancing routine .... and I didn't have my camera with me!!!! David tried to get a couple of photos on his mobile phone but the quality wasn't good and despite their vivid black and white wing feathers the Hoopoe was really well camouflaged in the palm leaves.

We went back to the palm tree the next day at the same sort of time in the faint hope that the Hoopoe might return ..... and it did!!!! I took soooooo many photos and he/she was totally unfazed by all the attention. There was a lot of 'debris' at the point where the trunk of the palm met the base of the leaves and obviously there were some rich pickings for a hungry Hoopoe

Here's a few of the photos:

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a photo of the Hoopoe with his 'crest' fanned out - he was being co-operative but each time he put on a show I seem to have 'missed' the action so this is probably the closest I got to photographing his 'mohican' hairstyle!!

He was really digging deep for bugs here

11/09: BEACH BUMS

2011-10-11T21:31:00.002+01:00

I do so love the scenery here :-)

Temperatures are unseasonally high and averaging 32deg in the shade .... walking back from town today along the beach path which is normally very cool and breezy I enjoyed watching these 3 frolicking in the sea

The older of the two dogs went in for a 'proper' swim with her master, but the youngster couldn't be persuaded and paced worriedly up and down in the shallow water till they returned to shore ... I doubt it will be long before she joins in though :-)

and the really great news is that I won a caption contest on Tim Fisher's website - actually it was Tim's dog's Blog site. As followers of my Blog will know, I'm a huge fan of Fisher 400 sanded paper and many of my pastel commissions are completed on this paper which works equally well with coloured pencils or watercolour wash backgrounds. Tim's dog Purdey has her own Blog and keeps us up to date with what Tim and Purdey's arch enemy (Rosie the cat) are up to. Each month Purdey publishes a picture of herself in a strange situation and invites captions.

I emailed a caption just for fun and was amazed to get an email yesterday saying I'd won the October competition and could choose one of the many DVDs available on Tim's site or 5 half sheets of Fisher 400. I was sorely tempted by his video showing watercolour pencil techniques, but practicality won the day. I'm using Fisher 400 for a lot of my Xmas commissions so that will be of most use in the short term and I can add the instruction videos to my 'wish list' for the future.

Here's a link to Tim Fisher's site http://www.timfisherartist.co.uk/

09/10: MEET MY FRIEND

2011-10-09T12:10:00.000+01:00

Just realised today is 09 10 11 :-)

The 'steamy' weather continues here and we have daily visits from this little chap and his friends ... they're very busy skimming across our pool picking up water 'on the wing' so I was pleased to get a couple of photos of this one when it landed for a brief rest.

I'm not an expert on 'bugs' so will just call this a red dragonfly unless somebody can tell me otherwise

Look at its little red face .. it almost has jowls like a cartoon dog :-)

06/10: CZECH THIS OUT !!

2011-10-06T19:46:00.000+01:00

I'd like to say we're chilling out nicely but we arrived Monday evening to discover it had rained here on Fuerteventura during the day and so it has been very steamy and sticky ever since - the famous Fuerte breezes seem to have deserted us and even the stalwarts have been struggling with the heat.

It is feeling a little fresher this evening so fingers crossed we'll be back to the usual hot/windy weather combination we love so much about this island.

It takes just 5 minutes to walk from our house to the beach path with views over the uninhabited island of Lobos and the more famous Lanzarote. I was amazed to see this beautiful sailboat in 'our' bay yesterday - spent the rest of the afternoon looking out for Captain Jack Sparrow (or his even cuter counterpart)

I managed to read the name of the boat and Googled it.

The boat is 'new'. Building work started in 2008 in Egypt and she was launched in December 2010. What made me smile is the statement that she was built as a replica of a sailing boat from the second half of the 18th century and the aim of the 'owners' is the revival of Czech marine history which is an interesting concept given that Czechoslovakia is a land locked country 500 miles from the sea!! She is available for hire for commercial outings or students wishing to learn more about traditional sailing skills.

According to their website 'La Grace' was a boat of the first real Czech seafarer Augustin Herman who worked for the Dutch West India Company before becoming a pirate and raiding the Spanish trade ships using La Grace as a Privateer. Later he bacame the largest exporter of tobacco in America . don't you just love these 'rags to riches' stories!!

Anyway, I'm pleased we saw her yesterday .... today she was gone

02/10: THE LAST POST ............. for the moment

2011-10-02T19:31:00.003+01:00

We are off to Fuerteventura tomorrow to recharge our batteries after a hectic few weeks and in preparation for a very busy run-up to Christmas for me with Xmas commissions. As we rely on using internet cafes or finding free wifi for our laptop out there, I won't be posting on my Blog for a while but will be picking up emails periodically.

For that reason I thought I'd call this update 'The Last Post'. Then I got worried that maybe I would sound disrespectful as 'The Last Post' is traditionally the final salute to those who have fallen in war. I did my usual check by consulting GOOGLE and stumbled across the site of Derek Miller who lost his battle with cancer this year.

Derek's Blog 'final post' was written by him and published by family at his request on his passing. It is humbling reading and has brought tears to my eyes. But it has certainly reinforced the decision that David and I made 4 years ago to leave the 'rat race' and downsize house, share one car and generally enjoy our lives together. We lost two very dear friends to the 'Big C' far too early and that really put things into perspective for us.

The Blog is beautifully written and I'm glad I found it - This is where you can find it, should you want to read his words for yourself http://www.penmachine.com/

and on a lighter note now ...

Yesterday was spent at Westminster and all went well I think. The exhibition pictures and shop items were all taken off display and packaged up, loaded into the vans of the various volunteers who will ship them back to the artists. It was a VERY long, hot and tiring day though!

I've been given permission to show the WIP pictures of this beautiful girl .. I won't mention her name, or the name of the recipient as it will be a Christmas present.

I'm using pastels on Fisher 400 sanded paper for this, and the other two dog portraits I'm currently working on. The idea is that when I get back from holiday feeling VERY laid back I can simply put the finishing touches to all 3 - much less daunting than starting a portrait from scratch when in post-holiday mood. This, and the Manchester Terrier should only take half a day each to complete, the labrador is less advanced (and larger) and will take a little longer

and a couple of WIP pics. This was the first 'blocking in' stage where I'm just establishing areas of colour - but of course, I had to put in some eye detail first

Gradually building up finer detail using lots of blues, mauves, greys in that dense fur coat!

and here are a few WIP pics of the black lab .. again I won't mention names 'just in case' .... it is also a Xmas portrait

Pastels on Fisher 400 - slightly larger than A3. Although I have put some eye detail in, I'm leaving it fairly vague this time as the poor chap has lost his eyesight and I'm not sure yet how I will be asked to portray the eyes. He is a 'senior citizen' but very handsome I think.

I've found myself using the method learned from Vic Bearcroft (after attending one of his Workshops using pastels on velour paper) inasmuch as I've found it easier to block in specific darker areas first in the knowledge they'll be lost a little when adding more colour (but can be reinforced along the way). To save my poor fingertips from being shredded further by blending pastel by hand, I've been using an old paintbrush to push the pastel into the textured surface. Unfortunately, the brush tends to remove more colour than it blends so this is pretty frustrating for me. I'm looking forward to lots more 'finger painting' when back from hols with renewed skin tissue on fingertips!!

29/09: MANCHESTER TERRIER WIP

2011-09-29T17:21:00.000+01:00

Still having horrific problems with BT and Talk Talk - intermittent internet and its very slow when we do get back online ... hopefully all these problems will soon be resolved as its very frustrating getting partway through writing emails/blog posts/researching etc to be thrown out every 10 minutes or so :-)

This lovely lady is Maddie and she is a Manchester Terrier (must confess I had to Google the breed when the enquiry first came through). I'm told that Maddie's ears aren't exactly 'Breed Standard' but that just makes her more unique of course!

I'm using pastels on Fisher 400 sanded paper at the client's request. I have previously drawn her two spaniels on Fisher 400 so this will match the others when they are all hung together in the 'rogues gallery'

I've stopped here to await feedback from Maddie's owner. The ears need more work and I'll add more highlights and whiskers etc in the final stage

and here are a few WIP pictures - I got carried away and forgot to photograph the very early stage. Here I have blocked in the areas of black and tan quite roughly, added some colour to the inner ears and of course drawn the eyes in (can't stand empty sockets looking at me)!

Adding highlights to the black fur using various shades of blue and grey (and mauve in places)

Same stage but I tried to get a close-up (not something my camera likes doing) showing the many tiny strokes I'm adding to get realistic highlights - ensuring I follow the hair direction/length accurately.

28/09: OUT OF ORDER

2011-09-28T09:00:00.000+01:00

That just about sums up me, and life at the moment :-)

I'm still going for treatments at the spine clinic 3 times a week and having to do home treatments which include 'hanging' myself from an overdoor traction torture thingggy!   But we go on hols next week so a good dose of sunshine and no sitting at computer for hours will make a big difference.

My Blog posts are also appearing out of order ... so much has been happening and I've taken lots of photos and made notes which never see the light of day ...

not helped by the fact that most of the 01227 telephone code system is 'OUT OF ORDER' thanks to ongoing problems with British Telecom. We do have working telephones and intermittent internet. Our neighbour who is in her late 80s has no telephone and therefore her Emergency call line also doesn't work. She was almost in tears of frustration on Monday evening - BT are working on the lines which causes lots of crackling noises and these are amplified by the loudspeakers installed on her Emergency systems.   She has previously suffered a series of mini-strokes and was so stressed on Monday I was concerned she'd keel over.    Good old BT just say they are aware she is an elderly vulnerable lady and will be treated as an Urgent case - work to be completed by 29 September (this has been going on for 6 days already)!!

Anyway rant over.

Here are some photos from 'out of order' sequence of events.

Right .... internet just crashed - yet again. Luckily Blogger had saved a Draft so not all was lost ... but I haven't time now to re-upload the missing pics. We went to EuroFair in Canterbury on Sunday which is a 3 day fair devoted to food and drink - whilst David went round dutifully testing and tasting to his heart's content I was busy stalking cute dogs to add to my ever increasing 'to do' list ..... don't know why I do this as I have more than enough work in the pipeline to keep me chained to the drawing board for months ... but who could resist!

Off to do our stint at Pilgrims eBay office now - then cracking on with one of the 3 black dog commissions when we get home this evening.

27/09: GOLDEN RETRIEVER FINISHED

2011-09-27T20:03:00.001+01:00

Sorry I haven't had time to post Work in Progress pictures but this portrait of 'Daisy' has been finished, approved and will be in the post tomorrow. I have complete two portraits previously for this client and its always lovely to welcome 'returning clients'. This portrait was based on a reference photo taken looking down on Daisy so much more of her back/body was visible above her head .. but I've omitted/downplayed much of the body to focus more on her face. The ref photo was very sun bleached but I was provided with other supporting ref photos which helped with finer detail:

This was completed in pastel on Fisher 400 paper but photographed in artificial light which has 'drained' the colour a little.

I have outlined 2 dogs and will probably add a third which I'll make a start on before we go on holiday (Monday). All three are predominantly black dogs. One is a black labrador but the other two breeds I had to Google to learn more about when I was first asked to portray them. All will be revealed over the coming weeks!! I'm so looking forward to getting to grips with them.

