It's all go again!

This year seems to be passing by in a sort of mini whirlwind!
....and it's nearly Christmas!

Well this last month has been one of tying up loose ends.
First of all John and I sat our final ever OU exam on 15th October and then spent the weekend away celebrating the end of 6 years of study!

Actually we went to Hunstanton and spent much of the time catching crabs off Cromer pier - what a laugh, it's you've never been crabbing I can highly recommend it.

So then I got the taste for finishing things.....

First you might recall the Mandarin ducks that I started at the beginning ofthe Summer - well here's the finished piece. 

This is one of the 3 pieces that I intend to submit for my art college penultimate exercise set.  I have only one more to go so I figured I'd better get that last piece on the move too.

It's a piece that expresses the personality of my little cat muse Amber, so this is the rough sketch:

Anyone who has been fortunate enough to become a member of staff to a British Blue will know that the old saying of cats is so fitting in this case:

"In ancient civilisations, cat's were once worshipped as Gods,
this is something they have never forgotten!"

Certainly true in Amber's case.  This will be a piece in oils, so watch this space...

Lastly, I was able to use some time at a cat show to finally finished a cute little portfolio piece that I started in August - 'We are Siamese...'

Phew - told you it's been busy...

Next time:

News on two exciting commissions - 3 Welsh Maine Coons and a bautiful little Bengal kitten

Sophie complete

Here are the final few WIP staps for Sophie:
I decided to add a blueish background to pop out the fur colour:

I chose a sort of air force blue as a complementary of the rust colours in her fur.

It might seem odd to start on the background here, but it helps me to judge the overall finished piece.  Also the background needs to be in before I can add the finishing whisps to the hair.

Here's a closer look at the hair detail on Sophie's left ear.  I normally work left to right across the page so that I'm not leaning on my work, but on this piece I did it the other way around - no idea why....

In the image below you can see that the piece is virtually complate.  Although I signed it I did carry on tweaking for a bit and decided to strengthen the dark behind the edges of the ears. 

and fianlly the finished piece...!

Sophie's choice

I am still loving this Fisher 400 paper, so nice to work on.

My latest commission is this lovely little King Charles Spaniel called Sophie.  I met Sophie and her "mum", Sally, at the Just Dogs Live show in Peterborough.

Sally sent me this wonderful reference shot from a photo shoot she had done with Sophie at Lovell Design.

Reference shots like these are reasonably rare, so it's nice to have so much detail to base the piece on.

Although the colour looks pretty saturated on screen the 'rust' colour in Sophie's fur is a little deeper.  She has a very lustrous coat.  Luckily I took some shots myself so I am able to compare colour to get it just right.

I have found that the best pencils for the outline (depending on the colours you need) are the Derwent sketching pencils which are charcoal or white pastel.  that's what I used here to sketch the outline.

The lighting on this is not the best as the paper is a very light sand colour.

I've got the outline of the basic shape and then immediately started on the eyes and nose area.

Next I have blocked in the main colour areas of the face before starting to add detail to the main features.

In the close up you might just be able to see the lighter areas in the iris of the eyes, which are important to add depth and shape.  I have worked over the base colours with graphite or dark brown for the shadows and darks, sepia, ochre and madder brown for the midtones and flesh & cream for the highlights.

Here I've used a base coat of flesh and ochre over the ears before working over it with the detail of the curls.  The last image, below, is where I'm at so far.  I've just started to add the detail in on the left-hand ear.

More in a couple of days when Sophie will be almost complete...



Another busy month gone...!

Crikey is it really a sign of getting old or are the months passing so quickly because as ever I have so much to do?

What an update I have....

SOFA (Society of Feline artists)

First things first - the SOFA exhibition -  was great!

I sold one of my pieces there - Molly, a silly upside down piece of my sister-in-laws cat acting barmy - as she does.  so I was extremely pleased with that considering it was my first outing at a major London exhibition.  I'm already planning what I will take next year and I'm hoping to put some work before the selection panel for full membership......scary!

Open University study

I have FINISHED my last assignment!! Yeay.  That's a culmination of 6 years hard study - just a 3 hour exam on 15th October and that is my degree course finished.  I have to say although it's been a hard slog it has very much been worth it.  So that's the work stuff over with now I'm going to start the fine art degree that I've always wanted to do!!

Artwork

Told you it's been busy...lol.

If you read my last post you'll know I was working on the little Siamese kittens; well I managed a little bit more before the commissions that I booked at the last couple of shows started to go a bit nuts.  This shows a bit more detail on the first little fella, while in the one below you can see that I've started on the others:

They are very cute and working on the fisher paper is great as you get quite a painterly finish.  Very nice to work on....

