We have been looking into a new form of packaging recently as the couriers we use seem to have decided to enforce particular packaging rules. We ‘have’ to adhere to the rules, otherwise we are fined. Sadly, we have been fined on a few recent portraits so we have had to quickly look into how we can not only keep…
What a busy week it has been! We have very nearly finished the renovations…I can’t quite believe that I’m saying that, but we have. It is such a relief and I will soon be collating photos for the website and blog. We are thrilled with the results and there seems to be an air of calmness in the cottage where…
Here is the final scan of Tobey’s painting! Happy Tobey! We love his smile and the way he is interacting with the viewer by looking right at us. I also love the way that Nicholas has painted the background, he has kept it fairly light behind Tobey allowing him to be centre of attention. I also love the beautiful colour…
We hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Nicholas has been working on Tobey’s painting and I have updated photos of his progress. He is looking so happy, Nicholas is really bringing him to life. We have been working in the cottage over the weekend on painting with slightly larger brushes! The decorating stage has started and it always takes three…
Here is the next stage of Tobey’s painting. Doesn’t he look so happy! Nicholas has been working on the background as well as Tobey’s face as you can see his eyes are now blocked in and ready for the next layer of detail. Nicholas has kept the background fairly light so that it helps it to recede into the distance…
Welcome to our first blog post of the week! Nicholas has been working on Tobey’s painting, it is a 16 x 12 size portrait on Italian Linen canvas. I have added a couple of stages so far and will have more to post tomorrow. The renovations are coming along well and I will add some garden photos of some before…
Here are the photos of my latest horse pet portrait framed. Favourite’s drawing works beautifully with the Windsor Wash frame and the double mount of hayseed and pale grey. It is accompanied by what has turned out to be my favourite plaque we have had made so far. Its a lovely shape, with the detail border line and the text…
Here his my latest horse pet portrait to come off of my easel! I have been working on Favorites portrait for a number days, including over the weekend as its heading off this week for a special birthday in Australia. The portrait is a 14 x 11 pencil drawing on Italian Fabriano paper with a dappled shaded background. It is…
We received this wonderful testimonial over the weekend about a painting that Nicholas completed a few weeks ago of Rosie, Rex and Macko. Our readers may remember following the progress of it here about a month ago. We have added the painting below so our readers can see, along with Katie’s email. We are really looking forward too seeing photos…
Some of our readers may remember the pencil drawing of Penny I created for my client Jeanette a number of weeks ago. The portrait has now been framed by Jeannette’s local framer and its beautiful! Jeanette sent two lovely photos of the portrait all framed and displayed on the wall. We love the combination of the olive green and charcoal…
Lesley commissioned me to draw their four dogs in montage style as a surprise for her husbands birthday. Two of their dogs have sadly passed away – Winne the Labrador and Ralph the Border Terrier. They wanted them portrayed in the same drawing with their current dogs, their gorgeous Dachshund Twiglet and their Labrador Ella. Photos of Winnie and Ralph were limited, however I used…
Humphrey is all framed and has been sent to my client! It’s been busy in the studio and so I am catching up on the blog again today. The frame is beautiful, so serene and calming, we love it! The Hayseed double mount works well with the chalky white of the frame. I have added the photos of Humphrey on…
The portrait of Cinega is all finished, framed and displayed in our clients home. We absolutely love the frame and the inner slip works so well with the painting. I have added an email from our client for our viewers to read. Both Nicholas and I also love the wooden Orangutan in the photo too – isn’t it wonderful!!! Hi…
Here is a portrait I completed for a lovely client called Meg. Meg and her family sadly lost their gorgeous dog Henri Bell at the age of 18 after having rescued him at aged 1yr. Meg describes Henri as a ‘bossy little whatsit!’ who loved his family and was a fierce little guard dog who wasn’t keen on window cleaners or…
We absolutely love it when clients share photos with us of their paintings and drawings framed. This is a painting that Nicholas created a couple of months ago of a very handsome cat called Frankie Blue eyes. Some of our regular readers may remember the work in progress of Frankie. Our clients have now had the painting framed and emailed…