23/09: 'ANOTHER FINE MESS'

2011-09-23T10:43:00.005+01:00

Going back to the Laurel & Hardy commission and my concerns about writing on the picture - David suggested printing off the message and displaying it inside the frame where it can be removed at leisure if required - we just didn't seal the back of the frame as usual. I haven't actually had this idea approved by the client but hope there won't be any problems. She is a relative of my stepdaughter's partner so there is a kind of 'distant' family relationship but I'm liaising via stepdaughter - not direct with client which slows up communication a bit.

Anyway, Another Fine Mess indeed! Funny how things turn out. We were unable to do our usual stint at the Pilgrims Hospice charity eBay office because the office (and surrounding area) had been left with no telephone/internet connection due to BT cabling having been stolen. Theft of cables is becoming a frequent occurrence lately ... I believe the metal content in the cables is valuable enough to override the risk of being electrocuted in some cases.

But not being 'at work' meant I was home to take the phone call from BBC Radio Kent yesterday morning asking if I'd go 'on air' for the the Pat Marsh show in the afternoon to talk briefly about Portrait drawing. I said yes then spent 3 hours panicking about what I'd be asked/what I'd say etc. I was very nervous and you can hear me panting a bit at times - I don't believe I sound as prissy as this in real life (!!??) but then, I also don't believe that 'old' face looking back at me from the mirror. Do any of us really know what we sound/look like to others I wonder?

To hear the recording CLICK HERE

My moment of fame!!

22/09: UKCPS EXHIBITION BITS & BOBS

2011-09-22T09:55:00.002+01:00

To see the award winning pictures from the UKCPS exhibition follow this link where you can see the scanned artwork:
Award Winners 10th Annual Int'l Exhibition, Westminster

I have got lots of photos taken of the artwork framed and 'hung' but the Gallery is very large and there are more than 300 exhibits so too many to show here. If you want to see anything specific (maybe your own art) let me know and I'll see if I can help.

I thought I would show some photos taken during the 'set-up' on Saturday/Sunday to illustrate just how much work went into the final stages (and this is the culmination of months of behind the scenes work). Our Exhibition Director had painstakingly produced a scaled down Gallery layout on graph paper and miniaturised every picture once she knew the final sizes/colours of mounts/frames. She had plotted the hanging heights of every picture and calculated where mirror plates had to be attached. Without her forward planning I doubt we could have set up so successfully in the relatively short time available.

Saturday was spent logging in the pictures as they arrived, attaching labels to the pictures showing the 'drilling team' where to place the mirror plates and on which walls/screen in the gallery they would be hung. On Sunday pictures were hung, the shop set up with prints/cards and unframed originals for sale. The Have-a-Go and Children's area were decorated and the silent auction prints displayed. The Faber-Castell display was pretty amazing in the adjoining Gallery. Lots of tempting goodies there!

Bernard Poulin, renown artist and author travelled from Canada to judge the works and allocate awards for the various categories in both the pure coloured pencil and the mixed media sections. He was assisted in presenting the awards by actor Philip Glenister (who proved a greater attraction than the artwork for some of the ladies there I think)!!

One small wall successfully 'hung'. The attached temporary labels showed precise positioning of each picture. These were replaced with individual labels showing name of picture/artist and a brief description of the piece and materials used. Then all pictures had to be dusted/polished to remove stray pieces of packing and fingerprints etc.

One of the screens used to divide up the very large gallery space and provide more hanging space for the exhibits - the area in front is to be the 'shop' area

Lots of head scratching going on today!

Sorting out the prints and cards

Limited edition birthday box of pencils and pastels to mark Faber-Castell's 250th anniversary. Only 1761 have been produced - 1761 was the year the company was formed. This fabulous set is definitely not for purchase by 'starving artists' though! RRP £1375 - although I have found this discounted to a mere £950 on some art materials websites!

Our Birthday cake!! Hand made by a neighbour of our Exibition Director - even the pencils were made of icing and edible.

Once the speeches/awards were over the crowds thinned a little. This is just one small section of the Gallery so you can see what an amazing exhibition it is.

Bernard Poulin our Show Judge and Guest Artist from Canada.

Assisted by TV actor Philip Glenister for presentation of awards

Philip was much in demand for photo-shoots (actually I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who the lady is here. If anybody knows her, perhaps you could give me her contact details as she might like to have a copy of this )

and Philip again with Barbara - Chairman of the UKCPS

Right, that's quite enough for now. Need to crack on with some proper work!

I'm going back to help at the exhibition on Saturday. Might see you there?

19/09: CHEERS!

2011-09-19T11:20:00.006+01:00

United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society - 10th International Annual Exhibition, Central Hall, Westminster.

The exhibition officially opened with the Launch Party/Private View yesterday and will now run till October 1st so if you have the opportunity - please visit (and perhaps participate on one the coloured pencil workshops or the Have-A-Go area).   Westminster is a beautiful area of London with lots to see and do.

It has been an exhausting weekend and I have to say a huge thanks to my lovely hubby who 'chauffered' me to London through horrible traffic and generally helped out at the exhibition ending up as one of the barmen at yesterday's (very successful) Launch Party.   There were lots of other partners helping to set up the exhibition too .... what a long suffering bunch!!

Yesterday morning the Battle of Britain Thanksgiving Service was held in Westminster Abbey.   As we walked past the Abbey en route to neighbouring Central Hall I photographed lots of servicemen and women from British and American forces - there's definitely something rather special about Men in Uniforms!!   I don't actually know what to do with all the pictures - but it seemed like a good idea at the time.   Maybe I'll share a few here once I've sorted them out. My camera has certainly been working in overdrive this weekend.

Anyway, back to the UK Coloured Pencil Society 10th Int'l Exhibition ..... I WON an award!!! my JRT (Please) picture was awarded 'Best Domestic Animal' so am still in shock as the standard was so high this year I'd already mentally selected the winning picture. But our celebrity judge Bernard Poulin, Canadian artist and author, chose mine (perhaps he was still jetlagged from his flight to the UK)

I've taken lots of photos of the event but need to sort through them and will post some tomorrow. Today I have to get cracking on more commissions. The kitten/cat has been approved and I aim to get the Golden Retriever and one of the others outlined and started today. Besides the Golden Retriever the two next dogs are both dark coated so I may opt to work on a 'human' commission to keep my studio area a little cleaner for a while :-)

In the meantime ...... here's something 'fun' for Monday morning. Cheers!!
May take a minute or two to load .. and you can get rid of the annoying ad by clicking on the x

17/09: BONUS TIME!!

2011-09-17T21:44:00.001+01:00

Isn't it wonderful when life throws out a few unexpected treats?

Yesterday morning I phoned the London Gallery to check whether any of my 3 pictures in the Society of Feline Artists (SOFA) exhibition had sold. I was told that none had -   The Exhibition finished last night and collection day for unsold pictures was today.

We got to the Gallery around lunchtime and I was really chuffed to learn that in fact one picture had been sold (the Norwegian Forest Cat based on 'Page' who belongs to my Dutch artist friend Daisyree). So that was 'surprise number one'. For the second year running I've 'been hung' and sold pictures at a prestigious London Gallery !!!! Yeaaaaahhh!!

From the Waterloo Gallery we drove to the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster to lend a hand with preparations for the UKCPS exhibition which opens with the Private Launch tomorrow afternoon.   Over 300 pictures had to be unpacked, measured, recorded and prepared for hanging (mirror plates attached).    Many of the volunteers had been at the Hall since 9am so were quite jaded and seeking refreshment in the Cafeteria when we arrived.

We discovered that today was 'open day' at many famous London Landmarks - the Methodist Central Hall was one of them (one day only) and we could take tours of the beautiful building seeing parts that are not normally open to the public.   The 'dome' at the top of the building which is really high up and affords brilliant views over the Westminster skyline in London was opened up specially.

During a lull in 'operations' David and I took the tour. We had to climb a lot of stairs and finally ascend a narrow metal circular staircase which could only be accessed by 6 people at any one time .. but the views were certainly worth it.   Unfortunately it was pouring with rain at the time we made the climb so the photos I took show a very 'grey' London.    Here are a few .... must say I feel proud of our capital city when I see some of the fantastic buildings there.

This photo was taken at a 'lower level' balcony

More or less the same view ... but the photo was taken from the very top of the Central Hall - definitely worth the climb! Please don't ask me to identify all the buildings .... The London Eye (Wheel) is on the left and the
Houses of Parliament with Big Ben (clocktower) on the right. To the right of Big Ben (looking a bit shadowy here) is 'The Shard'. When completed in 2012, this will be the tallest building in the European Union and the 45th-tallest building in the world. (yawn ... enough history/geography)?? The River Thames is kind of running through the middle of all the buildings here :-)

Oops .. I think this is the same view .. except in the second photo you can see all the tourists with colourful umbrellas avoiding the rain!

When we left the Central Hall building we walked through 'Dean's Yard' which is part of Westminster Abbey - an absolutely idyllic setting with quiet gardens and mature trees - a far cry from the busy London roads outside - to get to the car park. Ouch!!! £3 per hour to park!! and tomorrow we will be here for around 10 hours - need to take out a mortgage to pay the parking fees methinks!

Anyway, walking from the Central Hall building to the car park we passed the most beautiful buildings ... gateways and arches always fascinate me .. what lies beyond (etc). Here are a few of the nicest ones we passed.

So we're back in London tomorrow. Several of the other Executive members/volunteers are staying in hotels for a few days and with hindsight maybe we should have done the same. Driving takes approx 2.5 hours each way for us and parking costs are horrific .. but we checked out making the journey by train and realised there are so many weekend engineering works taking place it will take us longer and cost more to use public transport .. so the car it is!!

I will be back at the drawing board on Monday and should be starting on a Golden Retriever, a 'human' and another cat (in no particular order) during the next week or so ... and I'm very conscious that I have the graphite drawing to complete from Mike Sibley's workshop in Maidstone last month ... its sitting on my workbench looking accusingly at me!

16/09: SOME UPDATES ON CURRENT COMMISSIONS

2011-09-16T18:05:00.002+01:00

Well I'm so pleased that nobody spotted the deliberate error yesterday ... I start all my Blog titles with the date for some reason but yesterday's title was 14/09 (should have been 15/09) - I did say it had been 'one of those days'

Anyway, here's the Laurel & Hardy picture in the mount and frame I'll be using. David wants me to tell the client I can't write a message on the picture as he's convinced I'll spoil the whole thing. That has made me nervous obviously. Fellow Blogger Jan (Pets to Posies) passed on a great tip for adding written messages but now I'm really not sure what to do. Will have a think about it over the weekend :

The kitten I was working on last week was causing me headaches .... I used Colourfix paper which never was my favourite support but I thought the colour worked well. However, I struggled to get the fine fur detail I wanted so when the client asked for some minor adjustments to be made I took the opportunity to re-start the picture on Clairefontaine Pastelmat which I'm far more comfortable with. This is done on their 'brown' colour which actually has quite a pink tinge.

I've emailed this to the client tonight to ask whether she would like anything 'tweaked' before I 'fix' the pastel.

I'll be in London for most of the weekend - the SOFA (Society of Feline Artists) exhibition finishes tonight and unsold pictures need to be collected tomorrow. From there we (David has been dragged in) will go to Central Hall at Westminster to give a hand with sorting out pictures to be hung in the UKCPS exhibition from Sunday. We'll also be there on Sunday helping out - the Launch Party starts at 5pm so everything has to be in place by then. Its going to be a busy couple of days.

Tonight we're going to nearby Canterbury for 'The Canterbury Ghost Tour' which should be fun - it starts at 8pm so will just be getting dark (and creepy) round the old cobbled streets! I'll take a clove of garlic with me just in case (or is that only effective against vampires)?

