The Family Portrait

Among the commissions for Christmas was a family request to paint a portrait of my sister's beloved childhood pony in the snow. It's a surprise so let's hope she doesn't read this. Like the builder who just can't seem to finish his own house I left my family portrait until last. After all they love me so they'd be happy with some scribbles on a sheet of A4 foolscap right?

However it was with some trepidation that I began this portrait. I could feel the family standing behind me peering over my shoulder, hear their imaginary comments before I'd even started, as they crammed in behind me amidst the general chaos where I paint. I could even envisage my sister's brief look of horror as she opened the present on Christmas morning only to find some scribbles on a sheet of A4. 'I hope you like it!' I'd say brightly.

When I sent the preliminary sketch to my parents the feedback was thankfully short. They liked it. But 'her canon bones are thinner' said my mother. 'Her shins' I said to my partner, 'she says her shins are thinner'. I peered closely with my keen artist's eye. They were clearly fat, hairy and muddy.

I painted in record speed, on antibiotics and tired from a sleepless night with a restless toddler. Drugged up and exhausted, 'just like a proper artist' my partner encouragingly informed me. And they were pleased with the result. Except 'her eyes are bigger' said my mother. I guess that Polly, like many of us, wishes her legs were thinner and her eyes just a tiny bit bigger.

Now the easel is satisfyingly empty, the paintings are with the framer and it's time to think about Christmas shopping!

Equine Doodling

As a former pony-trekking guide and stable groom I spent many 'idle' hours sitting in stables and fields drawing horses; fetlocks, hocks, manes and tails, muzzles, noses, whiskers and hooves, they all came under my eye and pencil. I've sketched Connemara ponies, Icelandic horses and Italian Showjumpers. This is why I say I specialise in equines, as if sleeping in stables and years of drawing ponies in the margins of school textbooks has earned me some honorary title in Equine Doodling! 

Even though I draw from photographs when doing the pet portraits, my years of experience sitting on haybales, woodshavings or handily placed boulders, have combined to give me an in-depth knowledge of equine anatomy, behaviour and character which I put to good use when I paint. Across is one example of some of my sketching with Conté crayon from 1991, I am sure that under the beds in my parents' house you'd find many more!

Black is not a colour!

Although I am a mainly self-taught illustrator and artist, I did spend a year in Art College many years ago. Back in those days it was fashionable to make the students feel as bad as possible about their work. Which I did! As for painting, the one thing I remember was the abolition of black from the palette. 'Black is not a colour! Black is the absence of light!' This one thing has stayed with me. We discussed it earnestly over our small styrofoam coffee cups. I agreed. There was no such thing as black. Except for black holes. And night. And Dr. Black in Cluedo. And look what happened to him.

So when I came to paint Jenny, who to the casual observer is a 'black and white dog', I found she is actually a cerulean blue hue, burnt umber, deep violet and titanium white with a hint of cadmium yellow, naphthol crimson and burnt sienna dog. Not a smidgen of black anywhere.

Jenny

Sometimes a client approaches me and asks me to depict a pet that has sadly passed away. In these cases I ask them to send me as many photographs as they can. Even though none of the photographs may be an ideal portrait, I can pick out the best ones and use different aspects from each. For example, the preparatory sketch shown here is the base for a painting which uses a number of images. While the main angle of Jenny's head is taken from one, I'll use two other photos to help me fill in the details which were lost in shadow in the first photograph.

"There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."

Ah, how true! So it was with great delight that I welcomed my childminder back from her extended stay in Italy. It was a pleasure to get painting again and be able to finish the latest portrait of the handsome Millie and Jezzie pictured below. I must say I really enjoyed working on this portrait, there is something very satisfying about painting all that hair!

I'm looking forward to many more blissful hours of quiet painting in the coming weeks and hope to have some new portraits of equines to put up very soon.

Icelandic Horses

It's great to be back in Iceland.

I'm here as a guest of the archaeological project at Hólar, where I've spent
many summers drawing finds, some of which you can see here. While I'm here this
time though, I plan to begin portraits of some Icelandic horses. And if there's
one thing Iceland knows how to do well it's horses. As my daughter would tell
you, there are many types of Icelandic horse; fluffy ones, hairy ones, brown
ones, black ones, brown and black ones, orange ones, messy ones and then there
are tidy ones. And with a wide selection just outside my window I'm in the
perfect place for sketching and photographing some of these messy, hairy horses.

Two Spaniels 

The first thing I like to do when I get a new commission is to choose the best photograph and make a preparatory sketch for the client. I like them to see the overall composition and give an idea of how the finished painting will look. It's important for me to make sure that the client is completely happy before I begin the actual painting. It's very reasssuring for both of us to see this before the process of laying paint to paper begins!

Here's my 40 x 40cm sketch for my latest commission, it's always easier when the subjects are so handsome! And I'm really looking forward to getting started painting this pair.
 

Welcome to Pet Portraits!

Over the coming months, my new blog will give updates on current work, provide an insight into my working methods and show work in progress as well as providing advice and tips on the best way to photograph your pet if you're hoping to have a portrait done.

Please see my Portfolio page for samples of my previous work.