portrait of 3 bassethounds pastel third stage

Last night I worked hard and I think the head is almost there. I will let it rest and concentrate at the second black and white head of the father and perhaps later on I will bring some tiny alterations at the first head. But I find out that when I let my drawings and paintings rest for a while I can see them with fresh eyes. In real the head is so much better, there is more depth and liveliness, ah well, we all know that taking photos and scans do not give the real thing.

So here it is.................. my first bassethead finished. Wow, I even surprised myself. The last couple of years I studied hard. Bought many beautiful books about all kind of materials and techniques and also bought many DVD's. And I think that it pays out right now. I am so glad.
I have a very low income and I hope that I will get a couple of commissions per year. Not too much, only to be able to buy my materials to keep going.

portrait of 3 bassethounds pastel second stage

Last night I worked at the front of his face and his eye, not yet there. A lot of things to do, this is only the base. The snout has a somewhat deeper color and his nose is still with no color at all, etc, etc.
I already start to work at the portrait of his father so you can see some of the black ear of him behind his son. Although the father is black and white I will use many many colors to get the black and white. All those folds is fun to do, but to create the shine on his hair is difficult, I expect. But a real challenge. This is a real big project for me, 3 heads on one paper that's a big painting.

2 portraits, sister and brother, pencil drawing

A couple of months ago I finished two portraits of two little children. They are brother and sister and her grandmother wanted to have a portrait of them for her 70th birthday.
I took a lot of photos of the two children in the garden of their grandmother. It so much rewarding and fun to take my own photos, but it is not easy with children. They do not sit still. But I got many good photos to choose from. The grandmother was very satisfied about the portraits, I am glad to say that. Every new project is a real adventure and when I start I always feel insecure. But when I start at a commission there are no strings attached. I only sell the portrait when I am satisfied and the potential buyer only have to buy when he/she is satisfied. So no stress and pressure and I need that to feel free while drawing/painting.

These pictures are © protected!!

portrait of 3 bassethounds pastel first stage

Last week I started at another commission: a portrait of 3 bassethounds. Father and his two sons.

The owners they live close by and I know them for a long time because I meet them when I am walking my dogs. I told them I would love to portrait one of their dogs. They are so adorable and colorfull. They already have several paintings of their dogs but they also wanted to have a portrait of father and his two sons together.

So I took a lot of photos so they could choose the ones they like the most. And I put them together in several different setups so they had the choice which one they wanted. I like it when the owners and I decide together about the photos and the layout before I start.

For this portrait I use only pastelpencils, 3 different brands.
Chiaconda, Pitt and I gave myself a Christmas gift: Carbothellos. The paper I work on is Canson Mi Teintes, the smooth side.
All these materials are so expensive. But I pay my materials with the money I earn when a portrait is sold. So I can keep drawing and painting and stay busy. Especcially in wintertime and during the Christmas holidays, because these days are lonely days for me. And therefor having a task and a challenge is important for me so I do not feel to sad.

The first head is for 2 third almost ready, but there are always little tweeks to do.

leaf excercise

 I am trying to paint leafs, I find it so difficult to paint them.
So I will paint many leafs the next couple of days and I hope it will get better and easier.
At first I made a pencil drawing especcially for the veins, with pen and ink I made the lines more visible to use it to transfer the drawing to the watercolor paper.  First I painted the front of the leaf and right now I am painting the back of the leaf

last commission: portrait of a little boy

This is the last portrait I have made. Today I showed it to his grandmother and I am glad to say that she liked his little face. His name is Bram.

Billy Showell DVD's and books

I gave myself an early Christmass present. I ordered two new DVD's of Billy Showell about painting fruits and vegetables and A-Z flowerportraits. I cannot wait to watch them. Today I looked at a DVD of her I already had for some time, I think her first DVD, about painting a tulip and orchids. Such an inspiration to see her working. Tomorrow I will buy a simular orchidplant and I will try-out her way or painting. I think it will be a great excercise in painting techniques and what colors to use.

onion excercise watercolor

 

 This is my first excercise for the course at Londonartcolege about higlights and working wet in wet and such.

online course botanical illustration

Like I said in my previous post I wanted to take a course in botanical illustration and finally I found one in England, United kingdom.

I justed signed up and I cannot wait to receive the lessons to start.

Although I have some experience I do not have much experience in botanical drawing and painting so I have to learn a lot. I asked advise which course was best for me: nr I or nr II. The advice given was, because I already had some experience in drawing and painting, to start with nr II. So I did.