14/09: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ...

2011-09-15T22:22:00.000+01:00

in the words of Ian Drury!

Off to a fairly disastrous start this morning - we had a very full day planned with a precise timetable .... but the best laid plans (etc)!

David was required to give blood and urine samples at the local health centre this morning (sorry, hope that wasn't 'too much' info). He was ushered into the nurse's room on time but came out shortly afterwards saying the nurse couldn't take his blood as the computers had crashed.   I flippantly said 'I thought they took blood with needles, not computers' but apparently if unable to print off the correct forms, the nurses can't take samples! Oh the joys of modern life!!!    So the appointment had to be rescheduled for next week - fingers crossed the computer Gods will look kindly on us!

We then drove to Whitstable to collect the picture mount I'd ordered on Monday for the Laurel & Hardy picture. It wasn't ready ... although we'd agreed it would be available today - the framer didn't think we'd be there that early (10.30am)!! we couldn't wait because of our tight schedule so by this time David was getting very stressed and irritable :-)

But ... things then picked up and we achieved everything we set out to do today including visiting both mums, sorting out our accounts/tax returns, cleaning mother-in-law's oven, posting commissioned portraits to clients. My horse Roxy passed her MOT (!!) and didn't kill the Vet when he gave her the flu/tet jab (she's obviously slowing up in her old age).

We got home in time to grab a snack and then walked into Whitstable for the Private View of the latest art exhibition at Horsebridge Gallery by the 'Made in Whitstable' Group of which I'm one.   I would love to have exhibited with them again but I have pictures on exhibition at the Society of Feline Artists (Waterloo) ending tomorrow, and pictures in the forthcoming UKCPS exhibition at Westminster (18 September to 1 October) and several commissions on the go .. just not enough hours in the day/days in the week I fear.

We had a look at the pictures on display and chatted with the artists and then stopped off at David's favourite watering hole (Ship Centurion, Whitstable) for 'one for the road' before walking home.    Some local musicians were just setting up and although they sounded really good we were just too tired to stay and listen.   So being boring old fa*ts we walked home and here we are again ... me at the computer and David in front of the TV.   Must get a life methinks!

but can't have a Blog post without a picture .... as previously mentioned, I'm making a real effort to remember to take my camera with me wherever I go. So whilst waiting for the Vet to arrive, I was meandering with Roxy allowing her to hoover up windfall apples from the many fruit trees at the yard, and we were joined by a very inquisitive Robin. I was quite pleased with this photo taken whilst being towed by a horse keen not to miss a single fallen fruit - it was a case of press the button quickly and see what happens:

tomorrow is another day ....

15/09: NOT A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE

2011-09-15T08:45:00.000+01:00

No art updates this morning. Spent the day at the Pilgrims Hospice eBay office yesterday photographing and listing lots of items to be sold to raise money for this brilliant charity. Last year sales of donated items on the Pilgrims Hospice eBay site raised more than £100,000 (which actually is just a drop in the ocean compared to the costs of running the three Kent Hospices). Once home it took a few hours to catch up with all the emails and phone messages etc., so too tired to draw last night.

Today we have lots of errands to run and the Vet is booked to give Roxy (my horse) her flu/tetanus jab and check her over before the onset of Winter. Poor old girl ... her teeth have worn down so much she struggles to eat and has to have a special 'pensioner's diet'. We had a particularly hard Winter last year and she didn't come through it very well - lost a lot of weight and was miserable. She is turned out every day and comes into a warm/dry stable at night but apart from fitting her for dentures there's not much more to be done I fear.

Anyway, we have had a regular visitor to the garden for the last week. A beautiful Jay (not a partridge) has earmarked our old pear tree as a resting place and he sits there happily for hours. It has been a good year for berries in our garden and in the hedgerows surrounding it so, although we don't have oak trees/acorns in the garden, I guess there's enough food to attract him and keep him happy. Unfortunately, the angle of my photo isn't great so you can't see much of the beautiful bright blue feathers on his wings - but he is a handsome bird.

and here are a few of the pears I picked last night. Must confess I hadn't looked at the fruit recently and was disappointed to find many of the pears have started to rot. I read that pears don't actually ripen on the tree but need to be picked and allowed to ripen indoors. So this is the first batch - I'll harvest another lot this evening when we get home.

Nice pears!!

13/09: GOATS AND GHOSTS AND GHOULIES

2011-09-13T10:40:00.000+01:00

Seemed like a good idea to lump them all together in one heading!

Goats ... because we're expecting a visitor at lunchtime. Our hardworking friend 'Deb the Goatwoman' who is owned and employed by a huge herd of mischievous goats in Kent ... producer of some wonderful cheeses available at 'better' outlets throughout the County. I'm not sure how many goats she has now but I believe there were around 150 last year so not much free time for Deb! I drew the pencil sketch which is used for the Dairy's logo (based on a photo of Ellie a 'founder' goat). I haven't visited the goats this year - but in previous years have managed to check out the 'new arrivals' - kids are sooooo cute but very naughty!

The goats have access to acres of lovely pasture but are so nosy they all have to come into the barn when humans turn up for fear of missing something. They are also very strong - I got knocked over by one of the little ones and I'm not exactly a petite lady. I have lots of photos but here's a small selection:

As you can see - they demand lots of love and cuddles

David wouldn't 'pucker up' though!!

How cute are we ..... ?

OK .. enough goats for now I think!

Ghosts and Ghoulies because I've just booked David and myself onto 'The Canterbury Ghost Tour' for Friday evening. It has some good reviews on Trip Advisor and should be a fun way to explore the historic city of nearby Canterbury and learn some of its darker secrets ... I guess the bit that most people remember is that Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral by followers of King Henry II. Apparently, the Tour Leader, John, dresses in appropriate style for the tour with top hat and cane ... not a serious history lesson more a humorous look at the darker side of the City and its more notorious residents.

12/09: BACK TO BLACK (& WHITE)

2011-09-12T19:57:00.003+01:00

The black cat portrait was approved last week and I'm just awaiting shipping instructions.

Laurel & Hardy are about finished and the drawing was approved last night - I sprayed it with fixative and managed to add a little more black today to the very darkest areas. This one will be supplied in a black frame I have at home - I've ordered a double mount from my framer and will collect that on Thursday. However, I've been asked to write a few words on the picture - just HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ******* my worst nightmare - I really don't like adding messages in case I screw up at the last minute :-(

I'm thinking I'll probably have to add the message in the top right corner over Hardy's shoulder? Will make final decision once I have the mount and can see how it all looks.

Last night the photo looked like this

but the colour is probably more true in the photo I took today

Ooops .. forgot to Crop the photo - sorry!

Right .. back to work this evening. The UK Coloured Pencil Society's 10 International Exhibition opens with the Launch Party/Private View on Sunday and there are lots of last minute ends to be tied up ... I truly had no idea how much work is involved in staging an exhibition like this. This is the first year I've been on the Executive Committee and I'm just one of a team of volunteers ... its going to be a tremendous exhibition but I just hope the Society's members appreciate our efforts :-)

If you get the chance - do make a point of visiting the exhibition at Central Hall, Westminster - 19 September to 1 October - which will include over 300 coloured pencil pictures from artists based around the World. I think you'll be amazed at what can be achieved using 'the humble coloured pencil' !!

11/09: JACK SPARROW!!

2011-09-11T21:01:00.003+01:00

We don't have a cinema close to home so were pleased to find out that a group of Whitstable residents plans to set up a 'community cinema' showing films periodically in a gallery at our local Arts Centre. Friday evening the weather was good enough for us to walk into Whitstable (around 40 minutes) for their first offering - the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film (On Stranger Tides) starring of course the one and only Johhny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. (He's soooooo cute)!!

David enjoyed the walk home even better (via his favourite real ale pub)!!

There were about 100 of us in the gallery, many of whom I recognised as fellow artists having shared costs of renting Gallery space to exhibit our artwork. We were able to take (plastic) glasses of wine/beer into the viewing gallery and there was a great fun atmosphere. We'll definitely be regulars (assuming the films are to our taste)!

and more sparrows ....

We've been out and about for most of the weekend but I was pleased to be home to witness the antics of our local sparrows who love to drink from (and bath in) the water bowls we fill for the hedgehogs. I clean and refill the bowls every couple of days but the sparrows soon throw out the water and make the bowls grotty again. Luckily the hedgehogs don't seem to object too much to the odd feather or inch of dirt in their bowls.

These photos were taken through double glazed windows so they aren't wonderful but you can see how much our feathered friends appreciate the water - at one stage there were 6 or 7 sharing the facilities - but I didn't grab my camera in time. These bowls were full of water this morning but looks as though there have been several communal bathing sessions :

10/09: LAUREL & HARDY - MORE PROGRESS

2011-09-10T08:01:00.000+01:00

A couple more progress photos of the Laurel & Hardy portrait. I'm working very hard to achieve the deep blacks with Dark Charcoal - having to really press into the tooth of the paper and keep reinforcing it. I'm also struggling to keep the whites nice and bright as the charcoal dust isn't as easy to remove as pastel for some reason.

Anyway - too blue (as usual) but I won't try adjusting anything until I've completed the commission and am ready to email it for approval.

09/09: YOU DON'T BRING ME FLOWERS .......

2011-09-09T07:58:00.001+01:00

My earlier post seems to have disappeared???

Anyway, This is a special Blog message ... as I know David (hubby) gets alerted to any posts I make.

When my Mum lived with us I couldn't have flowers in the house because she said it aggravated her asthma ... even though she had her own living area in the house.

After Mum decided that she'd like to move into a flat on a warden assisted complex and we moved here to Whitstable its been a treat to always have at least one vase of flowers in the house. But when I pointed out that my lilies were looking a 'little tired' in the week David (hubby) said there was still 'life left in them' .. so I took them outside and gave them a gentle shake to remove the loose petals and put them into fresh water.

Sure enough, they lasted another couple of days ... but just look at them tonight

They are on a coffee table next to his sofa in the lounge. He sat next to them all evening and didn't say a word ...... even though petals continued to fall periodically.

I'm expecting that he will read this Blog Post before going out for the day and will return home with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers for me this evening (!!!!!) or else

08/09: A BAD WORKMAN .......

2011-09-08T20:09:00.000+01:00

you probably know the rest .... ALWAYS BLAMES HIS TOOLS!

Well I did a bit of tweaking on the black cat portrait and added whiskers then spent more than an hour trying to photograph the picture. I really do think my camera is on the blink - I've been frustrated when trying to photograph graphite (black/white) pictures which always end up blue, but now even the colour portraits are turning blue ...... to say nothing of the colour of the air around the artist!!! I've tried just about every setting on the camera but not happy with any of the results ... I'm comfortable with this camera - so maybe its worth taking it to a camera doctor for an overhaul ...

Anyway, now awaiting comments from my client .... although the cat is black, in both ref. photos she has a couple of very prominent white whiskers. I've drawn them according to the ref photos but may have to tone them down a little ... waiting to hear

Blue version:

Adjusted colour version!

But I've done some work on Laurel & Hardy.

After the false start (previously mentioned) this is now being drawn on Fabriano HP watercolour paper. The paper is 'off white' ... but not as blue as shown here

Once I'd made a start and was reasonably happy with how the charcoal worked with the paper, I decided to move on by putting in the background - graphite in HB and 2B grade pencils. So I'm combining charcoal and graphite for this and am happy with progress so far

07/09: PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE ......

