A Very Busy Week

It hasn't been a bad week weather wise, a little colder than last week, but overall not bad.
I managed to get out in the garden where I did as much weeding as was necessary ( I only have a small garden), and put in some more plants. I want to add more structure to the border and so some small shrubs were prescribed.

The sun did shine a fair amount, although the wind made it rather chilly. The plants don't seem to mind though and they are growing. Spring is beginning I think, even if it is late.

Most days too, I went for walks up over the hills with my lovely, soppy German Shepherd dog, Honey.
Good exercise, as most of our walk is up hill through the fields in the beautiful countryside around our home.

She enjoyed herself immensely, especially when she spotted the rabbits having lunch in the hedgerow. She gave chase and spent some time waiting for them to emerge from their burrows, to join her for some play. Needless to say, she was disappointed.

Then half way across the field two deer were standing in full view. She couldn't believe her luck, and then again disappointment, when they legged it at top speed. Much too fast for her!

She didn't give up hope though, she kept looking behind as we walked on, to see if they were following us. Never mind.

I started a graphite pencil drawing this week too, a Lioness resting. I also have a commission, two lovely cats, a digital hand painted pet portrait that I have almost finished.

Both will be posted in the next few days. The painting will come first as the drawing is going to take quite a few days to finish.

The kitty drawing below is a graphite pencil drawing that I did a few weeks back. I hope you like it.

Long Haired Tabby Cat Graphite Drawing

Originals, prints and cards available here.

A Beautiful Day Here in my part of the UK

Well, it has been a beautiful day here in my part of the UK (Southwest). The sun was out and there was a pleasant warm breeze, I think spring may be on its way!

I took the opportunity to do some gardening, for the second time this week.

We moved to this house just over a year ago and the garden was a wilderness. I spent a lot of time last year clearing and planting it and it looked OK, but didn't do too well because we had such a wet summer.

Now, after a long freezing cold winter, the plants are beginning to poke their heads up through the soil, and many of the shrubs are amass  with new shoots. This year, they should all look good, even if the weather lets us down because they have been in for almost a year.

I haven't done any drawing or painting for a couple of days but will be over the weekend. I am going to draw a Lioness resting on a log on A3 paper. It will take some time to draw,  because there is a lot of detail in it. As soon as it's done I will post it here.

This lovely little fawn, I drew a few weeks ago. Just because I loved his sweet face.

Fawn Graphite Pencil Drawing

Buy the  Original, Prints and Cards from here.here

When I saw the photo of this cute little dog, I thought I have to draw him. His big wide eyes and dishevelled hair were beckoning to me.

I think he is a cross between a Beagle and a Poodle. Don't you think he is just Adorable? I do, that is why I have used him to head my page here and on my website

Cute Dog Graphite Pencil Drawing
10x8 on Bristol Board

Original, Prints and Cards available here

German Shepherd Graphite Pencil Drawing

This is my own dog, Honey. Here she is enjoying her bone.

German Shepherd Graphite Pencil Drawing
Size 8x10

Prints and cards available here

Boxer Dog Graphite Pencil Drawing

I am still in the process of revamping my blog, and today I managed to tackle my Home page. I think it looks much better now, more streamline and easy on the eye.

I have also started another drawing, this time of a beautiful long haired cat, a Maine Coone. It should be finished in the next day or so.
This is another drawing completed recently.
I will be posting it on my Graphite drawings pages too.

Boxer Dog Graphite Pencil Drawing

Original, Prints and Cards Available

 Size A4 Mounted

Original, Prints and Cards available here

Red Fox Graphite Pencil Drawing

Yesterday I paid a visit to my website, Sarah's Pet Portraits, and I decided that it needed a new look and a total revamp.

It is going to be a mammoth task because I want to change the layout of almost every page, to make it more streamline and easy on the eye.

I made a start by changing the template, which I may change again, depending upon how it looks with the changes I have planned. Anyway, to me, it now looks a mess and, the clean up operation is urgent.

Before I can really get into this operation I need to create and publish some new pages for my Graphite Pencil Drawings.