Then my email went nuts...

Connie, Jake and Jilly

I know - a namesake!

Caroline contacted me with a rush job.  She had decided that a memorial portrait would fit the bill for a gift, so she sent through the only shots that she had of her chosen subjects:

Jilly, Connie and Jake

This is Jilly (Sadly no longer with us)

Below the Brown Springer at the front is Connie (passed) and the one at the back is Jake

I made a couple of mock ups in photoshop and Caroline settled on this one:

After a little bit of jiggery pokery I managed to lighten the darker areas to try and see some of the detail to add to the piece.  Unfortunately it's not easy to see enough detail when the photos are contrasty so Photoshop can be a real help in getting the reference data that you need.

Here I've started on the outline.  I'm working on Fisher paper usig derwent pastels. Although I find it easer to do the outline in sketching pencils - white, black and tan.

Once I have the basic shapes I can move on to blocking in some colour. I start with the Black & White Spaniel - Jilly. Having laid down the base colour I can then add a little detail with the light grey.

This next image was taken with better lighting conditions, so you gt a better feel for the colour.  I have started to  add base colour to Connie now.  As I work on each dog I add more detail into the background.  You can see that the basic grass tones are starting to build up now.

In this next image you can see that the detail in the grass is beginning to build and form a very solid foundation.  I love the light and dark areas and the looks on the dogs faces they are realy alert in these images.  Here I've started work on Jake who has a slightly lighter coat which is catching the light very nicely.

Just a little more work to be done on the grass and a bit more detail in the dogs' fur and we'll be done.

Next time...

The Bengal 6 have been framed!

Another commission WIP - Sophie the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

And possily more Siamese kitties

Bye

Jilly

x

Fisher paper!

Why haven't I used it before????
So everyone was raving about Fisher paper in the Pet Portraits forum and I figured that I needed to try it.

As you do, I had great fun buying some stock and then carefully put it away, because I had commissions, study assignments, art college assignments not to mention other work stuff.....you know what it's like.

My reward for finishing my penultimate OU assignment was that I would have some time to 'play' with the Fisher.

A couple of posts back you might recall this delightful shot:

This weekend I had 2 days of bliss at the Coontica show in Rickmamsworth and started on the piece - on Fisher...

So the verdict:

Well,  Fisher paper, for those of you who haven't tried it, is simply 800 grit sandpaper (it says so on the back)

I had tried Pastelmat and really didn't like it, so becuase Fisher seemed similar I guess I was a little reticent.  I'm used to working on velour and I love the finish.

I got set up and sketched the outline.  Then I started on the pastel - blimey you only need to touch the paper and half the pencil is worn away on to it.

I can completely understand why anyone who comes from Fisher paper finds velour difficult or a chore. Compared to Fisher, it is quite hard work getting the colour onto the velour - at times you really have to scrub.

What surprised me the most is the speed which which the piece started to develop.

Although I wasn't sure for the first hour, I very quickly got used to the change in technique and now I'm a complete convert. I love the ease with which you can render detail on this paper.

As ever I started with the eyes and then the rest of the facial features.  At first I wasn't sure about the 'painterly' look that I was getting, but I soon got used to it and now I'd even say I prefer it!

When I ordered the Fisher I also bought the blenders. Basically they are cut up pieces of cork matting! Have to say after the first couple of rubs I have binned them. I found that they left brown marks on the paper and are completely the wrong shape to blend fine detail, so I stuck to my blending stubs which worked perfectly.And this is where this post ends - an almost finished tiny Siamese kitty....

The cat show where I started this piece was at the Royal Masonic School for girls - a very swanky boarding school in Rickmansworth.  Such a lovely building, but thearea that I was placed in didn't have such good lighting, so the pictures are a little yellow cast (even though I had set up my camera for flourescent light!)  After I had blended the head colour a little, I moved on to the body.  They are such cute tiny chaps, you can almost feel the little bones under that thin fur ;0)

You can see a bit of the difference here between blended and un-blended:

Next post 2 more kitties completed

 

Molly & Jasper finished - again....

I know this might seem a little bizarre, but I wasn't sure about the background on this pieces even whn I declared it finished.

Then I posted on Wet Canvas and a few of the guys suggested that the background could be darker.
so I fiddled and here's the result.

the image is not as good as it could be as the piece is now in a frame, so it was difficult to not capture the reflections as it's very sunny this morning.  Anyway I like the results - it's a bit different...

