All gone quiet

No painting at the moment. Spending time catching up with all the things I should have been doing when I was painting and then exhibiting! Also studio is a complete mess with all equipment I was using piled near the desk instead of where it should be. Rather a long, tedious job, as, being in the eaves of the house, there isn't much wall space to store stuff, so it tends to move out into the room rather a lot.

Also trying to work out where framed paintings left from the exhibitions can fit in the house. Just managed to put up the ones of Amber and Shadow (present female golden retriever/red setter cross and sadly departed female flat-coat retriever). They've been sitting upstairs for a while and now have a major place on the stairs in the hallway.

"Amber"
Ink and soft pastel

This painting was done for my degree course I was on - part of the module was to sketch animals and having two dogs lying around the house made the exercise much simpler. The acrylic ink I normally use is much too vibrant for this type of subject, but luckily I have a lot of calligraphy ink sitting around from when I did more pen work. The "nut brown" was a great underlay, using it as a wash underneath and then adding the pastel on top. One of my daughters has said I really capture her - by putting the mad eyebrows (seen on the top left)! They definitely give her character....

 

 "Shadow"

Graphitint pencils

This was done quite a long time ago and then put in my plan chest with a view to framing. Typically other things got in the way and I didn't get round to doing it for ages. The image has been used as my avatar on a few sites.

Took ages to do, but graphitint pencils are excellent colours for doing a black dog. Obviously used water to make a wash underneath and then came back with more pencil work on top. When the light shone on her, one could see blue and also liver colour (must be a throw-back to a previous generation, as you can get liver-coloured flat-coats).

Luckily I have now got both framed in the same wood and they look great on the wall. Needless to say, these will never be sold, as they are too close to my heart!

Now all I have to do is Benson (present male flat-coat) and Gemma (first dog - golden retriever). Benson is a problem, as whenever I try to take a photo be puts his head immediately in front of the lens, making it a comic photo, rather than a good one for a portrait - oh well, one day.... Already tried Gemma in watercolour. However, that was many moons ago and I have definitely improved in technique since then, so will try again, as I know I can do better.

Also been "commissioned" by husband to do a couple more pastel paintings. Found a home for the O'Keeffe Lily and the Laurel Berries, but could do with at least one (if not two) more in the same size and style of the O'Keeffe one to end up as a series on one wall.

Better get sorting that room out, so I can get started....