2011-09-07T08:35:00.001+01:00

....... of the field we drove past yesterday!!

We were visiting my stepson who lives near Epping Forest. You may recall that he had a horrific accident in April last year and spent 6 months in various hospitals. He's doing really well but the trauma to his head resulted in impaired vision which prevents him from holding a driving licence - so its easier for us to go to him. We had a nice lunch and whilst driving back to his home passed this:

I just thought it was funny - a bale of corn with two traffic cones for ears and a flower pot nose.   When I got home curiosity got the better of me and I Googled that slogan.

With apologies to any veggie friends out there ... it appears that today (7 September) is the start of a £2 million 18 month advertising campaign to encourage Brits to give more thought to the provenance of the pork and pork products they buy by choosing the Red Tractor marked products.   The campaign will target the major supermarkets, challenging shoppers to ask questions about where their 'cheap meat' comes from.

National Pig Association (yes REALLY)!!!!!! have a Banner Blitz page with photo gallery for Pig World Banners Campaign showing where/how their banners are being displayed ..Most are just posted on fences or the sides of trucks but there are a few more like this where farmers have made some fun characters. I've emailed this to them as I found this same pig had been photographed and posted in the gallery but its not a very clear picture.   Where on earth would we be without the internet???? (when its working of course)

Anyway ... the pig amused me. I'm not veggie, though we don't eat much meat, but we always buy locally produced food wherever possible and mostly from a smallholder nearby who can always tell us the history of every plum, apple, potato or pig he sells!

When we got home it was dark with torrential rain blown sideways by gale force winds (yuk) so light was too poor to draw - no art updates today as I'm doing my Voluntary work at Pilgrims Hospice eBay shop. Back to the drawing board and hard at work tomorrow though!

06/09: BUNNY PROJECT

2011-09-06T09:00:00.004+01:00

This is the picture we were given to complete on the final day of Mike Sibley's workshop. We spent two days working on negative drawing skills and tackling textures commonly found when drawing backgrounds. This picture was designed to use many of the techniques we'd covered. Its in graphite pencil on Mellotex paper.

I am changing the picture slightly as I there is a rock in the bottom left corner of the reference we worked from, I'm replacing it with grasses/leaves which I'm 'making up' as I go along. I think this is a little 'fuzzier' than the original drawing but not much point fiddling with it till I've finished and am ready to send it to Mike for critique.

Now I've posted this I hope it will spur me on to do bits and bobs every day when I get a few spare minutes - otherwise it won't get started till I've finished the current commissions so probably end October.

Anybody who has been on one of Mike's workshops will be familiar with the voice I have ringing in my ears 'Go Darker - push the background back' !!!

It was a great experience and I came away with lots of ideas and more confidence to tackle these sort of detailed backgrounds (in graphite at least). I now understand why Mike can easily spend 200+ hours on a drawing ... but that's a luxury not available to most of us unfortunately if we undertake commission work. We really would be starving artists!.

05/09: BLACK STUFF!

2011-09-05T20:29:00.001+01:00

2 predominantly black cats in pastel ... and my studio was a real mess. I received feedback on the black cat portrait this evening so will go ahead now and make finishing touches. I did a lot more work on the black and white kitty then decided to set to with the cleaning materials. My studio is habitable again - and I can now use my computer keyboard without getting dirty fingers and the 'grey film' has disappeared from the screen!!

Here's the kitty ... I have emailed the photo to my client so awaiting comments. The double mount is just laid lightly on top and, as you can see, I haven't quite aligned them correctly but it has been so overcast today I just wanted to get a photo quickly during a brighter spell between rain showers.

So having complained at length about black pastel dust getting everywhere, what did I do next but make a start on the Laurel & Hardy picture I've been asked to do as a birthday present. I'm using charcoal which is a first for me and its nearly as messy as pastel (well in my hands anyway)!! Early days yet ... if I don't get on with charcoal I'll re-start the picture using graphite but won't be able to achieve such deep blacks.

and just to keep with the black & white theme .... a fellow attendee at Mike Sibley's Kent workshop emailed to tell me he had finished the drawing/assignment we all undertook on the final day. There wasn't time to finish the drawing in class but Mike encourages students to complete the work at home and email the results to him for critique - he publishes them on his website. I probably won't have time to complete mine till end October but I did spend about 20 minutes on it today as a 'change of scenery' - I'll try to scan and post it here tomorrow as an incentive to get it finished.

Quite looking forward to starting on a Golden Retriever for a change of colour scheme but that will be a few days away yet!

03/09: NO SH*T !!!

2011-09-03T17:33:00.001+01:00

It was the 'usual Saturday' spent visiting both Mums and Roxy (horse) and when we got home David fancied a walk down to the beach to get some fresh air .... its an incredibly warm day today and Tankerton Slopes/beaches were jam packed with visitors so we didn't stay long.

I had my camera with me and couldn't resist this sign ....... now if you were a dog (and you could read) and the Council had fixed an obstacle around your favourite 'watering hole' what would you do?? If caught, would you argue that you'd misread the speed restrictions on the road signs?

Perhaps putting these signs at dog-reading level is the answer after all .... don't target the owners - put the dogs in control - perhaps if Roxy had read the dressage manuals in our 'competing' days we may have had better results at shows!

What do you think?

02/09: CATS in PASTEL

2011-09-02T17:56:00.000+01:00

I hadn't meant to leave so much time between Blog posts but there is so much happening at the moment that something has 'to give'.

I really hoped to get to the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery (Waterloo) to view/photograph the exhibition of cat pictures but am running out of time.   If anybody else visits I'd be grateful if you could email some pics to me :-)

Have called a halt to the black cat portrait - awaiting feedback from my client. The cat is an elderly lady at 19 years old but still has beautiful bright eyes. She was photographed sitting by patio doors on carpet with curtains/furniture in the background which I was asked to remove and replace with grass or similar.   But without putting in a complete background the grass looked wrong so I've made a simple background based on the colours in the ref photo. Until I hear back, I won't add final touches like whiskers and shadows to ground the cat ... Pastels on Fisher 400 sanded paper.

I quite like this rich cream coloured mount with the picture as it picks up the colour in her eyes.

Yuk ... black pastel dust everywhere - so I thought I'd make a start on the next kitty who is black and white. This one is pastel on heather coloured Colourfix which isn't my favourite support but the colour works well I think.

As usual I outlined the kitty then worked on her eyes .. can't stand working around empty eye-sockets :-)

The idea here is to build up the base colours and check the markings are all in place and then I'll go back and add the fine details. I have used blues and browns, as well as black pastel, for the dark fur.

Enough cats ... off to mow the lawn now as I need some fresh air. The pastel dust has got to me (and everything in a 10 foot radius)!

Write a Post Help a Shelter Dog

2011-08-27T18:40:00.000+01:00

With apologies to Jeanette (Illustrated life Blog) I've lifted the following from her site as I think this is a wonderful idea. If you could all make a post on your Blogs think how much food Pedigree will donate to the dogs shelter. What a generous gesture from Pedigree.

Please hurry as the offer ends September 3rd.

Here’s how it works:

The Write a Post, Help a Dog program is aimed at raising awareness of the more then 4 million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year. As well as to help get them all food (our goal is 10,000 lbs of food in the next two weeks) for the more than four million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year.
For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs — its best recipe ever — to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.
Feel free to mae your post more visually appealing by using either or both of the two images seen in this post.
The Pedigree Foundation — a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.

The Pedigree Foundation depends on charitable contributions from individuals to carry out its mission to help dogs find loving homes. In addition to writing a blog post, here’s how you can help:

Donate online at http://pedigreefoundation.org/donate.aspx
Apply for a shelter grant from the Pedigree Foundation by completing a form atwww.pedigreefoundation.org
Purchase Dogs Rule Gear at www.dogsrulegear.com where the proceeds go to the Pedigree Foundation to help loving dogs find a home. SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10 percent off Dogs Rule Gear by using the promo code BlogPaws10 from August 22 – September 30.

Once you get your post up and ready please feel free to grab the link code to include it in your post and add your link to the list so it is easier to keep track of all the posts plus it makes it so easy for your friends to learn about the event and see the progress we are making towards our goal of 10,000 lbs of food.

This is a Blog Hop! 22 entries so far... you're next!

1. To Dog with Love	2. Two Little Cavaliers	3. Boccis Beefs
4. www. houstondogblog. com	5. Lis Careys Library	6. DogTipper. com
7. Grouchy Puppy	8. Keisha the Spaniel : )	9. Saving Pennies for a Rainy Day
10. Kyndall @ Say No To Recycling	11. 4 The Love of Animals	12. Julianne @ Just a Simple Life
13. Write a post, help a dog	14. Laineys Pawtique & Bakery	15. Blog for Paws
16. Non profit organizations weekend on Empire Avenue	17. Brando and Bogart	18. Adriel Hampton on Tumblr
19. Write a Post, Help a Dog	20. Write a Blog, Save a Dog	21. Write a Post, Help a Dog
22. Help Feed Some Shelter Dogs This Week

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 12 days, 3 hrs, 31 min (9/8/2011 12:59 AM CST)

26/08: BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

2011-08-26T21:19:00.000+01:00

Not sure what's happening really, but commissions, exhibitions, workshops and family all seem to be conspiring at the moment and things are fairly frantic (in the nicest possible way)

Today was Day 1 of Mike Sibley's workshop in Kent and I've had a great day. Although I've had Mike's book 'Drawing from Line to Life' for ages, its so much more rewarding to have the author on hand to explain some of the processes and talk through the various exercises.

We started at 10am this morning and I couldn't believe it when Mike said he'd gone over-time and we stopped around 5.15pm - time just flew. We have a great group of attendees and I hope to get to know them all better over the next couple of days - time permitting!

Two new commissions confirmed by email tonight so I'm now almost fully booked up for Christmas - but I always leave a couple of gaps to ensure I can honour Gift Voucher redemptions.

The Society of Feline Artists (SOFA) exhibition opened today at Llewellyn Alexander Gallery at Waterloo (opposite the Old Vic Theatre, London) and I'd love to attend the Private View next Tuesday (Patron is TV Vet, David Grant) but will have to see how everything pans out ... just not enough hours in every day at the moment. I have 3 pictures on exhibition there so it would be lovely to find time to visit and perhaps take a few photos of the exhibits - always a stunning variety of cat portraits/paintings on display.

25/10: POSH FOOD

2011-08-26T00:23:00.001+01:00

Just a quickie tonight.    With the exception of the artichokes, this is what we had for Dinner tonight - together with salmon and crevettes!   We love collecting fruit and vegetables direct from our garden and greenhouse.

Must confess though, until our last visit to France we had never bought/eaten artichokes.    So come on, 'fess up' have you?   We had no idea how to select, cook or eat them.    The first issue was resolved by asking an elderly French lady for help with selection at the hypermarket and the rest was down to GOOGLE!

David (hubby) isn't fond of green stuff but he really enjoyed his artichoke experience. We were very pleased to find our local greengrocer has just started to stock artichokes (as an experiment).    We're hooked and hope others might follow our lead so that artichokes may become more readily available locally.

If, like us, you don't know what to do with an artichoke, check out the site/recipe we followed and do give them a try .......... I can't believe we've reached our grand old ages without sampling this treat.   It takes time to eat and there's a lot of debris, but as a starter when dining with friends it can only be a hit!!

