We've called in a few decorators to quote for repainting the interior of our house. At 3 years old I hope the settlement cracks have finished appearing now and its time to get all the plaster/woodwork 'made good' and freshened up with a couple of coats of paint. David (bless) isn't a DIY person. I like decorating but just haven't got the time so .... we're just waiting now to receive the estimates so we can decide who we choose and when it can be done.
I haven't done any work on the 3 child portrait as I was sorting out the decorators ... actually if truth be known I had a pretty thorough house-cleaning session as well. Silly isn't it ... I wanted the house to be clean before the decorators saw it (must be more like my Mother than I thought) :o(
My client has seen the portrait at its current stage and made some suggestions regarding one of the children which I'll deal with tomorrow. At this stage I normally put a 'grid' on the picture to make sure I'm on track before adding more detail.
I do have another 'Big Cat' on the easel. Its a snow leopard - another large pastel so has to be segregated from the coloured pencil artwork to avoid dust contamination. I've done a bit of work on it today but will leave it alone for a few days till I finish the children.
I'll post more WIP photos tomorrow, but am in a hurry tonight as I'm going to a demonstration/talk by Chris Christoferou the Wildlife artist. I'm dragging David along tonight as I don't like driving in the dark these days - the talk is being held in a school about 20 minutes drive from home but its along fairly dark country lanes and my eyes don't like headlight glare. Actually I think David will enjoy it as I believe it will include hints about photography and composition etc.
These are the first stages. I'm making use of an old piece of Pastelmat on which for some reason I seem to have experimented with white pastel in the past - hence the big splodge ... the plan is that this will disappear in the leopard's dense fur later on. Its a fairly big piece at 20" x 16" to fit an old mount and frame I have at home. Whilst it is lovely to have a custom built frame for every picture the last one (tiger picture) cost around £75 so it makes a big impact on the selling price. Incidentally I should be picking the framed tiger picture up tomorrow!
Goodness me Sue you are turning them out like a production line. I seem to have slowed up recently.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I should get my pastels out again for a change.
Hi Pauline .. long time no speak :o)
ReplyDeleteI'm panicking a little as I've taken shared space at a local gallery in Whitstable Mid November and am worried I won't have enough original pieces to show. Originally I thought I'd just take a few of my many 'practice pieces' but some of them have seen 'better days' and could do with new mounts/frames.
Good on you panicking early! Here I am at the last minute wondering how on earth I'm going to get it all done and set up THIS EVENING! Arrrrgh!
ReplyDeleteGreat start on this one.
Good Luck Jan.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be fine ... its amazing what can be achieved once adrenaline (panic) sets in.
Now get on with it and stop reading Blogs !!