King Charles Spaniel

 

King Charles Spaniel 

It is many years since I last did a portrait in pastel. But pastels have always been my favourite medium.  

I had to stop working in pastels because I had trouble with my hand and I kept dropping them. Dropping pastels is very bad for them and you end up with a colourful floor and pastel crumbs too small to hold. 

In those days pastel pencils were not good quality, in the sense that the pigment had hard bits that scratched the painting. Now there are a number of art material companies that are producing wonderfully smooth consistent pastel pencils. 

It is still easier for me to hold a pencil than a piece of pastel but I did work with both in the portrait. I used the pieces of stick for background colour and rubbed it into the paper then I worked over it with the pencils. 

I use kneadable erasers to blend the colours. I tried stumps once but I quickly discarded them. Once the tip is dirty they are useless to me. But with the eraser I can keep working a new point. 

I wish that I had had longer to work on the portrait. I lost some time because I had a couple of falls, and I took part in a craft fair, but also I had to learn new techniques which takes time. So it isn't as finished as I would have liked. The dog's paws were fluffy and complicated so I left them sketchy. I am not good at sketchy. 

I had a fairly strict deadline with this portrait which I went over by two days. It took 24 hours in total. 

Despite my problems, I am happy that I captured the character of the dog. (I would tell you her name if I knew how to spell it.)

Yawning Tiger

 

Yawning Tiger 

I finished two pen and ink drawings this last week despite being distracted by a missing cat. My very old cat got out when I wasn't paying attention properly. Perhaps I did the drawing so efficiently as a distraction to keep from worrying about the cat. He got home on Friday night but he had to be rescued from a high wall in the dark. 

The first drawing I finished was this tiger. It is pen and ink on graphic film with coloured pencil on the reverse. It is more challenging than you would think to get the right tones to show through on the right side. Graphic film is translucent but not clearly transparent. So colours are dulled, and blending one colour over another needs to be done backwards. You have to use brains more than feelings. 

The Bronze Cat finished

 

The Bronze Cat finished 

I finished the painting of the bronze cat at last. 

I am pleased with how well I succeeded with the tiger's eye on the left using glazes. The Connemara marble is satisfactorily chunky using a pointillist technique in shades of grey over a green glaze. 

The fool's gold was tricky to paint. I used metallic paint in light gold more for fun than for effect. But the key to capturing it was the dark shadows setting off the highlights. 

I don't know what the other crystals are. 

I am pleased with the light green crystal on the left. It had a white reticulated pattern interspersed with dark green areas and the light reflecting off it bleached the pattern. That took a few glazes to get the light areas the right shade. 

The light blue had a lot of tiny dots of white over blue and then blue glazes to take the white back to the right shade. That was easy as was the large brown crystal on the right. But that one was mainly dots of light shades of ochre glazed with sepia. 

The other crystals were straight forward to paint using glazes.

Bronze cat painting 2

 

Painting of Bronze Cat update

I have had a few disruptions to stop me finishing this painting. Some were minor distractions. For example, today I had an idea about doing sketches from life, and I wondered if anyone made shopping trolleys with a seat, so instead of painting, I researched them. There were a few styles and now I need to decide the best seat height. 

I have finished the Connemara marble and I am happy with what I have done with the tiger's eye. Today I have been working on the fool's gold. I raised the crystals up on small camera tripod so that they would catch the light in the same way as they did in my original composition. You can see two of the crystals on the left. 

If you are wondering what they are sitting on, I set a nut of the right thread for a camera tripod into the back of the piece of wood to make an easel for miniatures. Then recently I converted it so it would hold my iPod Touch for taking special photos. The green stuff is Sugru which is great stuff to play with and make things. I have just adapted another table easel with a drawer to be able to attach it to a larger tripod by sticking a nut to the underneath with Sugru. Sugru is very good for sticking things. I will write a post about it if it works. 

To get back to the artwork, there is less to do than you may think. The main thing is the shadows. They may take a while because of getting the soft edges. 

  

Painting of a bronze cat.

 

Painting of a bronze cat. 

This little bronze statue of an Egyptian cat was given to me by a friend who had treasured it for a long time. I promised her a painting of it in exchange.  

I worked out a still life composition with crystals. I am not sure what the crystals are, except for the lumpy "fool's gold" in the centre and the big grey lump which is unpolished Connemara marble. 

The painting of the cat figure has been done for some time but I am finding the Connemara marble a challenge. I am painting layers upon layers in little dots of greys with hints of green and yellow. It is taking hours. I take as long as I need to get it right. 

I have painted Connemara marble before but that was in pastel on textured paper. This time I am working in Acryl gouache on a very smooth surface so I have to paint the texture rather than letting the materials suggest it for me. 

The texture isn't the biggest challenge. It is hard to describe such an irregular shape. 

The rounded polished stones will be easy. I am a little bit worried about the fool's gold. I don't think it will be as difficult as the Connemara marble. It has flat facets which are easier to depict even if the shape is irregular. 

To the memory of the wonderful "Sheila"

 

The last portrait of Sheila 

This is so typical of Sheila. She loved cropping grass and always carried some in her mouth. 

This drawing is pen and ink on graphic film. I got the softened look by rubbing the applied ink with either an eraser or a cotton bud depending on the effect I wanted. 

Then I strengthened the darker areas. 

I added shades of green on the reverse of the drawing in coloured pencil. 

Horse Communication Drawing update

 

 

Horse Communication Drawing update 

I was not happy with the composition of the pen and ink drawing of the man and his horse. There was a nasty empty area by Sheila's shoulder. So I went searching for something to support her so she didn't look as if she was about to fall off the right hand side of the drawing. 

There wasn't much space to fill but I found a small tree from one of the other photos of Sheila. 

I didn't want to add colour in that area. That would not have improved the composition at all. As I had drawn the horse and man on graphic film, I drew the tree on the reverse using a 2B technical pencil. Then I softened it with a cotton bud. 

Soft pencil slithers nicely on graphic film with a little help. I avoid touching graphic film with my hand as any moisture marks it with a white spot. I lay sheets of paper, preferably blotting paper, wherever I may need to rest my hand. 

Finally, on the right side I emphasised the edge of Sheila's neck and shoulder against the tree using pen and ink.

I am happy with it now. I felt this double portrait was worth my best efforts. It would be a lovely depiction of the trust Sheila has for the man, if I could do it justice.