12/02: MOLLY - WORK IN PROGRESS

Change of plan!!

It was so sunny and bright this morning I decided to work on the portrait of the black spaniel, Molly, instead of continuing work on Meg. I find black fur/hair the hardest to work on in poor light - hence my decision.

Although it may not be evident from these photos, I have incorporated lots of blues, greens and reds into Molly's coat to help 'lift' the colour. Black pastel used alone would give a very 'flat' and unrealistic effect.

Needless to say, after just a couple of hours the weather took a turn for the worse and the light disappeared.

I continued to add base colour, blocking in the most obvious areas of light and dark. Because the reference photo was taken in bright sunlight, there are a lot of shadows cast.

After another couple of hours:

and this is where I finished for the day. These photographs are taken fairly 'close up' so they are a little 'warts & all' - pastels are always better viewed from a distance I think :o)

I did take another photo of Meg's portrait this morning, whilst the light was better and this is pretty accurate colour-wise:

I will leave the portraits of Meg and Molly to one side for the weekend and come back to them with fresh eyes next week. It will also give my fingers time to heal. I like to blend pastels with my fingers but this sanded paper isn't kind and if not careful I end up with shredded fingertips (ouchy stumps as a friend calls them). I can't risk spilling blood on the pictures !!

12/02: THE BEST LAID PLANS ........

Well, we set off at 7am yesterday for the half hour journey to the Ferry port at Dover - we were booked on the 8.30am crossing to Calais.

As we approached Dover on the A2 motorway everything ground to a halt. We were fortunate (?) in that we were close to the front of the queue that rapidly formed. To cut a long story short ... after 90 minutes a troop of scottish soldiers (don't know which regiment unfortunately) jogged along the road to assess the situation. Their vehicle was way back in the queue but they expertly diverted it onto the opposite carriageway and drove (the wrong way up the motorway) and dragged away a lorry that had jackknifed and was blocking the road. Unfortunately, we then found out that other accidents along the way still meant the route to Dover was blocked but it did enable us to turn off onto a side road and risk a 'scenic' route to the Port. We got through ... but I think our minor road got blocked soon after as we heard some people spent more than 3 hours in the queue.

Listening to the local radio station, we learned that their traffic reporter was held up in the same queue. Then we saw a man get out of the car in front of us holding a very large camera/video and start to film the scene. So we sat up and smiled a lot (as you do) and I've heard from a friend that we featured on the local TV news!! Obviously we missed that .. but in the following video from the BBC News website our car is shown at the very end of the film - a black Nissan Qashqai A5 DPC. So, could this be our 5 mins of fame that everybody is entitled to??  I'm pleased to say that our car isn't the one shown upside down in a snowdrift (at the beginning of the video)


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8509871.stm

We eventually arrived at the Port at 10am to find our 8.30 ferry hadn't departed - so we didn't miss it (??) We decided to carry on with our planned daytrip anyway and I'm pleased to say we eventually got to Calais at about 1.30pm. We'd abandoned our plans to have a nice meal in Bruges and ate on the ferry to save time (why else would you eat on the ferry)? As its only one hour's drive to Bruges we arrived in time to have a whistle-stop tour. I knew it was off-season so the boat tours weren't running, but I had hoped to take a horse-driven tour ... but we didn't see any carriages so just had a brisk walk round to get a feel for the place.  I couldn't believe how many restaurants and bars there were - obviously the town gets very busy with tourists.   As could be expected, there are lots of shops selling beautiful home made chocolates - they are so beautifully presented (and expensive) ..... but I don't really like chocolate so was able to resist :o)    The light wasn't good for taking photos but, from the little we saw, I'm certain its a place we'll visit again in the Summer.

Bruges had less snowfall than we had ... but it was VERY cold - as you can see from one of the statues in the Market Square

These are the views I wanted to see ... and I now know that we'll be going back in warmer weather to see more of the place when the trees are in leaf and the sun is shining

and the good news is ....... we still had time to do some shopping for 'essential supplies'  in France on the way home ... so we've replenished the wine stock!  

