Daler Murano paper

I'm continuing to compare pastel papers. For this portrait I've used Daler Murano paper and the dog is from a photo I found on the internet and his name is apparently 'Buddy'. At first, compared to the Fisher 400 paper, I found this paper a bit flimsy and insubstantial, and nearly gave up. But I persevered, and found that I actually really like it. I used a mixture of hard and soft pastels and pastel pencils. I recently bought about 40 new colours - mostly greys and browns, from the Derwent range of pastel pencils, and they certainly came in very handy for this portrait.

Practice work

I got this pic of a beautiful dog off the internet. I did it with pastels on Fisher 400 paper. I'm just practicing at the moment with pastels and different papers. I like Fisher 400 - it's very forgiving and seems to allow an unlimited number of layers to be added. I'm not sure if this is a good thing - I think one should still try to complete the work in a small number of layers as otherwise the colours can get a bit muddy. I'm not sure if this pastel work is detailed enough. I've seen other work on the internet where every hair seems to have been drawn and the fur doesnt look coarse like it does here. It' a mystery I've yet to solve!

Chester again

Chestie

A quick sketch of Chester.

I've got an award!

I've got an award from Captain Elaine - thank you Captain Elaine! It's very kind of you. I tried to copy and paste it into this post but it didn't work! Never mind, I'll still answer all these questions in one word and then give 5 links to people I like...

1. Where is your cell phone?... Dunno
2. Your hair? ...Long
3. Your mother?... gone
4. Your father? ...also
5. Your favourite food? ...cake
6. Your dream last night? ...school
7. Your favourite drink? ...wine
8. Your dream/goal? ...artist
9. What room are you in? ...office
10. Your hobby? ...drawing
11. Your fear? ...moths
12 Where do you want to be in 6 years? ...country
13. Where were you last night? ...here
14. Something that you aren't? ...tough
15. Muffins?...yes
16. Wish list item?...books
17. Where did you grow up? ...London
18. Last thing you did? ...work
19. What are you wearing? ...jeans
20. Your TV? ... old
21. Your pets? ...three
22. Friends ...odd
23. Your life? ...lovely
24. Your mood? ...happy
25. Missing someone? ...many
26. Vehicle? ...Ford
27. Something you're not wearing? ...makeup
28. Your favourite store? ...artshop
29. Your favourite colour? bluegreen
30. When was the last time you laughed?...lunchtime
31. Last time you cried? ...2008
31. Your best friend?...Heather
33. One place that I go to over and over? ...park
34. Facebook? no
35. Favourite place to eat? Indian

I would like to pass this award to five of my favourite blogs:
Sheila a very talented painter
Sara another one
Martin a fantastic sketcher
Gwen quirky and brilliant animal portraits
Jennifer colourful, whimsical sketches of her travels

Labrador

At last I have finished my drawing of a dog, which is an exercise on the Pet Portrait course I am doing. I'm just about to send these last 3 drawings to my tutor to be critiqued.

Kitchenalia

I haven't blogged in a while because I've been concentrating on these drawings for my Pet Portrait course (which is run by London Art College if anyone is interested). They do take a long time to do. Next I have to draw a dog. Hooray!