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cook_and_eat_an_artichoke/

I can't show any artwork for a few days unfortunately, hence the vegetables :-)

23/08: GRAPHITE PORTRAIT FINISHED

2011-08-23T15:28:00.000+01:00

The graphite portrait I've been working on has been approved. There were only 2 thumbnail size photos available for me to work from and ordinarily I would have declined as I couldn't see much detail. However there are exceptional circumstances so I did this on a 'no obligation' basis. I liked the slightly unusual pose here. My client has been working overseas but will be back in England tomorrow and will drive to meet me/collect the portrait.

But ..... how do you photograph your graphite pictures? No matter what camera setting I use the pics turn out blue. I've got very basic photo-editing packages (Photoshop Elements 2.0, PaintNet and Irfanview) and haven't found a way of dealing with the problem. The drawing is on Brilliant White Mellotex paper and the photos are blue as you can see

I've adjusted the brightness level but have lost definition

and in the following 'tweaks' I have increased the Red and the Green levels respectively. Its so frustrating.

I'd be very grateful for any advice about how to deal with this in the future. Most of my pictures have to be photographed as they are larger than my A4 scanner.

19/08: WHAT THE DICKENS?

2011-08-19T11:19:00.000+01:00

I've almost finished the current graphite portrait - needs another couple of hours and then I'll email it to my client for approval and find out whether I can post a picture here.   Then its on to a black cat portrait which will be in pastel.

We're off to a Garden Party now.   David and I are part-time volunteers for Pilgrims Hospice charity. We help to sell donated items on eBay - photographing, describing, weighing the items etc.   Its fun to do and helps to raise £100,000+ per year towards the £9million it takes to run the 3 East Kent hospices. This Garden Party is a get-together and thank you for the volunteers so I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other 'behind the scene' peeps.   Fingers crossed for good weather.

As well as having the beach/sea within walking distance we are lucky to live within half-hour's drive to some fantastic historical sites of interest (comes in handy when entertaining guests).   Here are a couple of pictures I took in Rochester earlier in the week.

Rochester Cathedral is the 2nd oldest cathedral in England - it started out as a Saxon place of worship on land donated by Kind Ethelbert in 604AD (but obviously didn't look much like this when built). The oldest cathedral is Canterbury - 20 minutes drive from our home.

I wasn't drunk when taking these photographs ... it is built on a slope honest!

and the remains of Rochester Castle - I believe this is the Keep built of Kentish Ragstone in 1127. I think its amazing that so much remains intact

But for me the most interesting places are those made famous by Charles Dickens who lived/worked nearby.

This is Eastgate House which is an Elizabethan Town House built in the 1590s and featured as the Westgate Seminary for Young Ladies in Pickwick Papers and Miss Twinkerton's School for Young Ladies in the mystery of Edwin Drood (which I haven't read ... must find a copy). I just love the building.

This building in Rochester High Street was home to Dicken's character Mr Pumblechook from Great Expectations and Pip (the hero) had a room in the attic.

don't want to overdose on Dickens ... but I found this sign fascinating

so when I got home I 'Googled' the story and its true ... downside is I came across a photo of a letter opener owned by Charles Dickens - it was capped with the preserved paw from his favourite cat, Bob! Yuk! I'm not one for saving bits of my pets ... although I appreciate that many people find it comforting to do so

17/08: VISITORS

2011-08-17T09:02:00.001+01:00

Just a quickie to say I'm still here ... Mum has been visiting for a few days so we have been taking her out and about so no time for blogging (or drawing). We took her home yesterday and went on to see David's Mum who was celebrating her 93rd birthday.

Today we are doing our usual 'stint' as volunteers at the Pilgrims Hospice eBay shop. Sales of donated items are doing very well and I look forward to seeing what they've found for me to photograph, weigh and list today. Never a dull moment!

The sun is out in Tankerton and for a few days we've experienced that rare sight of a truly blue sea here (its usually porridge coloured) here's the proof:

It takes us just 10-15 minutes to walk to the sea for this view - I never tire of it though to be honest I love it best in the Autumn/Winter months when there are fewer visitors :o)

I'll post more later but have lots of catching up to do.

11/08: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (NEWS)

2011-08-11T15:15:00.003+01:00

The GOOD news
is that one wild cat and two domestic cat pictures were accepted into the SOFA (Society of Feline Artists) exhibition which runs from 26 August to 16 September at Waterloo (Opposite the Old Vic Theatre).

These are pictures all framed and ready to go ... unfortunately I'm hopeless at taking photos of glazed pictures - I either catch my own reflection or have so much light bouncing off the glass that the pictures look 'faded' but these will give an idea of what the framed pieces look like

My snow leopard

Peeping Tom

Page (Based on a photo of fellow artist Daisyree's Norwegian Forest Cat). I did submit this picture to the Gallery last year but they were not happy with the mount/frame I used so I've changed to a simpler style this time.

Pictures of all the cat paintings/drawings are shown on Llewellyn Alexander's website in descending order of price. Mine are on pages 2 and 3. There are some fabulous pictures on display and I'm very flattered to have had mine included.

check out the pictures here SOFA Exhibition Pictures

Stupidly, I misread the date by which pictures had to be physically taken to the Gallery and I missed the deadline ... but the Gallery Director has very kindly allowed me to hand deliver them tomorrow and I got let off with a very light slap on the wrist :o)

The BAD news
is that this morning David spotted what he thought was a baby hedgehog on our neighbour's lawn.     I went to check it out and was horrified to find it was in fact just part of a full-grown hedgehog.      For the first time since moving to this house we saw a fox in our garden on Monday evening - it was trying to get to the dish of food left out for the hedgehogs but couldn't negotiate the small 'door' into the clear plastic box we use to protect the dish from cats (and foxes).    I suspect this was a fox kill. The decline in hedgehog numbers has been partly attributed to increasing numbers of urban foxes who have developed a sneaky way of attacking hedgehogs without getting a muzzle full of sharp spines.

My neighbour was also upset - she's a lovely old lady in her 80s and was delighted when she saw her first hedgehog in her garden a few weeks ago.   I really hope this is an isolated instance as I've got very attached to our nocturnal visitors and love watching them in the garden every evening.   RIP Spike :o(

and the UGLY news
as the whole world must be aware is the disgusting behaviour of the feral yobs who've brought such shame on themselves and our country. In their designer 'gang' outfits and using their expensive Blackberry/mobile phones to orchestrate the senseless looting and destruction they can hardly convince the World they're doing it because they are poverty-stricken and disadvantaged!

The riots didn't come close to my home, but we visited relatives in Bexleyheath on Tuesday. I needed to buy a picture frame from Hobbycraft en route so we detoured via Crayford in Kent. A large group of youths was gathering outside the railway station having disembarked from a London train. They were all hooded or wearing scarves to hide their faces and most of them were smoking (how can they afford that)??   Hobbycraft, along with most of the neighbouring stores had been advised by the police to close early but they allowed me in for 5 minutes to grab a frame and glass, pay and get out.    We didn't hang around - the youths were very intimidating because of the numbers but they were being met by our lovely policemen who I guess managed to disperse them/send them back where they came from.

08/08: SIGNS OF THE TIMES

2011-08-08T21:31:00.002+01:00

I'm working on a graphite portrait at the moment - its from a very small thumbnail size ref. photo and I wouldn't normally accept the commission - but there are no other photos available and under the special circumstances I've agreed to do what I can on a 'no obligation' basis. My client is working overseas but visiting the UK briefly in a about 2 weeks time when he will drive to Kent to collect the portrait - assuming I can come up with the goods!

So ..... to fill a gap I thought I'd share a few little gems courtesy of my local authority 'Canterbury Council'.

Here's a sign they've very helpfully installed on the seafront at Tankerton - in case of emergency you'll now know exactly where you are and where to go for help ... or will you?

What's missing?? (How about the red arrow pointing to your location)????

and what about this helpful sign. To ease congestion, Canterbury Council operates a park & ride system where visitors can leave their cars at designated parks and take buses into the city centre. One such park is adjacent to a supermarket we often use ... and it annoys me every time I see this sign.

Whatever next, another huge (expensive) sign stating that car park may be empty during quiet times???

But 'fair do's' ...... When the council announced a year or so ago that they would cut back on grass cutting in municipal areas to save paying huge fees to contractors I hated the appearance of our untidy roadside verges etc ..... but this year some bright spark has planted wildflower seeds and the roadsides/roundabouts are transformed .... here's one area I photographed en-route to Dover last Thursday (another Booze Cruise to Dunkirk)!! If you look carefully you can see a discarded Fast Food wrapper but generally the verges are an absolute picture just now .... so KUDOS to Canterbury Council!!

07/08: DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE !

2011-08-07T21:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Carnival Day here in Tankerton/Whitstable.

The big parade of floats gathered at 4pm to start their slow journey through town at 5pm. The weather had been beautiful all day until 3.30pm when the wind picked up and it started to RAIN! Typical British Summer weather!

We picked a viewing point midway on the planned route where there weren't many spectators .... there were several floats carrying Beauty Queens and their attendants from various neighbouring towns and they weren't really geared for bad weather. At the point the floats passed us most of the participants had given up putting on brave faces so David took it upon himself to encourage them to smile and wave .... some you win, some you lose:

Not very happy ....

She was the fore-runner and she almost did ... run, that is!! Not a happy Bunny is she?

The faces say it all ...

They tried manfully but flags don't operate very well in wind and rain ....

But we Brits usually manage to cope with our unpredictable weather ...

This fundraiser (for Sea Cadets) wasn't at all bothered by the rain

This little lady was well prepared .... and quite enjoying herself I think

Making the most of things .....

Who cares about the pretty dress - blankets and umbrellas are the order of the day I think!

05/08: WAY TO GO

2011-08-05T18:20:00.000+01:00

Apologies if you tried to follow the link earlier via your Dashboard .... I've had computer problems with Firefox crashing on me throughout the day. This is third time lucky (I think its the 'Christine' curse if you saw my Blog post dated 27 July)!

I've always said that I want my final journey to made in style like this - but I really want a practice run first so I can wave to people en route :o)

WAY TO GO

Aren't they magnificent?

and talking of black horses .... I've added more fine detail to Bertie and 'lost' the rein which was bothering me a little. Thanks for your input here - I think we all agreed it should go :o)

I've emailed this photo to Bertie's mum for her comments. If she's happy, I'll add the final whiskers around his muzzle and call him finished. No more horses in the pipeline unfortunately ...

03/08: BERTIE - BLACK HORSE IN PASTELS

2011-08-03T08:00:00.001+01:00

For several months emails have been flying backwards and forwards between me and Bertie's Mum. I believe she has four horses which keep her very busy so it isn't easy taking photos. However the first couple of ref pictures she provided were full body and so small that when I tried to enlarge them to see detail they pixelated horribly. I received more photos but they were all of a similar size - not sure if they were taken by mobile phone? Anyway, I decided that I'd just have to do my best with the ones I had as time is marching on.

This is the pose that Bertie's Mum liked best - he does have a lovely alert, cheeky expression here but from an artist's perspective it probably isn't the easiest pose as its easy to foreshorten the face because of the camera angle. I've been working on this on and off for a couple of days but today I'm off to do my weekly voluntary stint at the Pilgrims Hospice eBay office so will have a break and get back to the portrait with fresh eyes on Thursday.

This is the cropped ref photo I'm working from - as you can see it looks quite clear until you try to enlarge it. I'm sure I read about a method of enlarging photos without them pixelating too much via PhotoShop but I can't remember where - any ideas?

apologies for the variance in colours - I'm using light grey Clairefontaine Pastelmat paper which is almost white and my camera doesn't like the black/grey/white/blue combination. Its trying to turn everything too blue.

