OK! Just uploaded my first set of work for assignment 1 of my college course, so now begins the wait for the critique feedback.  In the meantime I have a couple of new pieces to start.  The first is a Springer Spaniel called Cassie:

This is a commission by a friend of Cassies owner who wants it as a Christmas pressie ;0)

The second is of a little boy called Elliot which will be my first human portrait for some years, so I'm looking forward to starting that one.

Busy, busy, busy!

Blimey it's busy!
I've just come back from a weekend exhibition of my husband, John's work in Olympia and my nose is firmly back to the grindstone.
Just finished a commission of Pip, he's a Burmese Blue.  His Mum loves his quirky ears, so I had to make sure that they were captured just right.

Still Life assignments

I was taken back to my art college days with the first assignment for my Pet Portraiture diploma.  Three pieces are required, 2 of which are still life subjects.  Here are my pieces:

I loved doing this exercise, I think i was the challenge of rendering the different textures that made it interesting, particularly in Still Life#2.

The last piece is  one prescribed by the college, so for copywright reasons I can't show that here, but I'll post up the feedback from these pieces when I recieve it.

Exciting news part 2!

I have just enrolled on the Pet Portraiture diploma course run by the London Art College.  It's a 12 month course, although I think the pace of your work will ultimately dictate the length of the course, and is distance learning.
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in as the content looks fab.  I'm used to distance learning with the Open University for business and computing courses, so doing something art related is a real welcome change!
Right I'm off to find some still life in the kitchen...
Click here to see courses from the London art college http://www.londonartcollege.co.uk/

Exciting news part 1!

The Fellowship of Professional and Amateur artists will be holding an Open exhibition at  the Wellingborough Museum 7th - 14th Nov. I have entered 4 pieces and 3 have been selected for the exhibition!  I'm so thrilled.  The preview evening will be Friday 6th Nov.  Click here for more details of the exhibition http://www.fpaa.co.uk/.

Society memberships

I think one of the best ways to network and pick up tips, tricks and new ideas is to join an art group or artist's society. 

Elvis has left the drawing board!

Despite the studying I did manage to finish this portrait of Elvis. He belongs to my hairdresser and is quite a striking horse.

This was the first horse portrait I have done and I really enjoyed it. Loved trying to get the light just right.

Hello and welcome to my blog.

This is my first ever blog and I'm quite excited!

I have recently launched my new website and when I first thought about adding a blog I wondered what I could possibly say...but that soon passed ;0)

So I'm gonna jump right in with this week...It's only Wednesday and it's been so busy already.

I'm in my last year of an Open University course (BSc Hons open degree) and yesterday saw my penultimate exam, so up until yesterday my art has taken a back seat, but now I'm all set to increase my portfolio.