On the Easel

poespoes3

2011-07-20T17:20:00.000+01:00

Poespoes is finished and will go to the framer today to have a mount put around it. Ready for transport to The Netherlands.

Poespoes2

2011-07-14T20:33:00.000+01:00

The next stage of my parents' cat. I think it looks already very much like her.

Poespoes

2011-07-13T19:08:00.000+01:00

I started yesterday with a very special painting. It's Poespoes, my parents cat. I know that my mum would love to have a painting done by me and it's her 89th birthday on the 26th of August.
The last year she is a bit in and out of hospital with heart problems. At the moment she's in again. Hopefully she will come home this Friday.

Sooooo. This painting will be for her.

Jack Russels 3

2011-07-04T20:59:00.001+01:00

Finished.
Up to the next painting.

Jack Russels 2

2011-06-22T21:14:00.001+01:00

I did a bit of tweaking. Putting the picture next to the painting always shows how accurate (or not) I've been. :-)

Bridie is finished for the moment. I will do the final touches when I have Padraic done too.

Jack Russels

2011-06-22T08:30:00.001+01:00

In the meantime I started the painting of two Jack Russels.

This is Bridie. I like her big ears. I made this picture while she was laying in a big dog house. She just had puppies, so I didn't want to separate and disturb her too much.

Wolfie 3

2011-06-09T19:14:00.000+01:00

I have gone very lightly with ultramarine blue over some dark areas and over the tip of the nose, before darken the black in the shadow parts to give the fur more depth. I also used a very pale green in the lighter parts of the eyes.

Wolfie 2

2011-06-06T10:52:00.000+01:00

The eyes are in! Once I've done the eyes the painting comes to live. Wondering where he (or she) is looking at...
I started to give the coat more colour with burnt umber, yellow ochre and for the high lights under the breast area some daring lemon yellow. The painting is coming along nicely.

2011-06-04T15:36:00.002+01:00

On the way home from shopping, I saw some lovely horses along the road side and having the camera, I of course had to stop to make some pictures. I'll use them for painting.

Wolfie

2011-05-31T19:36:00.001+01:00

As promised, here is the first picture of the wolf I have on the easel at the moment. I'm doing this one at the same time as I'm doing a Wolf from Vivien Walters. This is the tonal value after which I will start with raw sienna as first layer of colour.

All kind of stuff

2011-05-31T10:20:00.002+01:00

My big tiger painting came back from the framer last Friday and it makes quite an impact. I brought it to the Gallery on Saturday. I might see if it is do-able to have prints made from this one, although I have to get quotes first. It has to be an attractive price otherwise it's not worth doing it.

I started a wolf painting and will post my progress on here.

Ozzie finished

2011-05-23T10:45:00.002+01:00

I've finished Ozzies painting and will bring it to the framer today. I hope my friends likes it as much as I do.

Ozzie

2011-05-20T09:51:00.000+01:00

I started yesterday with Ozzies painting and it comes along fine. It's very special already although not finished yet. With the daylight on it it looks fluorescent.
he only real colour will be the blue of the head collar and lead rope. The painting is all about the softness of the horse and the connection with his handler and by using black, white and greys and no other colour than the blue it accentuates this.

Pigeon 3

2011-05-20T09:43:00.002+01:00

Disaster struck when I wanted to fixate the painting. Drops all over the painting beyond repair. Instead of my usual spray, I used a different one especially for pastels. Well. That one ended up in the bin too just like the painting. I was really very upset.

Pigeon 2

2011-05-11T17:48:00.001+01:00

Next fase of the Pigeon. I'm feeling rather pleased with the result so far. For the wings, I'm using pastel pencils. It's such fiddly work. For the body I use the Conté a Paris soft pastels.

The pigeon very much connects in with with the background. Exactly what I wanted.

Ozzie 1

2011-05-09T17:26:00.001+01:00

Meet Ozzie. The famous Irish Horsemanship Horse. The owner would like to have a sketchy painting like I did with Archie. I thought about doing it on black velour. It's just an idea. I have to work it out and see if it will work as a sketch.

Pigeon

2011-05-09T17:21:00.000+01:00

This will be my last attempt to paint a pigeon. Up till now they all ended up in the stove, but I have a good feeling with this one. I put a background in, something I don't do that often with my animals, but I think this one needs it.

Tiger 2 finished

2011-05-09T17:17:00.001+01:00

I brought it to the framer today. Hopefully I can collect it at the end of the week. Looking forward to see it in all its, framed, glory.

Tiger 2 part 3

2011-05-07T17:44:00.000+01:00

Getting to the final stages of this big girl. I had to buy a bigger backboard to hold the full sheet and now it looks even bigger. I think I'll have a wider mount and frame around it to balance the size of the painting.

tiger 2 part 2

2011-04-28T18:12:00.000+01:00

Actually it is part 3 of the tiger, but that doesn't matter. I omitted the rock on the left hand side for the minute. I will put it in, but I'm not sure what or how. Although being right handed, I prefer to work from right to left instead of left to right, which would be the normal way to do. Reason for this is because the right part is the more detailed part of the painting.

To get as many layers on the velour I blend a lot. Ashby pastels tend to come of the velour if I don't blend it.

I few more hours to go, but I think it will look great once it's finished.

Tiger 2

2011-04-18T16:14:00.001+01:00

And another pussycat. Bigger this time. 50 x 70cm. Ochre coloured velour.

Sumatra Tiger 2

2011-04-06T18:00:00.002+01:00

Finished. It was quite a challenge, my first ever big cat. Size of the painting unframed: 35 x 43cm

Sumatra Tiger

2011-04-06T14:41:00.000+01:00

I started my first tiger painting. It will probably be one of a series I will do of this beautiful animal. The Sumatra Tiger is the largest cat breed in the world. It's a wondefull animal and really enormous.

Award!

2011-03-29T11:46:00.000+01:00

Very proud of this. I still can't believe that I won. Had never expected this. Pastel Guild Europe March Competition.

Little grey Pony

2011-03-28T10:47:00.003+01:00

I did a sketch of a little grey pony. It's done in greys/black and white pastel. Despite it being a sketch, it's quite large. It measures 33 x 45 cm