We haven’t had a blog post for a while, I have been saving lots of posts up, so we will be making up for it this week. It has been very busy around here, the renovations are coming to an end gradually. I am hoping we will only have builders here for another week and then we will be both…
The final scan of Cinega’s painting is below, all completed and sent to our clients. We hope you like it too. The painting is a 12 x 10 oil on Italian Linen canvas and you can see a close up of the scan below. Her eye is just so gorgeous. Lots has been happening here this week with the build…
Cinega’s painting is now complete and I took these photos of Nicholas holding his paintbrush next to the completed painting to show scale. The portrait here in the studio is beautiful and it is going to look stunning in the frame. I just adore the wonderful colours he has used in the background which work so well with Cinega’s coat…
We hope that everyone had a lovely weekend! Nicholas has been busy painting Cingea while I have been at the cottage putting the kitchen back into some kind of normality! The dishwasher has been going constantly to clean all of the crockery and the majority of things are now away in cupboards. We still have lots of work to do…
The next stages of Cinega are below. I was really busy yesterday in the cottage so these are yesterday stages. I will have the updated stages later today or early tomorrow. The portrait is coming along beautifully and Cinega is looking very three dimensional already, you can see in the photos below, the gorgeous look in her eye and its…
Here are the very first stages of Cinega’s portrait. It is a 12 x 10 oil painting on Italian Linen canvas and it is going to be framed in our beautiful Chelsea City frame. I can see already, even in these initial stages, how well the natural colours of Cinega and the background will go beautifully with the colour of…
The pet portrait of Les and Alfie is framed! We love the overall feel and look of the painting and really hope it will be a very special day when the painting is presented by our clients to the recipient, Les. The portrait has been framed in the traditional Flat frame, which is one of our longest running and favourite…
Here is the final scan of Alfie and Les along with some photos of the portrait with Nicholas’ hand holding his brush so that our readers can see the scale of the painting. The portrait has been painted in oils on Italian linen canvas at 16 x 12 size. The portrait is already framed and I have taken some photos…
How is everyone here in the UK feeling in this heat?! Here in Wales are aren’t use to hot weather. We usually have below average temperatures, sometimes sunny, sometimes showery, and then pretty long rainy winters. Overall its not the best place to live weather wise – but its beautiful and always green! This year however we have been hit…
Humphrey is the most gorgeous Cavapoo and I have drawn him at 16 x 12 size adding a final scan for you to see below. I worked from two photos for this portrait to get the best pose for Humphrey, one for the head and one for the body. The original photo of Humphrey sitting on the bench was lovely,…
Here are the next stages of the oil painting of Alfie and Les, we hope that you are enjoying the stages so far. The portrait is coming along beautifully and Nicholas is working on Alfie and the ice-cream today. These photos were as of yesterday as I didn’t get to add a blog post after completing Humphrys portrait. I will…
Here are the next stages of Les and Alfie’s Pet Portrait. Nicholas is painting as I type. He is a little further forward than the latest stage here, however I haven’t liked to disturb him for a photo! When you are painting and you are in the ‘zone’ and things are going well, I know all too well what its…
Here are the photos of Macko, Rex and Rosie’s pet portrait framed. The frame is our beautiful Chelsea City frame and it works absolutely stunningly with this painting. The Chelsea City frame is one of our favourites for a number of reasons. The colour of the gold is very natural and is slightly aged in the framers painting process and…
I thought I would make a quick blog post about packing pet portraits. When our paintings are framed we need to protect them as best we can as they are sent to our clients via courier. They travel far and wide and sometimes have quite long journeys, to America and Australia for instance. Wherever they are heading and however far…
It was a pretty busy day all round yesterday so I thought I would do a quick update before blogging photos of framed paintings and next stages of portraits. The renovations are coming along well and it just so happened that our kitchen and french doors and little window were being installed on the same day as the wood burning…