Head of the Harem

Head of the Harem

8x10 inches

Acrylics and Oils on Gessobord

Another week filled with ups and downs and pieces going in the bin. In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had bought some Gessobord and also some Speedball Mona Lisa Gesso Boards which were about 1/3 of the price of the Gessobord. The Speedball boards, whilst they are called Gesso board, really don't have the feel of gesso at all. They are extremely slick, in a different way to Claybord, and actually feel more like laminated board. Whilst the labelling states they are suitable for a range of media, including oils, acrylics, watercolours, coloured pencils etc., I personally didn't find this to be the case. Watermedia bubbles up, coloured pencils slide off, and even the oil painting I got half way through started to peel away.

This painting was done on the gessobord and this surface is a joy to work with - enough tooth for the paint to adhere well, but smooth enough for lovely detail. This gorgeous rooster posed for us a few years ago at our local wildlife park and was just the subject for a little more experimentation with oils, which I have to say I'm really loving. The only down side, of course, is the length of time it takes for the paint to dry, so even though I finished this fellow earlier in the week, I couldn't really scan him for a few days.

You Make Me Smile

You Make Me Smile

8x10 inches

Watercolours and acrylics on Canson Mi Teintes Tex Card

I really should have been working on a commission today, but sometimes the urge to be creative overwhelms everything else and I really had a compulsion to have some fun and play with colour. I took a litter of 8 little baby mice off to the pet shop on Monday, and so before Mum and Dad get too busy with another litter, they kindly indulged me with a bit of modelling for a photo shoot last night. Somehow, my art always comes back to the theme of mice - I just love drawing and painting them and their endearing little faces. I hope this brings a smile to your faces :))

Monique

Monique

8x10 inches

Acrylics on Canson Mi Teintes Tex Card

This was the commission I completed a few weeks ago, when experimenting with a few different mediums and finally settled on the acrylics. This portrait was another example of where I was given a wonderful reference photo to work with, which made my job so much more enjoyable. A delightful looking littel girl, and because the photo was taken outside, there are beautiful reflections in her eyes which really add to her portrait. So, many of the same principals I outlined in my last blog for taking good reference photos for pet portraits also apply when taking photos for people portraits.

Casanova II

Casanova II

10x14 inches

Acrylics on Canson Mi-Teintes Tex Paper

What a marathon week. This painting took much longer than I had anticipated and what a joy to finally complete it!!! I really wasn't blessed with the patience to work on projects that take longer than a day or two. I remember the first time I painted this peacock a few years ago, that it took me 3 months to complete and I was so over it by the end. But I have a special passion for peacocks and wanted to challenge myself to paint a larger piece.

Apart from that we found our darling pet dog Chelsea (Chinese Crested Powder Puff) dragging her hind legs on Wednesday night and discovered she has slipped a disc in her spine which has left her partially paralysed. Hopefully with anti-inflammatories and by keeping the poor thing caged for the next month or two, her spine will heal and she will get back full mobility. She looks at me with such sad eyes through her cage - I think she feels she is being punished for something and my heart goes out to her. Animals are so much more resilient than people.

With all this and the mother of a dear friend dying suddenly, I know I am sadly behind on my blogging, but hope to catch up in the next few days. Happy Father's day to all the Dad's out there for tomorrow (although I think some of you in the US etc. celebrate Father's day at a different time of year) and will check out all your blogs soon :))

Baby Self Portrait

Baby Self Portrait

8x10 inch

Acrylics and some pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes Tex Card

This portrait was really done for a challenge for the portraiture group on RedBubble. I like this one much better than my adult self portrait, and I bet you can tell from the portrait, that it was quite an OLD reference photo - LOL!!!

Acrylic Portraits - Steph

Steph

8x10 inches

Acrylics on Canson Mi-teintes Tex paper (with a hint of coloured pencil and pan pastels)

This was my second portrait using acrylics, and was actually a little more challenging than the first because of the dark skin tones from the cast shadows. I always prefer doing softer, lighter skin tones, but couldn't resist using this beautiful reference photo of my Goddaughter Steph, who actually turned 18 last week. How time flies!!! This portrait will the first used as a sample for my painted portrait listings.