A couple of Commissions plus a couple of little dramas!

 Adora

8x10 inches

Coloured pencils and Pan pastels on Pastelmat

Spot

8x10 inches

Coloured pencils on Mat Board

This has been one of those weeks. I have a couple of love/ hate relationships going on at the moment. The first is with one of our dogs, Sophie (9 months old), who decided on Monday night to chew a biro to pieces and then spread the contents all over our bedroom carpet and bedspread. After googling every conceivable remedy for removing ink, we had tried a multitude of solutions and went to bed reassured that much of the ink had been removed. On awakening on Tuesday however, we found that one of the remedies had not only removed much of the ink, but also the dye from the carpet and bedspread (I suspect it might have been the toothpaste). Panic stations. We now have a new bedspread and a new rug to cover the offending patches on the carpet. Just as well Sophie is so endearing and much loved!!!

After resolving that problem, I decided to open some emails, only to find that everything on our computer was frozen - so needless to say my second love/ hate relationship is with our computer. Three days later and several hundred dollars poorer, we are now back up and running again. In between the dramas, I managed to get a bit of work done as well.

Adora will be the subject of a new step by step tutorial and should be available from my website at www.karenhullart.com from next week.

A few commissions

Black Rhino

Commissioned by the Coin Club of Australia

Painted with Corel Painter

Logan

5x7 inches

Coloured pencil on drafting fiilm

Isn't this a crazy time of year!!! I can see from everyone's blogs that you are all madly trying to complete commissions for clients for Christmas. Here are a few that I have been working on over the last week or two and I am hoping that I have only one more commission to complete before taking some time off for the summer holidays. Hopefully then, I can catch up on all my sadly neglected internet sharing and blogging and commenting. But I know you all understand!!! :)

Latest Commission - Molly and Kyzak

Molly & Kyzak

8x10 inch

Coloured pencil on Matte Board

I had been wanting to try out a portrait using coloured pencils on matte board and had resorted to attempting another self portrait, which was rather demoralising, partly because I'm the least photogenic person out there, and partly because there are a hundred more wrinkles, sunspots and the skin has given way to gravity since I last did a self portrait - LOL. Fortunately, I was saved with the commission of this gorgeous pair of kids - far more enjoyable than trying to draw myself!!!

Happy Christmas to all my internet friends & a reflection on 2009

Kaja

8x10 inch

Graphite and coloured pencil on drafting film

What an amazing year 2009 has been!!!! I have been doing commissions right up until yesterday morning, but have decided to take a three day break to spend some quality time with family. Many of my customers requested that I wait until after Christmas, before posting their portraits on my website or blog. This time last year, I was flat out with my nursing career, feeling very stressed and quite disillussioned, and spent every spare minute on my art. This year has been such a journey of self discovery. I had no idea when making the decision to leave nursing whether art would provide me with a sustainable income, or whether I could find a sense of purpose and fulfillment from something which up until then was purely done for enjoyment. There is always a risk, when taking a hobby and turning it into a business, that some of the enjoyment disappears. I must admit it has been a year of ups and downs, where too many times I have been filled with self doubt. My wonderful, supportive husband and the fabulous friends I have made through various internet sites, especially through blogging, are the two treasures that have lifted my spirits whenever I feel lost. We come to the end of 2009, and I feel such a sense of peace and purpose. The commissions are coming hard and fast (I have 5 due in the New Year), and whilst this means there isn't a lot of time for being truly arty and creative, I think my current need was more to find a purpose from the art, and there will be time down the track for really exploring my own creativity. For now, I am thrilled to bring joy to others through commissions, and my other big goal is to write a book down the track on drawing photo realistic drawings on drafting film. I would like to take this opportunity for thanking all of you who have supported me and encouraged me throughout the year. You have no idea how much this has helped to lift my spirits on those days when despondency sets in.

Wishing all of you the most wonderful, magical Christmas and lets hope 2010 brings success and happiness to you all!!!!

Latest Commissions - Ashton

Ashton

8x10 inches

Graphite and black pencil on drafting film

Still going on Commissions, and in between commissions, I have been so inspired by Barbara A Freemans fascinating description about silverpoint, and have been experimenting with that, so will post a WIP once the commissions slow down a bit. A huge thank you to Barbara for sharing her knowledge and journey in working with silverpoint - please visit her blog if you are interested in this medium.