Thursday, September 29, 2011

Next Dog Commission

I have paused working on the horse portrait as I wait word from the client in regards to the background. In the mean time, I thought I'd share a few work in progress steps of one of my Christmas commissions. I've decided to use black sandpaper as a support for the pastel since the dog is mainly black. I love working light over dark and jump at the opportunity to do so.




Any guesses as to the breed? It is not a Lab.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Horse Pastel Painting update


In this step, I pretty much have completed the horse's neck and mane.  During the next sitting, I move on to the shoulder and leg area before adding the reins last.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Lesson in Horse Anatomy

Observation and understanding of the key underlying muscle, nerve and bone tissue can prove extremely useful when drawing horses. These structures easily show through the relatively thin skin and velvety short fur of these animals and the appearance will vary depending on the breed, age and stance of the horse. In this step, I continued building up color in the horse's neck and  began defining the major muscle groups that are so distinctive of equines.  You can also see the beginnings of the  highlights of the glossy sheen on the coat.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Weekend Workshop and Horse Portrait back on the easel

Workshop at the PAClubhouse
Beautiful work from the participants!
Last weekend I spent 2 days teaching a workshop demonstrating Graphite Pet Portraiture Techniques to members of the Porcupine Art Club in Timmins, Ontario. It was fun to meet artists old and new and judging from the results, it looked like everybody enjoyed themselves!  I look forward to traveling to Timmins again for yet another workshop...

 After a stint with a back problem,  I am back at the easel working on this gorgeous Appaloosa Portrait.  I am really enjoying painting the rich colors of his coat using my pastels; mostly Rembrandt's, Carbothello's and Nu Pastels.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Work in Progress Horse Pastel Painting

I am quite happy at how much I was able to accomplish today on this horse portrait. It seems that finding the right colors (pure or blended) is always the most difficult part of a painting, esp. when using pastels. I find it useful to write down or sort which pastels I use for a particular painting, or even a section of a painting.


Overdue update!

Feels like forever since my last post but so much has been going on here that I just did not have the time to update my blog. Business and personal life just kept getting in the way!
For starters, I just returned from a 20 day trip from USA and Eastern Canada. Our family and I traveled to Lake Placid, New York with the next stop being Bar Harbour, Maine were we visited spectacular Acadia National Park. While in Maine, I also had the opportunity to photograph native wildlife on a preserve while being up close to the animals. Being inside a wolf enclosure sure was an amazing experience and the poses I was able to capture will surely become some of my next painting projects. Bears, tigers, lynx, deer and moose were some of the other animals I was able to photograph at the preserve.  I have all the inspiration I need now!!
The second part of our trip, we returned to Canada and travelled to Nova Scotia and camped on the Bay of Fundy in Grand Pre. A good friend of ours was getting married so we had a whole week to explore the province! The highlight of that stay was probably photographing and filming the thousands of migratory plovers and sandpipers that feed off the rich invertebrates found in the mud of the Bay of Fundy. The most exciting moment was watching the swift (and rare!!)  peregrine falcons bomb diving the flock of birds in an attempt for a kill. Wow, these birds are fast!!
The trip home was exciting as well since we had to plow through the remnants of hurricane Irene...it seems it rained forever and the winds were so strong, swaying the truck and trailer at times so hard that it felt we were in a boat (and getting queasy)!  Oh, and I should mention the hydroplaning was an experience as well...I am thankful for hubby for being such a great driver!
Just before leaving for my trip, I completed another commission of a dog for a client in Newfoundland. This is a Shih Tzu nammed Hannah, 11x14, graphite on Fabriano paper.

And now that I am back, I was able to try out my new glass top drafting table and daylight lamp while I started working on my next commission of a horse (pastel on green suede).


I am happy to be back at the easel!!