Molly & Jasper finished

Just thought I'd post a quick update while I eat my soup this lunchtime!

Molly & Jasper are finally finished, although I will probably keep looking at it and tweaking here and there as is my way.....and, I suspect, the way of most artists.

Now I can go and find that fisher paper and wake up those Siamese babies...

SOFA, so good!

Well someone had to say it...
I had a fab day today.  I took four pieces of work down to the Society of Feline Artists submission day for their annual exhibition.

I was very nervous as this is my first time exhibiting at this venue and it's the one to be at really as it's in London at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in Waterloo.  One of my images has been used for the catalogue and all four submissions were accepted into the exhibition, so I'm excited to see the outcome.

Fellow artist Sue Clinker, who's blog Pencilpix you can visit from my blogroll, has also submitted work, so I have had my fingers crossed for her all day too. 
I'm told that all the work will shortly be on the gallery website so watch out for the pair of us!

The Society of Feline Artists run this exhibition every year and it is eagerly awaited and attended by cat lovers from around the world. 

You can read more about SOFA here.

A bit more laurel....

Well strangely I'm loving this...
I think it's the discipline of rendering life-like foliage.  I'm giving as much attention to the laurel as I am to the main subjects - which is no bad thing.  Time was when I would have dashed off a background and then not been happy with it - maybe I'm finally mellowing in my 'middle age'.

Anyway here's the latest shot of it with a little more laurel:

Now I'm thinking of a new direction for my work.  I won't say much right now, but I'm off to do lots of reseach on the Crown Jewels...!
John say's I should call this one "Keep quiet and act like a bush!"

Where is the year going....?

August already!  Soon the Easter eggs will be in the shops ;0)

Well I've had another crazy month with lots going on.  I got a 'debosser' last week! It stamps an impression into the mount board with my name in a roundel and the works 'original artwork'.  I'm really pleased with it because you can use it on gold foil wafers too.  These are great to use as authentication on limited editions.  I decided that I will start creating some OSWoA (Original Small Works of Art) pieces.  So I'll use this method to authenticate them.  You'll have to watch this space for that though.

So I went up to my studio all set to start on the Siamese....and then I saw Jasper and Molly!

If you follow the Pet Portrait Artist forum, you'll have seen the WIP that I started on there ages ago...Now I don't know about you, but there are times when I just have to finish something before I move on.

Sometimes I even have to do the washing up before I paint! (I know that's a bit extreme and I should seek therapy)

Anyway, since this is a college piece too I thought I'd better finish it, so those lovely Siamese are still in the pile waiting for me to get a move on.

BUT, here's an update on Molly and Jasper...
The brief is to create a piece that has two subjects from different reference material.  I decided to add in the foliage to link the two together.

We have lots of lovely foliage in the garden, so armed with my camera I went in search of soemthing interesting.  I photographed variagated Laurel and Photinia and settled on the laurel because I liked the berries.

It's oddly satisfying creating the laurel because as you put in the outline it looks really flat.  then as you start to add the darks and the shadows it really comes to life.

So, this has become my latest obsession and the Siamese will have to curl up and sleep until another day.

Tinkering and tidying up...

Well I'm lost without my little Bengal pals, they were such a part of my life for a few weeks now they've gone home! ;0)

I'm pleased to say that Tracey and Steve were delighted with their comission, so another happy customer...yeay!

So now what? Well there's lots to do.
This week I'm expecting reference images from several commissions that are on order so that they can be added to my schedule.

I need to create new work for my portfolio as four of my pieces will be going to the SOFA exhibition in Aug/Sept, so I'm excited about the exhibition and about creating new work!

I've just had a good tidy up in my studio - which always makes John (hubby) laugh.  I usually start by saying I'm off to tidy my studio and an hour later he comes up with a cup of tea to find me in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the 'stuff' I'm tidying having become distracted by a reference book or article in an art mag...Oh well I'm so predictable ;0)

Anyway, I did tidy up and I'm now ready to start on the little Siamese kittens.
Pat Sharp is a breeder of Siamese cats, you can check out her website here. 
She very kindly sent me this delightful shot which has now reached the top of my 'to do' list:

I love the way they all look like they are about to fall over, but I couldn't resist the one pushing the other out of his/her shot.

Not sure on the caption yet, but I'm liking "Move! You blockin' my close-up", at the moment - unless of course you can come up with anything better!  Now there's a challenge.