There will separate pages for Dogs, Cats, and Wildlife drawings with more added as I go along. I also plan to have an online shop there, just for the purchase of original drawing, prints and greetings cards (several sizes 5x5, 6x4 and 7x5).

You can shop here on my blog for them too, with a PayPal 'buy now' button.

Red Fox Graphite Pencil Drawing

Size 10x8 on Bristol Board

Original £80, ($122 US) Mounted

Prints 10x8 £20 ($30 US) Mounted

Cards -  Packs of 10 Cards

6x4 £18 ($27 US)

7x5 £22 ($32 US)

Postage - Free Worldwide

Original, Prints and Cards available here

CARDS

All cards are printed on high quality card with an ultra smooth blank insert. If you would like a personal message printed on the inset, let me know when you order and I will include this for you at no extra charge.

PRINTS - are all printed on to the very best quality fine art textured paper. They are fantastic and it is very difficult to tell that it is not an original. If you would like a custom size please contact me about this, any size up to A3 is available.

Buying Options

Original Drawing 10x8 £80.00 GBP Fine Art Print 10x8 £20.00 GBP Greeting Card 7x5 (10) £22.00 GBP Greeting Cards 6x4 (10) £18.00 GBP

Message on card insert

Lion Pencil Drawing and Digital Hand Painted Portrait

I have up until now, always worked digitally to paint my pet portraits. I have also done some drawing digitally, but not a lot. I have fancied doing some traditional drawings for a while and so I went out and bought myself everything I needed to draw traditionally. Below is a digital hand painted portrait and beneath that is a drawing of the same Lion.

Lion Digital Hand Painted Portrait

This is the first traditional drawing I have done in years. It is the same Lion painted above. I must say that I am not happy with it at all, to me, it's just not good enough! 

Having said that, this is a scanned image and the actual drawing is much, much nicer than it looks here on screen and everyone who has seen it disagrees with my misgivings. 

I have completed several drawings since doing this and they are improving each time. 

In the next few days, I will posting them too.

Any comments will be appreciated. Tell me what you think.

Three Beautiful Golden Retrievers

All three of these paintings were commissioned to help our friends Dogs in Brazil.

Buddy is the only one still living, Bailey and Sassy are in Rainbow Heaven. It was a real joy to paint these beautiful dogs and I am sure they will look great when framed and hung on the wall together side by side.

Buddy

Bailey

Sassy

If you would like me to Paint or Draw a Pet Portrait of your pet, it's very easy to do.
All you need to do is Email me some photos of your pet. If you feel that your photos are not good enough, send them to me anyway to evaluate them. I will always try my best for you, especially if you have a limited number of photos and your pet has passed away.

All of my paintings are painted by hand on my computer, using the paint engine in photoshop and a wacom pen tablet. They are then printed on to a quality Fine Art Paper and are sent to you mounted and ready to frame.

My drawings are all drawn traditionally with graphite pencils on Bristol Board. They too, will be sent to you mounted and ready to frame.

You can see some of my drawings on my Facebook page, until I am able to post them here on my Blog. I will be posting them in the next few days.

If you would like your Pet Portraits painted for a special date, just let me know and I will paint them as a priority. If you live outside of the UK, you will need to allow for delivery times.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am always happy to help.

Digital Watercolour Paintings

I have always loved watercolour paintings, but I have never painted with them. I wanted to see if it was possible to reproduce watercolour digitally. It is not easy, and I spent months researching how to achieve a traditional watercolour effect on the computer without the use of any filters, just painting with a brush. I also wanted the painting to look like a traditional painting when printed on to a fine art watercolour paper. Here are the results. Just a few practice runs.

Tabby Kitten Watercolour

Guga (one of the Dogs in Brazil) - A digital Watercolour Painting

Basset Hound - Digital Hand Painted Watercolour

Burmese Cat - Sockie - Digital hand painted Watercolour

White and Ginger Cat - Khadija

This is beautiful little white and ginger cat is called Khadija.
Sadly she is no longer with us, she passed over Rainbow bridge just over a year ago. This was commissioned by my client for her husband whose cat Khadija was.
She was over 20 years old and is sadly missed. This paintings serves as a lasting memento to a much loved pussy cat.