The initial outline - with a lot of 'guesstimating' with the bridle etc. I've starting trying to build up facial contours using blues, browns and grey pastels

Getting there .... a bit more tidying up needed then I'll email Bertie's Mum to get her thoughts - looking at it on screen now I'm wondering whether to 'lose' the rein (on our left) as it doesn't really add anything to the composition?

02/08: BROOM BROOM ...... (sorry)!

2011-08-02T17:45:00.000+01:00

Couldn't think of a better title.

One of our poor old apple trees is so heavy with fruit that the lower branches were dragging the ground. My 'instant' fix has taken some of the weight off its shoulders :o)

01/08: FUNDRAISING FOR (ANOTHER) RICHARD

2011-08-01T11:59:00.004+01:00

As you may recall, my stepson Richard had a terrible motorcycle accident in April last year. Thanks to the London Air Ambulance and specialist London hospital treatment he pulled through. He spent 7 weeks in coma and 6 months in hospital and was finally allowed home at the end of September to complete the healing process. He suffered permanent damage to his vision due to brain trauma so will never regain his driving licence but has otherwise made a brilliant recovery. We will always be so grateful to the Air Ambulance and the dedicated hospital staff for their skills and dedication.

So it struck a chord with us when we heard on the BBC Kent news that another Richard has been in a coma since 1 July following a motorcycle incident. Richard Plummer was working/living in Bali at the time and I understand he was found unconscious and his credit cards and money had been stolen so he may have been ambushed. Tragically his travel insurance had expired so he has no medical insurance. His elderly parents have so far used their life savings to help with medical expenses but the cost of flying him back to the UK by air ambulance will be in the region of £80,000.

A local benefactor has pledged the cash as a 3 month loan. The loan has to be repaid with interest within 3 months. Richard's parents are pensioners and will have to sell their house to repay the debt if they cannot raise the money by other means.   I watched the TV interview with his parents and it brought a huge lump to my throat - I know how stressful it was coping with our Richard's situation - we didn't have the additional worry of repatriating him or losing our home in the process.

Whatever the rights or wrongs about why he'd allowed his insurance to lapse I feel dreadfully sorry for his parents. We've made a small donation via the Appeal Website - every little helps of course!

http://richardsrecovery.webs.com/information.htm

Today I started to follow the Blog of Daimon Walker (a kind of relative by marriage of Richard Plummer) This weekend Daimon has started on a journey to walk from Lands End to John O'Groats in the UK to help raise awareness and funds for Richard's appeal.   Its a new Blog and I'm follower No. 2.   Perhaps some of my Blogger friends would like to add themselves as followers so Daimon doesn't feel 'so alone' on this epic journey .... 1000 miles (phew) rather him than me :o)

http://1000milewalkies.blogspot.com/

Richards' flight home started yesterday - the journey has to be made in stages with 5 stops I believe.    He was expected to land in the UK at 0200 hours this morning. It appears he became unwell part way through the journey though so keeping everything crossed his family will be posting some better news on the site shortly.

31/07: BESSIE'S BIG SISTER!

2011-07-31T16:07:00.003+01:00

I haven't done any drawing for a couple of days as I had a dental problem on Friday.   An old root canal treatment flares up every now and then and it chose last week to rear its ugly head. I thought it would just 'go away' but by Friday I was in severe pain but my usual dentist (who is still in London as I never got round to switching when we moved to the Kent coast) was away till Tuesday.

We found a local NHS dentist who takes emergency cases so I saw him on Friday and have started a course of antibiotics to clear the infection.     I feel much better already and David tells me I'm once again bearable to live with!! I plan to get on with the next commission (horse) tomorrow so will post WIP pics then.

Yesterday I got it into my head that I'd like to take some photos of my elderly horse, Roxy, and her equine friends at the stables.   I planned to do a sort of 'May to September' theme comparing photos of her from 20 years ago and current ones - how unkind is that??   I don't think I'd be too happy about having 'then and now' photos of me shown like that.      Anyway I probably took 50+ photos of Roxy and it reminded me just how difficult it is to get 'good' reference photos of animals sometimes. I know what I was 'looking for' but she frustrated me time after time - ears flicked back, nose thrust into camera, eyes shut at the critical moment ....

Fortunately I found an easier subject to photograph in the car park of the supermarket we shopped at when we left the stables:

I just thought it was a 'cute' car ... but the proud owner was very chatty and told me that this is one of a limited edition (29 cars). It is the 'big sister' of Bessie, the canary yellow roadster registration WHO 1 which belonged to the third Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee) and appeared in episodes with the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker).     Must confess I don't remember Bessie - but I used to hide behind the settee whenever I heard the theme music for Doctor Who on the TV - I was petrified of the Daleks ... well I was only 5 years old.

Isn't she a beauty?

I am trying to get into the habit of taking my camera with me when I/we go out and about as you never know what you might stumble across.

29/07: SPOT FINISHED

2011-07-29T18:31:00.001+01:00

'Spot' is no longer a surprise. He was intended as a surprise birthday gift but when I emailed this picture to my client for approval she didn't feel able to make the final decision herself as she doesn't see Spot very often so she decided to let Spot's mum into the secret, forwarded the email and asked her opinion.

This is (part of) the message I received back:

'C' says it is quite amazing and she wouldn't change a thing. Apparently Spot looks at her in a very special way and she said she never thought anyone would be able to capture that expression in his eyes and as soon as she saw it she cried because it was so perfect.

So ... another tearful client (I must be a very wicked person I think) :o)

Spot is Appaloosa but luckily for me doesn't have too many spots on his face/neck - mainly just the eye and muzzle area. He certainly does have a cheeky glint in his eye doesn't he?

I'm probably going to start on the black horse next, but regrettably the photos aren't terribly clear so I'm still hoping his owner will be able to supply more detailed refs for me.

28/07: WET, WET, WET!

2011-07-28T16:42:00.001+01:00

Today has been very disjointed - spine clinic this morning, visitors at lunchtime, hairdresser at 2pm and tonight I'm meeting with the Made in Whitstable Art Group on the beach (weather permitting) for a fish & chip supper to discuss tactics for the next year.

As the name suggests, Made in Whitstable was formed to bring creative Whitstable people together with a central website and access to Gallery space and various events throughout the year.   The Group has around 200 member now - photographers, artists, musicians, writers etc.   I've met many of the members when we shared the cost of exhibiting at the Horsebridge Gallery last year but I think more people have joined since then and we'll be discussing plans for next year.

I've not made much progress with the horse picture today so instead thought I'd share some of the photos I took in Fuerteventura (was it only last week)?? of some of the residents having fun in the water - I don't think we'll be seeing many swimmers in the sea at Whitstable tonight!   These pictures are the reason for the Wet Wet Wet header - it isn't actually raining here, and in fact the sun has struggled through this afternoon so hopefully we won't be 'freezing our wotsits' off on the beach this evening :o)

I took far too many pictures of this lovely dog having fun on a hot afternoon.   She waited obediently (but impatiently) for permission from her master to jump into the sea and came out instantly when called.   She was so intent on watching her master all the time, anxious not to miss any command

This wall by the small town beach is popular with anglers and with local children who love to show off their prowess in the water - they all swim like fishes and don't seem at all fazed by the fishing lines/hooks all round them :o)

It looks as though this lad has been caught on the hook here, don't you think?

Bless!!! but at least they aren't sitting on their backsides glued to the TV or a computer screen - they have a much healthier lifestyle than most British kids

27/07: CHRISTINE REINCARNATED?

2011-07-27T18:52:00.002+01:00

On holiday I read Stephen King's novel about a haunted car called 'Christine' - a bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury whose new teenaged owner (Arnie) is totally obsessed with it/her and spends more time restoring and generally 'loving' it/her than he does with friends or family.   'Christine' is evil and kills people that threaten her - her odometer (milometer)? runs backwards as Christine repairs and rejuvenates herself until she is in pristine condition.    With me so far??

if you haven't read the book or seen the film look away now :o)    at the end of the story Christine is overpowered and crushed into a little metal cube ...... that is supposed to be the end of her - but I know better!

David (hubby) insists on taking his netbook computer on holiday despite the fact we have almost no signal at our holiday home. To collect or send emails we have to take the netbook into town where our friend runs the local tourist information office and lets us use his wifi facility. I don't get much sense out of David most of the time as he hunches over the computer for hours on end moaning about lack of signal and inability to get online (but grumbling keeps him happy).

The netbook is bright red and, having read Stephen King's book, I noted the parallels between Arnie/Christine and David/computer, so I named his netbook Christine and made David read the book to appreciate why! He made the connection ....

We were about to walk into Town one evening when 'Christine' threw herself off the chair where she'd been placed and landed on the floor. I was walking past the chair at the time but swear I didn't push her (!!) She was in a padded bag so we didn't think any more of it till we tried to go online. She was broken!!! All we got on screen was a lot of zigzagging lines and dots.    Our friend offered to put us in touch with a computer repair man to see if he could retrieve any of the data (including the 100+ photos I'd uploaded on holiday) but we felt time was too short as we were due to fly home 2 days later.    David was devastated ... the end of the world etc etc ..... RIP Christine !!!

Next morning he was up early - ostensibly to put the coffee machine on but really to have a final chat with Christine .... He came racing back to the bedroom to show me Christine ... she'd repaired herself overnight and was working better than ever ..... SPOOKY!   I make sure I'm not alone in the room with her now :o)

Anyway,

Here are the pictures that have been selected for hanging at the UKCPS exhibition at Westminster in September. I'm still in shock to be honest as I wasn't sure any of them would be good enough to pass muster with the judges as they are practice pieces done pretty quickly (but I'm not going to argue). I have to sort out frames now ..

I photographed this giraffe at the Zoo on Fuerteventura earlier this year. He was very friendly and fascinated by his human visitors. This is drawn on drafting film using a white backing sheet.   Originally I planned to draw in the background of palm trees as per the ref photo, but time was short and David thought it was more striking as a 'stand-alone' head study. This was finished in a couple of afternoons as working on drafting film means fewer layers can be laid down so the process is much faster.    Suits me, less work involved !    He gave it the title 'disdain'.

This cheetah was drawn as practice on drafting film a few months ago - using a black backing sheet. David doesn't like this picture - always a good sign I've learned in the past :o) Titled: The Watcher

This is coloured pencil on Fabriano 5 watercolour paper and I've called it 'Please'

26/07: INDECISION!

2011-07-26T20:42:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I was 'faffing' about how to crop the cat picture ... Jan's advice (Pets to Posies) was to crop it square and I tend to agree. Today I darkened the background and did more work on the cat's fur and added whiskers. I also sprinkled the background with 'gold dust'

When moving house a few years ago I came across a rusty gloss paint tin in the garage which was full of bright gold dust. I recently got around to having it evaluated ... I took it to a local jeweller to find out whether it was really gold (and therefore worth a fortune). Unfortunately, after testing, it turned out to be a brass based dust which is apparently used by artists??? How?? I decided to spray the cat picture with pastel fixative and then sprinkle the picture with gold dust in the hope it would stick ... some did, most didn't. Does anyone have any idea how to use this dust. It looks so pretty in the tin :o)

Anyway, here's the cat again ..... you can see the gold dust but the true effect is only visible when the picture is seen in the light when it sparkles

Here's the same picture shown with an 'off the shelf' square mount and frame laid on top. The mount is still in cellophane wrapping so has subdued the colours a bit. I think the mount is slightly too overpowering and I need to show more of the cat's whiskers etc., so I'll need to ask my local framer to cut a narrower mount with a larger aperture.

