Loose

I've been looking at some other sketchers and have decided to experiment with a looser style, which involves holding the pencil further back from the point. I'm not sure if this is the way to achieve it.

Good company

When I'm working in my office I'm always kept company by my three friends, Chester, Molly and Binky the rabbit. If I go downstairs to eat something, they come down as well.

Molly on her cushion

Second stage of kitten

This is the kitten after the second layer of oil paint has been applied. When this is dry I will probably add whiskers and stuff. I was thinking of doing little paintings (6 x 6) of cats to sell but if they all take this ridiculously long time to do I won't be making any money!
I havent really got the hang of oil paints yet, especially how to get a piece of work to a very detailed stage... I'll just have to keep practising I guess.

Happy 2010

Happy 2010 to the lovely people that visit my blog. I hope you all had great holidays!
It's nice to get back in the swing of things. I have been doing some drawing but have unfortunately done nothing that I wanted to show anybody - I'm not sure why it's like that at the moment. That's why posts have been a bit thin on the ground lately! However, I'm continuing with my animal portraits and have started this 6 x 6 inch painting of a cat. This is the painting as it stands at the moment - I have painted the first layer. I'm fairly new to the concept of 'layering' in oils so am not sure how this will eventually turn out. I'm waiting for this layer to dry and then will continue with the painting. I have an idea that this is the best the painting is going to look but will have to wait and see!
By the way, regular readers of the blog will have noticed that I'm not actually living on a narrowboat any more and I was trying to sell it, but now I'm thinking about moving back onto it in the not so distant future! It's an addictive way of life!

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!