Cheers!!

11/02: BRUGES, SNOW AND MOLLY

Today David and I are supposed to be going to Bruges. Its a place I've wanted to visit for some time, really just to explore the Canals and wander around the old Streets. I know it is sometimes referred to as the Vienna of the North but have heard mixed reviews and I'd like to experience it for myself and see whether its a location I'd like to visit when the weather is nicer in the Summer months.

P and O Ferries are offering the return crossing to Calais from Dover for just £19 - and that includes 6 free bottles of wine - so realistically the crossing is a freebie!

However, yesterday's snow continued throughout the night and it looks to be pretty deep in places outside, particularly where the snow has drifted in the high winds. We both woke up early and have been checking the weather forecast and Port of Dover travel sites (no information there though)! So we are going to chance it and hope that a) the roads are clear enough for us to get to Dover and b)the ferries are running.

If we don't make it, I'll be back at the drawing board by mid morning :o)

This is the very sketchy outline of the black spaniel, Molly which I drew last night. I wanted to capture the pose and block in some of the darkest shadow areas. This won't be straightforward as I'll be working from several reference photos but now I've made a start I look forward to working on it properly in a few days' time.

10/02: MEG - WORK IN PROGRESS

I've been beaten by poor light I'm afraid. I have two daylight bulb lamps working and the overhead lights but am struggling to see the colours of my pencils properly.

The snow is settling here and looks as though it is going to last for a while longer yet - its very dark outside.

We are supposed to be going to Bruges tomorrow so just hope the wind dies down a little or it will be a very choppy ferry crossing to Calais :o)

I will continue to work on Meg on Friday. In the meantime I'll draft out the outline for Molly's portrait which will be based on the photograph I posted a couple of days ago. The detail will be obtained from more recent photos supplied by Molly's owner.

Again, apologies for the poor photos. I've tried various camera settings but there's no substitute for good natural light is there? Fingers crossed that the weather will be kinder/brighter on Friday.

10/02: MEG - SPANIEL IN PASTEL. WIP

As I explained to Meg's owner yesterday, I don't usually show clients the early stages of my portraits as they go through such an 'ugly' stage at first :o)

I'm using a variety of pastel pencils for this portrait - mainly Conte, Carbothello, Faber-Castell and Derwent on Fisher 400 sanded paper. When using Fisher 400 I like to get down a base layer of colour pretty much all over and then build up detail on top. So ... this is very much a 'don't do as I do, do as I say' progress report ... I know that conventionally I'm supposed to work from left to right, finishing one small area at a time - and I do that when working on less 'toothy' papers.

The weather here is doing all sorts of funny things ... bright sunshine, followed by snow showers and grey clouds - so I've been up and down like a yo-yo switching the overhead lights and my daylight lamps on and off. As a result, the photos aren't very consistent. Probably the truest is the first photo here - the Fisher 400 paper is a light sandy colour.

Here, I've basically outlined Meg and, as usual, started with her eyes

More base colours added here, and I've drawn in her nose. This was photographed with flash camera last night


Meg has so many beautiful, delicate colours showing in her coat so I'm using lots of pinks/violets/creams and light browns at this stage. I can't confirm the exact colours as, unlike coloured pencils, many of the pastels are numbered rather than named.

10/02: I'VE REACHED 'THE TON' - OR HAVE I?

According to the message on my Blog's 'Dashboard' this is my 100th post - yeaaahh!! However, the list of archived posts on the right side of my Blog's front page has counted/listed only 87 (including this post) since I became a blogger last July. It doesn't take much to confuse me these days and things like this worry me. Does anyone else have a similar discrepancy, or an answer to the puzzle?




Now I'm even more confused ... its about 30 minutes since I published this post and now the archived numbers agree with the Dashboard numbers ... its all tooo much for me !!