Which do you prefer - first or second crop?

I shall be out all day tomorrow working at the Hospice shop eBay office so no art updates. However, I received confirmation today that I have had 3 pictures accepted by the jury for the 10th International UKCPS exhibition in London (September). I hadn't expected to enter due to health issues which prevented me doing much drawing earlier in the year but the deadline for entries was extended and I entered 2 existing 'practice pieces' and a new drawing which only took a couple of days as it was very simple and completed on drafting film which speeds up the process. Needless to say ... I'm extremely chuffed! I'll post the pictures later this week.

25/07: HORSE & CAT - A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS

2011-07-25T21:20:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately, I still have to attend the spine clinic 3 times per week for treatment and that kind of messes up our days .... David normally drives me there as parking can be problematic and today we took the 'scenic route' home so we could go to our favourite farm shop to buy some local produce. The farmer was only too happy to chat to us about the various fruits on sale and gave us lots of tasters. He isn't 'organic' as such but farms in a traditional manner that doesn't rely on using lots of pesticides etc ... he's very passionate about what he does and has a great sense of humour. We ended up bringing home lots of plums, cherries and uncooked beetroots (which I just can't grow in our garden for some reason)!

So I really only sat down at the drawing board around midday - I worked for several hours but actually can't see much progress ... one of those days! Tomorrow I have two sessions at the clinic in the morning and a consultation to discuss the most recent tests in the afternoon - so lots of driving back and forth.

It would be nice to think I could finish the horse tomorrow but he has some very unusual markings around eye and muzzle so I probably need another couple of days - here's where I finished today:

It was quite late when I photographed him and the light wasn't great, so the camera has picked up too much on the white pastel.

I did a little more on the cat as well but with no clear idea where I'm going on this (particularly the background) I've been 'faffing' a bit .... I think I need to darken the area to the left of the cat a little and also to decide how I'm going to crop this - whether it will be to fit a square frame or oblong frame. Hopefully I'll be a little more decisive tomorrow :o)

I've got a 'mini' run of cat commissions to do, and also a handsome black horse - lovely to have some 4 legged subjects again. I will also be doing a black and white drawing of a well known comedy duo for a birthday commission. I've decided to try that one in charcoal - a new venture for me - so if the experiment fails I'll have to redo it in graphite (but I have a few weeks to 'play' with this one).

Right - time for some plums methinks!

24/07: BACK HOME AND FEELING FRUITY!

2011-07-24T22:34:00.000+01:00

We got home in the early hours yesterday after a wonderful 12 days on Fuerteventura.   Saturday was spent visiting our mothers and Roxy (my horse) and food shopping.   I caught up with most of my emails by lunchtime today and planned to get back to the drawing board this afternoon ... but the sun came out and the garden beckoned ... so I did lots of deadheading and tidying up, moving tubs and collecting tomatoes, peppers and runner beans for Dinner.

I'm amazed at the harvest this year .... our apple and pear trees are packed with fruit and the branches are really weighed down.   The damsons are huge already - they aren't supposed to be available till end August/September!!

That prompted us to check the shed where we store our supply of sloe gin and damson gin/damson brandy - embarassingly we have 13 bottles some dating back to 2004 which we'd kind of forgotten about.   (Its good stuff)!! 15 bottles of elderberry wine (2004) had to be thrown away as it was horrible ... we did try it a couple of years ago and didn't like it so decided to give it a little longer to 'mature' .... it didn't!!

So in the absence of any artwork ... here's some pictures of our fruit trees taken this afternoon.

Damsons - 6 weeks early and very prolific!

Early cropping apples - I tend to use these as cooking apples but have no idea what variety it is.

The branches of this tree are almost touching the ground in places - there are soooo many apples. This is normally an Autumn crop (September/October) but ..... this year seems to be confusing all the plantlife!

Nice pears!

We have more than 20 tomato plants 'on the go' also .... so I'm going to be freezing loads of tomato soup later in the Summer I fear .... seemed like a good idea when I planted the seeds (I didn't expect all the plants to turn out so well)!

Well, enough of the garden news. Hopefully there will be some progress on the art front tomorrow. Otherwise I'll be forced to share more holiday photos with you :o)

09/07: HOLIDAYS AND HEDGEHOGS

2011-07-09T18:34:00.003+01:00

Just a last minute post before closing the computer down in readiness for our early start to the airport (we have a 6.30am flight)

Our regular hedgehogs will be well cared for whilst we are away as our daughter is house-sitting but for a couple of days in the week we were concerned to see a very slow moving hedgehog wandering round our garden in broad daylight which I understand is usually a sign the hedgehog isn't well - normally we don't see much activity till 8.30pm onwards.   Thinking it was an elderly hog who might have been pushed away from the feeding station by younger ones at night we put some cat biscuits in the undergrowth and they were devoured hungrily.   I took several photos - he/she didn't seem very worried by me or the camera.

Looking at the photos later I noticed lots of lumps around its ear/eye which look sore in places.    I phoned a hedgehog rescue place and was told I should get the pig to a vet asap .... I emailed them a photo showing the lumps and they promised to get back to me with suggestions as to what the problem is .... but didn't!

David read somewhere that vets have an obligation to treat small wildlife creatures like hedgehogs free of charge - great if you can catch the beasties.    I haven't seen this one since Thursday afternoon so I guess he got wind of my intentions.   My cats always used to do a disappearing act whenever I planned to take them to the Vet - they seem to have a sixth sense don't they?

We are only away for 12 days so I hope we can catch this particular hedgehog on our return and get him treated.    Does anyone know what this problem might be. I understand they can get mange, or it may be fly bites if the hedgehog has been injured (a likely scenario as they are all becoming a little bit aggressive around the feeding station at night) Does anyone have any knowledge of hedgehogs or ideas as to what the problem might be? I think you should be able to enlarge the photos by clicking on them to get a better look

Whilst watching the hedgehogs on the patio at night, we often saw a little woodmouse dashing to and fro the feeding station pinching pieces of cheese and dried fruit. I waited outside one evening to photograph 'him' and was amazed to see 3 of the little beasties under the bike shed .... without the camera I had only ever seen one at a time and assumed we had a single visitor ... they are very tiny as you can see comparing them with the seedless grape size in the last picture!

They are very cute aren't they? I've never had a problem watching or handling mice ....... but show me a spider and I feel faint instantly :o)

Well I probably won't be posting till back in England .... our internet connection at our holiday home is very poor and I really don't like using internet cafes in Town - they tend to be very hot and very noisy.

08/07: A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS

2011-07-09T00:07:00.000+01:00

Domestic Goddess I am not! Spring-cleaning was short lived today. I cleaned the wood floors and polished furniture but couldn't face cleaning windows ... its raining anyway - and the lure of the drawing board was too strong!

So I got a little more work done on the two pastels I started yesterday. The horse in particular is at one of those early 'ugly' stages that portraits often go through until the finer detail is added which suddenly transforms the work. I'm just building up colour and facial contours etc at the moment. It will be good to let this rest till we return from Fuerteventura and look at it with fresh eyes. The white line across the page is just me being indecisive ... not sure whether to put a very understated background in - just split colours top and bottom or to leave it plain. I don't normally add backgrounds to commissioned portraits but am not sure how well the horse will stand out from the coloured background. I don't need to decide just yet though

the cat is looking a little less garish now .. I've added some finer fur detail but won't put whiskers in till I've decided if I'm going to change the background again.

08/07: TWO NEW PASTELS - EARLY STAGES

2011-07-08T10:49:00.005+01:00

I've switched from coloured pencil to pastel for the next two pictures. I made a start yesterday on a horse portrait which isn't required for a few weeks but he has some intricate markings on his face so I'd like to really take my time and work on this in small stages (using grids constantly to check placement of markings). I think its safe to post the initial stages as he isn't really recognisable yet.

Here I've outlined the horse using Derwent Burnt Umber and Titanium White pastel pencils, marking the most prominent contours of his face - these lines will blend in and disappear once the base layer of colour is applied. As always I had to draw in the eye (I'm not an artist who can leave the eye till last as I need to build a rapport with the subject and the eyes really do add personality). I then blocked in the light grey muzzle area but this will be refined in later stages. I'm using Clairefontaine Pastelmat for this portrait in the shade they describe as Brown but which has a decidedly pink tinge.

As a little light relief I also started on a cat portrait which is evolving as I go along. It is based on a mixture of reference photos and will probably change constantly .....

I'm working on Fisher 400 sanded paper and the background has been suggested using a combination of soft pastels. The background is based on a cat photographed looking around a door I think but I've turned this into a suggestion of curtain/material ... but it may change again. The eyes are not as dark as my camera has suggested here - but there will be lots of tweaks and changes along the way.

So ... I had a productive afternoon yesterday but may not have time to work on them today ..... we are going back to Fuerteventura for 12 days tomorrow evening. My stepdaughter and family will be house-sitting here while we are away so I'm spending the day washing/cleaning etc (as you do) and tomorrow will be taken up with visiting parents and my (retired) horse - it was all arranged as a last minute thing so I'm really looking forward to it .. especially as the weather is a bit grim here at the moment.

As mentioned in a previous post about Fuerteventura, the islanders find something to celebrate most months and July is no exception. In Corralejo (at the North of the island where we have our house) 16th July is The saint's day of Señora del Carmen, the patron saint of Corralejo. There will be a festival of dance, music and gastronomy with processions through the town. The locals head to the beach and take to the sea in beautifully decorated fishing boats - lots of noise and colour.

Fuerteventura is reknown for its 'wind' and is a favourite destination for windsurfers and kiteboarders. The 26th Windsurf & Kite boarding World Championship will take place from 22/07 - 01/08/2011 at the South end of the island. We've never watched this event (and indeed will miss it this year) but I'm told its quite spectacular with top class surfers from around the world competing in various disciplines. I'm more of a 'dipping my toes into the very edge of the water' person I'm afraid!

07/07: LEGLESS IN WHITSTABLE !

2011-07-07T12:39:00.004+01:00

Well, can you think of a better title?

We had glorious weather at the weekend. We live on the North Kent coast about 10 minutes walk from Tankerton Slopes and the beach promenade which stretches to Whitstable in one direction and Herne Bay in the other so we strolled into Whitstable which was absolutely buzzing. We get lots of daytrippers from London as Whitstable is considered very 'trendy' with its working harbour and fish/oyster bars and restaurants. The DFLs (Down from London folk) spend enough money here in the Summer months to ensure that the little shops survive throughout the Winter (unlike many of their counterparts in other parts of England where the supermarket giants have taken over).

Last Autumn when the New Economics Foundation (NEF) published its report on the state of England's High Streets, Whitstable had the most diverse high street scoring an impressive 92.1 on the diversity scale.

Its not a beautiful seaside town and it has pebble beaches but Whitstable has lots of character and I guess its picturesque in a workmanlike way ... and we love living here

We just have to keep reminding ourselves that this is brilliant for the local economy ... and we get the beaches to ourselves in the Winter months!

I believe there are 6 or 7 sailing clubs within a 10 mile radius here - the ones in the background here are from the Whitstable Yacht club - the big race programme happens in August so lots of practicing going on I think.

The sea looked 'almost blue' at the weekend ... its back to its 'porridge colour' now our weather has taken a turn for the worse - squally rain showers and grey skies. Never mind, the garden will benefit from a good downpour! and what else would we Brits talk about if not the weather?

