2014 Part Two - Pet Portraits

2014 was quite a year for Pet Portraits.  I don't tend to advertise them as, whilst I love producing them they take many, many hours to do and as I like to keep them affordable they can't be classes as big money-makers.  But this allows me to enjoy them more, knowing that I'm not "in it for the money" but producing pieces of art that will bring joy to these pets' owners hopefully for many years.

The first portrait I completed in 2014 was in January.  This is Sulby, a gorgeous chocolate Labrador:

Sulby's owners and their family have commissioned two portraits from me before; Heidi, a black Labrador and Roxy, a Staffordshire bull terrier.  Both can be found on my web page here.  The portrait of Sulby is very colourful, it actually includes very little "brown", her chocolate coat is vibrant with greens, blues and purples, I had a great deal of fun working on it.

Sadly I am not able to have my portrait scanned, so can only share digital photos of them.  As I work mostly during the darker hours through the Winter months, my photos do not necessarily accurately illustrate the colours, for instance these first two portraits were completed on the same coloured background paper.

I invested in some new Unison soft pastels earlier in the year after I was given some vouchers to use in an online art shop, I chose the Portrait set and the Natural Earth set thinking they'd be perfect for the next commission - pets are mostly brown aren't they?...

...oh yes, apart from the black, white and grey (and green, blue and purple) ones!

In May I was commissioned by a new customer to produce a portrait of her beloved Irish Wolfhound cross Bearded Collie, Maggie:

Maggie's textured coat and monochrome palette (thought there is a fair bit of colour in there too!) was a completely different challenge to the rainbow coat of Sulby, it did mean that I couldn't put my new pastels to full use as the texture of her coat required a lot of pencil work, but I love using pastel pencils so this was no problem at all.  I love that each new portrait provides me with a fresh challenge!  Maggie has the kindest eyes, her owner loves her deeply and it really shows.

Summer was taken up with moving house and preparing for the Hullabaloo, but in October I was contacted by a man I used to work with over 10 years ago, who asked for a portrait of their Parson's Russell Terrier; Ralph as a birthday gift for his wife.  It was lovely re-acquainting with an old contact and it added a whole new dimension to the commission.  This portrait was unusual for me as it included the entire dog and also some background elements:

Ralph loves to sit next to the AGA in their kitchen, his owner wanted to portray this in the portrait.  Their AGA is black and glossy which gave me a challenge, I loved drawing the chrome logo!  As you can see, Ralph is sitting on a stone floor, this gave me the next challenge, it took a long time to get the colours and details into the floor, it certainly isn't an afterthought!  The final and biggest challenge is that Ralph brings with him my age-old nemesis; White fur!

As you can see, Ralph is not brown.  But, his coat has SO much going on, I was really worried about it (white fur is known to be the hardest to get right).  So, I brought out my barely-used Unison pastels, I used all the colours in the mid-to-bottom-left of the portrait set and the bottom-right of the Natural Earth set, and discovered that Unison seems to have all the colours you need for a perfect portrayal of a white coat!  Well, Unison does, but I didn't!  I had some amazing subtle shades that I loved using, but I needed more - my Unison obsession had begun!

Unison pastels are supplied in the boxes that Unison must send them out to the Art Store in.  These are white boxes and perfectly designed for storing the pastels in.  But I am a perfectionist, so when I placed my order, I also ordered two neat and perfect black Unison boxes.  I discovered that the black boxes also have a darker, softer foam in them which I like a lot more than the functional but slightly abrasive dark grey foam the white boxes have.

You may notice that not many of those new pastels are white.  Turns out you don't need much white for a white dog - in the same way that you don't need much brown for a chocolate Labrador!  I've learnt such a lot about portraits in recent times, if only I could produce more and accelerate my learning a bit!  I did use some white, of course, for Ralph's portrait, but only in a few little areas where the highlights are truly white, and then as a very fine overlay (along with various shades of grey and cream) using sharpened Conté crayons over all of the wonderful colours reflected in his coat.  I know I'm raving on a bit, but my new pastels have transformed the way I work and have made the process even more enjoyable!

I had one more portrait to complete in 2014, and it was a very important one.  Through Facebook I am able to get to know other people in the hobby across the UK and the world, I have made some wonderful new friends and had amazing experiences through it.  It also allows me to get to know people much better, especially when I don't get to meet them very often.  Toby's owner is one such person, I have met her several times over the years and we became friends earlier in 2014.  As she loves to share photos of her beloved dogs, and as two of of them were Cocker Spaniels, we often commented on each other photos (I have a Cocker Spaniel too) and in a short time I got to know her and her pooches very well, even though I have never actually met her canine family members.

Toby was a wonderful character; a typical Cocker Spaniel, the same age as my Bruno, about 5-6 years old, I loved seeing photos of him pop up on my news feed on Facebook and often sent a "Bruno says Hi" comment.  Sadly I didn't know him for very long before tragedy struck.  One day he woke up in severe pain.  It turned out he had a problem with his spine that had never shown, which had suddenly aggravated.  After rushing him to the vets and doing everything they could for him, his family had to say their final goodbyes just a few days later.  Toby was taken before his time, my heart ached for his family, both human and canine.  His owner is one of the sweetest people I know and did not deserve to lose him in such an unfair way.  So, when she approached me and asked if I would consider providing her with a portrait I absolutely jumped at the chance!

I also bought a few more pastels, you know, just because I am sure I needed to ;)

I knew that Toby's portrait would be a delight to work on and I was not disappointed!  From the very beginning I had "that" feeling that this was going to be a painting* that would draw itself!  I wasn't wrong - I loved every minute of this painting, from the rich gold colours in his coat to the pure white (not actually white, just like the white fur thing!) of the snow, it was a delight.

*apparently, if the pastel completely covers the paper, it is called a painting.  If the paper colour is visible, then it is called a drawing.  I didn't know that until I looked it up!

Rest in peace little buddy.

Good boy!