09/02: CAT IN COLOURED PENCILS - PROGRESS

Whilst waiting for my client's feedback re. the young boy's portrait, I spent a little more time working on the cat picture. I find it very therapeutic having a few pieces like this in the background so I can pick them up as and when I have time to work on them. I didn't want to clear the coloured pencils away in favour of pastels till I knew whether more work was required on Elliott's picture.

I was ridiculously indecisive about the colour and style of the cushion here. The 'real' cushion pad (from my 'studio' chair) is a chequered pattern in pastel colours - but I didn't want to draw anything that complicated. In the end I settled for this ..... still not sure if the cat will remain as a sandy/ginger colour but that's the beauty of a 'fun' piece ... I'll just play it by ear.

I had an email tonight from the lady who is owned by Molly and Meg (the two lovely spaniels I wrote about recently). I'm pleased to confirm that I have made a start on the portrait of Meg and will be posting some progress pictures tomorrow.

It always surprises me when I learn that people actually read my blog .... and I thought I was just talking to myself all this time !!!

09/02: YOUNG BOY IN COLOURED PENCIL

Before starting work on the spaniels (pastels) I decided I would complete this portrait in coloured pencil and then clear the decks ready for the 'dirty' stuff

I don't often accept commissions for 'human subjects' in coloured pencil, unless the reference photos are really clear. Skin and hair colouring can vary so much from photo to photo, particularly if I have to combine subjects from more than one reference picture, that it would be a nightmare. I prefer to 'play safe' and use graphite... but this is one of the exceptions. Elliot's Mum emailed two very clear photos which I was happy to use as references for this portrait.

With coloured pencil artwork I like to use Fabriano Artistico 5 paper as the support but Elliott's hair is so light I felt it wouldn't show up well on a white background and I started by colouring the background. I added some basic detail and then, as usual, drew in the eyes to add some personality.



His complexion is very light and in the references I can see lots of blue, pink and mauve shades. I've built the layers up gradually using VERY sharp pencils then polishing each layer and blotting with Blu Tack so that the pencils sort of stain the paper rather than building up a waxy sheen.



I have now added as many colours as needed and its time to blend the skin colours using a white pencil. The background shadow is also too intense and needs toning down



At this stage I called a halt to the drawing


!!


Here it is photographed with the mount I have selected as I believe it complements Elliott's hair colour. Of course, the client may not agree with my choice and select a different colour/style when she has the picture framed :o)


I find it very hard to get good photographs of my work whilst we are having such gloomy weather - but my scanner can only cope with A4 sized pictures and most of my work is larger than this. Anyway, I'm very pleased to say that the portrait has been approved and so it will be despatched via Royal Mail Special Delivery tomorrow.

04/02: BACK HOME

We flew back home yesterday afternoon to grey sky, drizzle and temperatures 20 degrees lower than those we left at our home in the Canaries BRRRRRR

Today has been spent catching up with correspondence and emails and generally acclimatizing. I really have to get cracking on the pictures tomorrow as I have two beautiful spaniels, a sheepdog and a young boy to complete by the end of February.

These are the main references I will work from for the Spaniels. The picture of the black dog is a scan showing her as a young dog and I will need to refer to more recent photos of her to fill in the missing detail (omitting the grey hairs) :o) These will be drawn in pastel.

16/01: JUST CHECKING IN

Despite a couple of false starts because of the snow and airport closures, we eventually managed to fly to our home in Fuerteventura (Canaries) on Saturday evening. It was bliss to escape the snow (much as I love looking at it, the practicalities get a bit boring after a few days).

This is a working holiday and I´m pleased at the progress we´ve made so far. One bedroom has been totally repainted and new lampshades/bedding installed. The lounge is 95% repainted so a few more hours tomorrow should see it finished. We plan to redecorate one more bedroom and the outside porch area ... then we´ll pay a professional to tile the walls in our back garden/pool area. They are currently painted but, because of the weird plaster mix used by the Fuerteventurian builders, the plaster on all exterior walls continuously bubbles and ´blows´. Every year, I rub the walls down and repaint them and its becoming a boring, expensive task. So we´ll bite the bullet and pay someone to fix the problem permanently (we hope)!!