05/07: PORTRAIT OF 'POPS'

2011-07-05T14:26:00.001+01:00

Can I call myself 'Artist to the Stars' now?

I was recently asked by a lovely lady, Janet, (an actress and scriptwriter) to portray her father 'Pops' who sadly passed away earlier this year. The main reference photo showed very little detail as it was a family group standing under a willow tree with dappled sunlight creating shadows. However with the help of some additional photos and my client's helpful guidance I completed the portrait yesterday and I'm told it made her cry. Portraiture is a strange business when we can measure success by the ability to bring tears to our clients' eyes (equalled only by Solicitors and their fees perhaps) :o)

I won't show the reference photo(s) but Janet is very happy for the portrait to be shown here:

I used Prismacolor and Van Gogh Coloured Pencils on dark grey Clairefontaine Pastelmat for this portrait - a combination which I think works well to show off light coloured hair/clothing.

03/07: PLAYTIME!

2011-07-03T12:20:00.001+01:00

As friends and followers will know, we have a holiday home in Corralejo on the Canarian island of Fuerteventura.   We love the people, the climate and the lack of 'red tape and political correctness' which seems to be crippling us in the UK.

Although it isn't a place for 18-30 groups seeking non-stop discos/drinking binges, it certainly isn't a dull place. If there's one thing the Fuerteventura folk excel at its partying - and the whole family participates.    I think in a 'normal' year there are only two months (April and August) where there isn't a festival or carnival or some other celebration being staged. Many involve lots of drumming/marching bands and/or firework displays on the beach

The biggest event is the annual Carnival which lasts for nearly two weeks (normally in March) and culminates in a huge (and very noisy) evening parade through Town which takes a couple of hours. Then its down to the Harbour for dancing till daylight.

The floats are always spectacular (they have 12 months to prepare) but for me the most enjoyable bit is seeing all the locals dressed up and having fun - although the parades are always themed, anything goes basically. If you have fancy dress - flaunt it!    This year the theme was 'old civilizations'

The floats for the 'Carnival Queens' are very ornate and the winning designs are usually on display for weeks before and after the event. The procession starts early evening in daylight but the floats really come to life once the sun goes down.   Bags of wrapped sweeties are carried by all participants in the parade and these are thrown out to children (of all ages) along the route.

Apologies for showing this pic from last year's (jungle themed) procession, but the owner of this beach buggy really transforms it brilliantly each year

and here it is this year decked out in Egyptian palace style with the owner dressed as Cleopatra - Men dressing as women seems to feature heavily in these carnivals - sort of panto I guess!

I think this was built around a supermarket trolley - very innovative isn't it?

Everyone enjoys dressing up

Well, maybe not quite everyone!

Not quite the Three Ugly Sisters ..... just David (hubby) with a couple of 'lady friends'

and these guys stopped off for some liquid refreshment at Casa Manolo's - our favourite Spanish restaurant/tapas bar. You can just catch a glimpse of Maria behind the bar - she is the owner of Angel, the German Shepherd I featured in my Blog recently.

Hope that wasn't too many pics .... but I can now clear my files. I always take far too many photos at these events in the hope of finding the perfect 'character' to draw at a later date.

01/07: COLOURED PENCIL ART

2011-07-01T11:23:00.004+01:00

The deadline for entries into the 10th International Annual Exhibition of the UKCPS was extended to 2 July 2011 when Hobbycraft recently agreed to promote the exhibition throughout their stores. From a purely selfish point I'm really pleased about the extension as my trapped nerve problem meant I hadn't been able to produce anything to submit to the judges this year - whether or not my work gets accepted I've entered every year since being 'introduced' to coloured pencils in 2006.     Feeling much more human the last week or so I've been able to re-work a couple of cp practice pictures and complete a head study of one of the giraffes I photographed at Fuerteventura zoo last month.    So, fingers crossed!!

I hope lots of you coloured pencil artists have also submitted work to the exhibition as its going to be the biggest and best yet. The venue is Central Hall, Westminster and the exhibition runs from 19 September to 1 October.    If you haven't submitted works but would like to see what can be achieved with this versatile medium why not have a day out in London to view the exhibition - or book yourself on to one of the workshops.

The UKCPS will be staging two exhibitions during the event - its Annual Open International Exhibition for works completed totally in coloured pencil and a separate exhibition for works showing innovative and imaginative use of coloured pencil with other media (the main medium must still be coloured pencil).   Throughout the event there will be demonstrations, 'Have a Go' area, silent auction and Children's trail, together with the best series of coloured pencil workshops ever held in Europe – details and booking at
> www.ukcps.co.uk

This isn't one I submitted to the exhibition, but I was sorting through old photos and came across a folder containing about 50 photos I took of two beautiful Vizslas I was commissioned to draw as a 40th birthday present. This is Tisca completed in coloured pencil.

I'm currently working on a 'human' portrait in coloured pencil but I haven't asked for permission to show progress pics so can't post at the moment.

30/06: WHAT DOES YOUR ARTIST STATEMENT SAY ABOUT YOU?

2011-06-30T11:14:00.001+01:00

Intrigued?

I visited the Turner Contemporary Gallery which opened recently in nearby Margate (cost £17.5million). Despite studying the Artist Statements and copious notes provided to explain the exhibits I came away non-the-wiser. I just 'don't get' most contemporary art - I didn't even understand most of the Statements.

I came to the conclusion therefore that I'll never be able to write my own 'Artist Statement' so am indebted to web designer, Joke de Winter, and David James Ross, for their tongue-in-cheek Artist Statement Generator.

WARNING! Please be aware there is a 'naughty word' in the heading which I'm unable to change so don't look at the site if you are easily offended.

Their site:

INSTANT ARTIST STATEMENT

29/06: A PORTRAIT OF ANGEL

2011-06-29T20:43:00.002+01:00

I had intended to post some Carnival photos tonight but I'm tired ...... on Wednesdays David and I work as volunteers at the eBay office of the Pilgrims Hospice Charity (actually David works there Wednesdays and Fridays). There are 23 Pilgrims Hospice Charity shops in Kent, staffed by volunteers, selling items donated by the public to help fund the £9million required annually to run 3 Hospices. Items in the charity shops tend to be sold at low prices so shop volunteers are encouraged to identify 'better quality' goods which can be marketed to a worldwide audience via eBay. That's where we come in .... at the eBay office we photograph, describe and list the items and usually realise much better prices for the charity than can be achieved in the shops. Its interesting and great fun - and of course its for a brilliant cause. It is quite intensive and tiring though as its essential to ensure we don't list 'fake' items or faulty goods etc.

Anyway, here's a photo of a portrait I completed recently of a beautiful German Shepherd belonging to Maria from Casa Manolo's restaurant in Corralejo, Fuerteventura. The dog's name is Angel (pronounced ahn-hel in Spanish) and is Maria's 'baby'

He was completed in pastels on Fisher 400 sanded paper.

28/06: NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED !

2011-06-28T21:26:00.001+01:00

I've been away for far too long and have probably missed lots of wonderful posts but its great to be back. On doctor's orders I had to severely cut back on computer/keyboard time and drawing at my desk. Working at an easel was fine for pastel work but for coloured pencil work which takes much longer I prefer to sit/work at my desk (which aggravated the trapped nerve/shoulder problems)

But I feel soooo much better now and have lots of work to catch up on.

Very belatedly, here's a photo of Fluffy sitting next to her portrait - this was kindly sent to me by Fluffy's mum some time ago ..... but better late than never!

Lots of things have happened since my last post - including the annual carnival at our (second)hometown of Corralejo on Fuerteventura which is always an exciting week. I took lots of photos and will post some tomorrow. During our trip to Fuerteventura we also visited the Zoo/Botanical Gardens ... we've had a holiday home on the island for 7 years but have never before visited this attraction. I have mixed feelings about keeping animals in zoos, but must say that I was really impressed with the beautiful surroundings and well thought out enclosures the animals lived in. I took nearly 600 photos there and have lots of reference pictures on my 'to do' list.

08/04: FANCY BEING FAMOUS?

2011-04-08T18:26:00.000+01:00

Apologies for absence ..... this is partly due to continuing spine/nerve problems with my neck and arm which finally drove me to obey doctor's instructions not to drive/draw or use the computer for a while. This wasn't too difficult as we were on holiday at our home on Fuerteventura - however, I'm back home and bored. I will be back at the drawing board on Monday as I have a couple of commission deadlines looming.

In the meantime .... all you pet loving couples out there may be interested to know about a new primetime comedy panel show which is being planned by Endemol (responsible for Big Brother amongst other programmes). This is what they wrote to me:

Hi Sue,

We are looking for fun pet-owning couples who are very much in love, but have an ongoing tiff or dispute that they want resolved, once and for all! It doesn’t matter how small or ridiculous the issue may be – it could be an annoying habit, a strange hobby, or something silly that they just always argue about, perhaps their pets.

Our celebrity comedy panel will watch each couple in action, listen to both sides of the story, and then ultimately decide who they think is right, and who is wrong. This is the chance to finally get your own way on an issue that’s been driving you mad!

We filmed a pilot of this show earlier in the year, and our comedians included Jack Dee, Jo Brand and Sarah Millican.

After looking at your site and looking at some of your work with pets, It would be great if you could place this information onto your website or include it in your newsletter or members’ mailing list, as this might be perfect for some of your customers. Or if you know anyone personally you could recommend that would be great as well.

Do let me know if you require any further information. I have also attached the below details as a flyer.

Best wishes,

Daniel

I couldn't find a way to upload the flyer onto my Blog so if anybody is interested in applying - or wants to nominate friends (!!) click on the link below which will take you to the flyer (via my website) and shows contact email and telephone details. Do let me know if you decide to go for it ....

Click here

11/03: SURPRISE SURPRISE !!!

2011-03-11T19:35:00.000Z

On Wednesday afternoon I got the opportunity to meet 'Fluffy's Mum' when she was driven to our house by husband Terry to collect the portrait which he had commissioned as a surprise birthday present.

Terry wanted the portrait to be presented as part of a week long birthday celebration which he has organised. He was very good at keeping the portrait a secret and poor Alexandra was quite bewildered to be driven to a house in Whitstable, told to brush her hair before leaving the car and then being introduced to a total stranger!

Terry had also arranged to have a beautiful oak frame made which complemented the picture beautifully and matched their furniture at home - what a very organised hubby!!

Here's a photo - I do wish I'd have taken it in a tidier area of the house - please ignore the background which is the 'odds & sods' area of my workroom. If I was more au fait with photo manipulation packages I could probably remove the offending bits ..... but this is real life!

Cheers Alexandra .... I hope you had a wonderful week!

11/03: CATCH UP TIME

2011-03-11T19:05:00.000Z

Firstly a huge thank you for all the lovely messages I've had over the last few days (both via the Blog and by email) - you're a lovely bunch of people

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself this morning and then read your messages ..... and then started following the news about the dreadful events in Japan and I felt ashamed of myself!

I have much more movement in my left arm now but still get constant aches/pins & needles. I'm just impatient to get back to normal (whatever that is).

I was told by my chiropractor not to sit at the computer, or to draw, for a few weeks and I disobeyed him. I paid the price by spoiling a portrait I was working on and having to re-start it. So I'm going to be good now. We go back to our holiday home on Fuerteventura on Wednesday so I'm sure I'll feel more cheerful once I see the sun again :o). I have commissions to get on with immediately on my return so I'll be back at the drawing board and posting regularly again then .