The other thing is that this will probably be submitted as part of my college work too, so I have an opportunity to try out some of the new papers that I ordered a few weeks back.  Possibly the fisher- definately pastels...

Right I'm off to find my fisher paper...

Speaky later

Jx

The Bengal 6 complete!

So here it is all done and dusted!

I will be delivering it to Tracey and Steve on Sunday,so I can't wait for them to see it.

It will be interesting to know what the subjects make of it.  My Brit Blue, Amber went around the back of it when I showed her, to see where the cats were...;0)  Bless.

So it's a short blog today - just wanted to show the finished article - I have a busy weekend of filming this weekend.

My husband, John, is a photographer and we are filming his new range of photography videos in the studio, so I'm off to create the autocue and shoot list now!

The things I do...

Have a great weekend all - next blog will see the start of the siamese kittens.  But don't despair if you're a Bengal lover as Spirit will be back in a couple of weeks in a painting all of his own ready for the Supreme Cat show at the NEC!

Take care

Jilly

x

The Bengal 6 (and a mouse) Part 7

Light at the end of the tunnel...

...but it has been a very pleasant tunnel!

Well I spent 3 days a the 'Just Dogs Live event' in Peterborough - Fri, Sat & Sun drawing cats ;0)

Nobody seemed to mind and they roused lots of interest. 

It was extremely hot, so there weren't as many people at the display rings as expected.  Mostly poeple were showing the dogs then taking them home out of the heat.  At least our trade stands were in the cool.

As for the strange people who took their dogs to a dog show and left them in their cars in 30 degree heat - well don't get me started!

Quick move on....

Here's Sonnet, finished except for his whiskers.

Now it's Jasper's turn for some eye make-up.  I love this shot 'cos his eyes look like they've been glued in!

The next few shots show the build up of Jasper's features in the same way  that I've created all the other cats. Starting with his tash, then the rest of his facial features.

In this shot he's almost done, since this shot I've checked a couple of my other reference shots to get his feet right and darkened up his paws a little on top.

What about the mouse?

You remember that I said that the space was crying out for some kind of toy?  Well I used one of Amber's toys as reference to create a little blue mouse that just fits in there nicely...

and finally...

...there is still a little tweaking to do, I have strengthened and added more shadows since this shot.  I just need to darken up Shadow's fur a little now that I have all the cats in.

Expect to see the signed finished article on Friday...

See you soon

Jilly

The Bengal 6 part Six

Plagued by thunder flies
It's amazing how many people have never heard of thunder flies.  I thought you got them everywhere - maybe people call them something different.  They're those miniscule 2mm long black flies that love the corn so much...and at this time of year they appear to love everything else too.
For an artist it's a nightmare as they get into paintings under the galss and you end up with a little flurry of them collected in the corner of white mounts.

This year they have managed to slip inside my PC screen and my laptop screen - actually inching their way throufh the liquid crystal until they can go no further.  Now I hvae strage little commas in the documents that I write until I realise that it's a thunder fly!

Anyway that's not what you came here for is it?

I have been cracking on a pace with the Bengal family and shortly I'll be starting on Jasper - the last cat in the piece.

Here's Carminah 90% finished - no whiskers yet.  Her eyes are amazing colours, clearly she's at that age here where they're still deciding what colour they should be! There are flecks of almost everything in there.

I 'discovered' a blue stuffed mouse in
Ambers toy basket and thought that it would complement the rusts and ochres in the piece, but before I could do anything with it, Amber decided that I couldn't play with her toys and has whisked it away somewhere, so now I have to hunt the mouse...

Having finished Carminah for now, I started on Sonnet.  The next few shots follow the same pattern as before with a start on the eyes and then slowly building up the layers from blocks of colour to detail. Here's a shot of all the family so far...

Here you can clearly see the layers building.

For some reason, Sonnet does not look happy to be having his photo taken herewhich I think adds to the character of the piece.  They all have their own particular expressions.

 

In these two images you can see how the whole thing starts to change as the dark tones are strengthened.  Each cat that is finished anges the whole look of the composition.  Spirit is very striking in his markings and fairly vibrant and Sonnet balances this out nicely.  At the moment Shadow stands out as the palest of the bunch, but once I start on Jasper, these two will balance up nicely.

Upcoming showtime

You will find me this weekend  - Friday, Saturday and Sunday -  at the East of England showground in Peterborough at "Just Dogs Live!".  No doubt I will be putting the finishing touches to this piece and starting on the next commission.

If you get a chance to go - I might see you there.

Have a good weekend all.

Right, better go and find that mouse...

Jilly