Then I hope we can enjoy the next two weeks just relaxing and recharging the batteries. I´ve got a lot of work lined up when we get back and I´m already missing my pencils and can´t wait to make a start. I´ve got some graphite pencils here with me and made a start on a double ´people´portrait which is required for end March .... I should have that finished by end next week if the decorating schedule goes to plan.

Hope everyone at home is coping well with the snow :0) .... thankfully we have none of that here - although it isn´t quite as sunny as expected. It has been cloudy for the last few days but the temperature is still mid to high 70s (in the shade) so I´m definitely not complaining.

08/01: CAT IN COLOURED PENCIL - WIP

I'm really making this one up as I go along.  He is actually a tabby  but I thought I'd make him sandy/ginger coloured.  Who knows, he may end up tortoiseshell colour at this rate.    I'm really just killing time till we know what is happening at the airport tomorrow.      Will we be celebrating at 'Sirena' our favourite beach bar in Corralejo, Fuerteventura tomorrow evening or will we be back in frozen Tankerton warming up the fatballs in the bird feeders?  I've just finished reading an article on the BBC website which suggests that this harsh Winter will be a killer for many UK wildlife animals and birds - I do hope not  :o(

Anyway, here he is ... I've been trying to think of a title for the picture.  Originally it was going to be 'Peeping Tom' but I ended up drawing more body than intended - he's crawling out from under my fleecy top which is hanging on a chair back.   'Undercover Cat' maybe? Any ideas?

08/01: IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM ......

We've had another heavy snowfall in the early hours today so we decided to walk down to the beach and watch the fun as kids (of all ages) took advantage of the icy Tankerton Slopes to test their tobogganing skills. No matter if they didn't own a 'traditional' toboggan - a lot of imagination and initiative had been used .... some worked better than others:

Being towed on the 'baby slopes - fun for all the family

If you can't find anything else - try using a sheet of polythene or plastic:

The milk crate wasn't very successful

But the Lilo worked very well - fastest thing on the slopes I think.

Specially adapted road signs - Diversion and Men at Work!! Don't think that will go down well with the authorities though!

and even the roof from a Wendy Play House - they managed to pack 5 lads into this and it worked pretty well for them

and it wasn't just the two legged 'children' having fun today:

07/01: STILL HERE!

The title applies to us, and the snow.

We didn't get away as planned yesterday as Gatwick airport remained closed for most of the day. 400 flights were cancelled yesterday and 136 today - so we aren't alone in having our travel plans overthrown.

We have booked new flights for Saturday morning - this time leaving from Stansted airport.  Sooooo fingers crossed we'll have more success then.

With our cases packed and sitting in the hallway, I haven't felt motivated to start any of the commission work as I keep getting sidetracked checking weather forecasts etc., I have been working on a coloured pencil cat picture which is easy to pick up and put down as the mood takes me.   I haven't been keeping track of the time spent on the drawing so far but would guesstimate it to be about 5 hours at this stage - that's to sketch out the image and work on the folds in the material etc.   I have spent another 3 hours on the drawing today but haven't photographed the latest version yet.

06/01: I'VE CHANGED MY MIND!!

I no longer want snow .... send it away pleeeeeease!!! We should be flying to our house on Fuerteventura (Canaries) today but the runway at Gatwick has been shut since last night because of heavy snowfall. The snow at home in Whitstable has stopped now but more is forecast for this afternoon and evening.

Gatwick's website advises all travellers to check with their respective airlines re. flight delays/cancellations etc. Great!! Our airline, Viking, has an answerphone system. I've left two messages now and nobody has returned my calls ... so do we set out and brave the snowy roads on the offchance our flight will take off as scheduled? We should be flying at 1645 hours so there's a chance the runway may be cleared by then but of course we don't know if the plane will have arrived on its inwards journey.

To rub salt in the wounds - I'm listening to HOTFM.CANARY radio station on my computer - its the local radio station in Corralejo and we know all the DJs as friends. Although they had a rain shower this morning, they have just announced the news and weather and local temperatures are still 24degrees warmer in Corralejo than in Kent ... can't wait to see the sun again.

