On Wednesday evening we returned to the UK after 5 weeks at our home in the Canaries. The weather has been strange there - it really hasn't settled into the Canarian Summer you'd expect by end April. In fact, the temperatures in England have been higher than the Canaries on many days. But we had a great time.
We have a really busy 3½ weeks here before we travel to Kenya to celebrate my (21st) birthday doing a 3-camp safari. Well part of that is true anyway!
I made a start on a portrait of a Yorkie (Chico) which I need to take back to the Canaries in July. I photographed the dog myself but in my photos he appears lighter in colour than how I perceive him in real life so I'm a bit torn ... do I darken the coat or leave it alone? This is the result of a few hours yesterday and today using pastels on pastelmat. I work mostly in coloured pencil these days so it was a pleasure to get back to pastels which enable me to work much faster. Its a 'quick and nasty' photo as I'd lost the light by the time I remembered to take the picture.
He will be 'tweaked' over the next few days but I need a break from all that unruly hair/coat .. there's a bit of artistic license around the eyes as normally its impossible to see them because of his heavy fringe
This evening I dropped off a couple of pictures for inclusion in the Canterbury Society of Art's Exhibition at a local school in Whitstable. What a great idea to utilise the empty building whilst the kids are on half term. The school is in the centre of town and opens up its playground area as an overflow carpark during school holidays to generate income. We're hoping the footfall will be good as lots of people will use the car parking facility and its coming up to holiday season in 'fashionable' Whitstable. Sadly the forecast is for thunderstorms for the first few days which may inhibit visitors though.
We have a really busy 3½ weeks here before we travel to Kenya to celebrate my (21st) birthday doing a 3-camp safari. Well part of that is true anyway!
I made a start on a portrait of a Yorkie (Chico) which I need to take back to the Canaries in July. I photographed the dog myself but in my photos he appears lighter in colour than how I perceive him in real life so I'm a bit torn ... do I darken the coat or leave it alone? This is the result of a few hours yesterday and today using pastels on pastelmat. I work mostly in coloured pencil these days so it was a pleasure to get back to pastels which enable me to work much faster. Its a 'quick and nasty' photo as I'd lost the light by the time I remembered to take the picture.
He will be 'tweaked' over the next few days but I need a break from all that unruly hair/coat .. there's a bit of artistic license around the eyes as normally its impossible to see them because of his heavy fringe
This evening I dropped off a couple of pictures for inclusion in the Canterbury Society of Art's Exhibition at a local school in Whitstable. What a great idea to utilise the empty building whilst the kids are on half term. The school is in the centre of town and opens up its playground area as an overflow carpark during school holidays to generate income. We're hoping the footfall will be good as lots of people will use the car parking facility and its coming up to holiday season in 'fashionable' Whitstable. Sadly the forecast is for thunderstorms for the first few days which may inhibit visitors though.