This is going to be a working holiday (albeit in the sun). We plan to paint all the downstairs rooms in the house and I am taking my graphite pencils with me to work on a double 'people' portrait. It is too complicated to take pastels or coloured pencils with me so my coloured commissions will be priority when I get home. Next up are two beautiful spaniels (separate portraits), a young boy and a grey horse. I'm still awaiting contact from the recipients of two gift vouchers so I shall be busy through February/March. I really hope to find time to work on a coloured pencil piece for entry to this year's UK Coloured Pencil Society's exhibition in the Spring.

Anyway .... assuming we do fly off sometime in the next day or so, I won't be posting much on my blog whilst away as internet access is limited. but I'll be back :o)

04/01: EURODISNEY

I finally downloaded my Disney pictures from the camera. Because of the wet/snowy/cold weather I found myself photographing my fellow visitors rather than the Disney stars. Uncle Walt kindly positions a handy shop every 100 yards or so ... and he was doing an amazing trade in furry hats and minnie mouse ears, and of course the traditional wet weather plastic macs (condoms as we preferred to call them). Most of my photos seem to feature people dressed in outfits they'd never dream of wearing outside the Disney set up :o) but I've saved those pictures for another day. Here are some of the more boring ones ...

SPOT THE IMPOSTER!

The next two photos are from a selection showing the illuminated Parade. For some reason most of our fellow tourists stayed at ground level and had to battle to get a view of the wonderful floats. We found a relatively empty verandah on the second storey of the train station which gave us a great aerial viewing point of the procession.

Don't ask!!! We sampled a lot of the rides but this started out as a joke ride and ended up being one of the fastest! The cars are kind of dodgems but are 'choreographed' and they spin round narrowly avoiding each other. The ride is really meant for 'little people' but somehow we squeezed ourselves into the seats but it seemed that our car reacted badly to the additional weight ... it carried on spinning round and round after all the others had stopped. I had visions of clambering out of the car and falling flat on my face in front of hundreds of children !! We all got out safely though. David didn't join us for this one - he took the photos!

As the 'magic hour' approached everybody was jostling for pole position on the 'main strip' towards the Magic Castle, where the fireworks were to be let off. But we had a cunning plan .... my friend Jenni had spotted a deserted childrens playground, disguised as a pirate ship on a lake. We headed for that and climbed the rope ladder to the upper decks where we had a brilliant view of the fireworks and we had the whole place to ourselves. I'm not good at photographing fireworks but have shown a couple of pictures just to give a very poor idea of how brilliant the display was. From our vantage point the fireworks were reflected in the water of 'our lake' so the effect was even better.

04/01: SNOW YEAAAAAAYYHH!!

At last ... we've had enough snow to cover the grass! I realise this probably looks a very 'girlie' coverage compared to snowfall in the rest of the country - but I'm excited anyway!

Here's one of the fruit trees in our back garden (which still has some apples attached despite all the windy weather last month and the frost/snow now - frozen apple lollies? perhaps I should try one later). I've just thrown out some bread for the blackbirds and replenished all the fat ball holders and the blue tits and sparrows have been having a party this morning :o)

This is the driveway from our house - complete with wheelie bin tracks. Our drive is too narrow/winding for the dustcart to negotiate so we have to drag the bin down to the main lane each week - bit of a pain when the weather is bad, but I do like the fact that our house is tucked away and very private

This is the 'business end' of the house with 'his and her' rooms - my art room/studio on the left of the picture and his office on the right - in fact you can just make out David's silhouette through the blinds - huddled over his computer!

03/01: FIRST POST OF THE NEW YEAR

Can't believe its 2010 ... We saw in the New Year with friends, Ian and Jenni at Euro Disney, and spent New Years Day wandering around Paris - we just got home last night. 15 hour days at DisneyWorld in the rain/snow freezing wind did test the stamina a bit - but we found plenty of 'watering holes' along the way! The fireworks at midnight on New Years Eve were just fantastic (who'd expect anything else of 'Uncle Walt' though). We found a perfect vantage point, away from all the crowds - by climbing into the 'crows nest' of a pirate ship in the deserted children's playground. Despite having a combined age of 225 (!!!) we managed to scramble up the rigging without injury :o) I didn't take many photos, and haven't downloaded them yet but I don't expect to have any 'gems' there as the cold weather made it preferable to keep hands firmly in pockets for warmth rather than fiddling with camera settings.

Anyway, Here's a picture I believe its safe to post now as it should have been presented for Christmas. I've drawn this client's beautiful Boxer recently, and his daughter's terrier. These are his Grandchildren drawn in graphite. I have another couple of 'human portraits' completed at the end of last year but not sure whether its 'safe' to show them yet as one was a birthday and one an anniversary present:

29/12: COUGHS & SNEEZES

Hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year celebrations!   David and I are a bit 'Bah Humbuggish' and don't like all the hype surrounding modern day Christmas so we always try to do our own thing on Christmas Day - then we give in and do the 'traditional' thing with family on Boxing Day.

On Christmas Day this year we drove to Green Lanes, Harringay in London where it is 'business as usual' as the population there is largely non-Christian.  We had a Turkish meze type meal and drove/toured around the Capital for a while just looking at the sights - the roads are so much quieter on Christmas Day :o)   We stopped off at a friends house on the way home for champagne and nibbles ... it was a lovely day!

We've both got colds so the house is echoing with coughs and sneezes .... we're desperately trying to shake them off as we leave for Paris tomorrow - we're going to Disney with friends to see in the New Year.  I'm looking forward to the fireworks and just hope the weather will be kind to us - the forecasters predict rain (but what do they know)?  

I haven't been neglecting my drawing, but I'm struggling a bit with the latest works - I'm blaming the cold which is making concentration difficult!

I'd set aside this time to do some 'me artwork' with coloured pencils as they've been a bit neglected in the run up to Christmas when most of my commissions were finished in graphite or pastel.   Coloured pencils are much cleaner to use than pastels but much more time consuming  and I haven't made much progress. 

Here's one I've been working on - I photographed the tiger last year at a Big Cat sanctuary in Kent (I attended a one-day pastel/velour tutorial with Vic Bearcroft).   Drawing this on black paper may have been a mistake - the paper colour affected the pencil colours quite dramatically - yellows looked green, white looked grey etc., and I had to use some pretty garish colours to obtain the vibrancy I was aiming for.   It isn't quite finished and I'll leave it till after the holiday to decide whether to proceed or bin it .....
 

CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT ORDERS

Horrible thought I know, but Christmas really is looming.
At at today (4 September) I cannot accept any more orders for pre-christmas delivery. I have left a gap in my schedule to accommodate portraits for the recipients of 2 gift vouchers who might wish to redeem them before Christmas. Once I've heard from these clients I may be able to slot in another picture or two but I'm erring on the side of caution.

A Portrait Gift Voucher makes an unusual and welcome gift and allows the recipient to submit favourite photograph(s) at their leisure in the New Year. An added bonus is that I include the cost for p&p (normally £8)in my Gift Vouchers - for no additional cost to the purchaser

the portrait in the Xmas decoration above is Ben - a Keeshond (Dutch Barge Dog) I had the pleasure of drawing in January 2009)

24/12: MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well it won't be long now ......... I'd just like to thank all my friends and followers for keeping me company on my blogging voyage of discovery - technology isn't my forte and its been a huge learning curve but great fun!

Merry Christmas everybody and I hope 2010 will be a happy, healthy and successful one for us all.

Oh and don't forget to track Santa's journey across the World tonight  - I did it last year and its great fun. He sets off at about 11pm tonight (GMT) Here's the link.  Be sure to click on the headers to find out how Norad track Santa via radar and satellite - it has something to do with the infrared signals given off by Rudolph's red nose !!  honest!!


Norad TRACK SANTA'S JOURNEY