I keep you informed about the course and my work and the progress thet I hopefully will make.

botanical painting

I love botanical painting, I always did. But I feel it is so difficult. I bought some DVD's of very famous painters and my most favorite DVD is of Billy Showell. I bought also a lot of books about drawing and painting in a lot of different techniques and subjects. I searched the internet for botanical painting and painters and also for an online course. I found a course, but it costs so much money, too much for me. But then I discovered that one of their students (a professional artist now) put her journey while following the course in a book. It became a beautiful book and also because she shows and tells                                                                                                                                                    

botanical painting

I love botanical painting, I always did. But I feel it is so difficult. I bought some DVD of very famous painters and my most favorite DVD is of Billy Showell.
I bought also a lot of books about drawing and painting in a lot of different techniques and subjects and of course also books about painting flowers.
I searched the internet for botanical painting and painters and also for an online course.
I found a great course with The Society of Botanical Artists, but it costs so much money, too much for me.
But then I discovered that one of their students (a professional artist now) put her journey, while following the course, in a book. It is called Botanical sketchbook by Mary Ann Scott
Here you can read more about the book, the author and the SBA
http://makingamarkreviews.blogspot.com/2010/04/book-review-botanical-sketchbook.html

It became a beautiful book, also because she shows and tells all about the excercises and assignments.
Following the book you can follow the course yourself and I intend to do so.
That's why I started an excercise in drawing pears to start with.

I found another book that concentrate even more on the basics of drawing and painting botanical illustrations.
"Botanical Illustration course with the Eden project" by Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan.

I am so happy with these books. And it will take many many months to make all these excercises.
But I feel that when I have done so I will be able to draw and paint better.

some excercises drawing pears

 I felt it was time to do some excercise in drawing.
At the moment it is fall in Holland so a lot of pears are available.
I wanted to explore the form and different light sources and tones and methods to create the rounded form of the pears.
Not an easy subject I discovered.
But I like to start drawing and painting flowers and fruits so I feel that I have to start at the beginning and do a lot of excercises before I will choose an  more complex subject.

selfmade greyscale finder

Today I have made a greyscale finder.

A while ago I already painted a greyscale with acrylicpaint but I wanted to make one that would be more suitable for me to work with. So I used the greyscale I already had painted and put 3 rows of them on a clear sheet of thick plastic.
Because of the transparancy of the sheet I can find the right value far better.
I put a colored piece of paper underneath it so you can see the transparancy of the greyscale finder better.

Not only I can use the gaps or holes in the grey pieces of paper but I can also look at the spaces between the greys and be able to compare them very quick.

I used doubleside tape to attached the pieces of paper to the plastic sheet and put clear tape over them to protect the paper.
I wanted to have 5 or 6 greys to use for the earlier stages of drawing and painting.
The row in the middle has a small hole in them and the other row is at one side and has larger holes.
And for the final stages of my painting I like to see more tones so I added a third row of 10 values at the other end of the plastic piece.

I know, these greyscales are not expensive, but here in Holland I could not find them and I love to make my own things. While making the pieces of grey and the grey scale I had a lot of fun and of course I learned something from it, like always

new oil painting, still life

I started a new still life oil painting. I bought the DVD's of Elizabeth Pruitt and WOW these DVD's are so good! By watching her I learned so much and I am trying to paint the same still life to learn even more. These are the first two stages. I bought the same roses of the still life and took a lot of photos in different stages as a reference to help me.

little girl reading, oil painting, next step

In 2009 I worked at a painting of a little girl and last week I started to work a little bit more at this difficult subject. Of course this large painting is still not finished:-))))
I put three stages of the painting together so you can see the progress.
Click on the picture to see it enlarged.
In real (of course) the painting is longer and the colors are a bit different and lighter.
I get so frustrated about taking photos of my work.
When I scan a painting the result is a bit better, but this painting is far to large to scan it.

snowleopard first layer of fur

I started to paint the first layer of fur, still very roughly.

In the precious layers I used Liquin, so I could paint every day a next layer.

But with this layer I used linseed oil, so I have to wait  till this layer is dry before I can add more layers.

5th layer snow leopard oilpainting

Again, I worked a bit at this painting. I made it softer. Now I have to begin to paint fur.

snow leopard oilpaint first stages

I added some color to the painting.  I wanted to make the base more solid and to give it more shape and depth that's why I added this layer of color. Far too much color for a snow leapard but I will build up light/white hairs on top of this layer. I also made the spots and the dark colors very dark, again I will put white hairs partly over these black and brown spots. The whole painting will become more softer. This is the first time I paint fur, so this is an experiment, I hope it will work.

snow leopard oilpaint first stages

I started a painting of a snow leapard. It is a study, I never have painted such a subject with oilpaint.
I have a book about drawing and painting animals by Edward Aldrich and this snow leapard is one of his examples. I do not want to make an exact copy, I want to make the painting more loose.
These are the first three stages, still very basic with not much detail yet.


The painting is of an A4 size, approx 20x30 cm and I use MDF as a base. It is 1,6 cm thick.
I put on several layers of gesso and sanded between the layers.
I painted the gesso also on the sides and on the back. Than I put a couple of white layers of acrylpaint on the surface and put the drawing on and sealed the drawing with transparant white acryl.
The first stage is painted with acrylpaint, the other stages I used Liquin as a medium, so I can work in transparant layers. Later on I will use more linseed oil and less Liquin to get a bit more opaque layers.

watercolor portrait of a little girl

I think that the portrait is finished. It is always so difficult to decide when to stop.
This portrait was a real journey for me, I learned so much of painting it. Many, many layers where added. The last layers I used yellow ocre. This color is opaque so I could not use it for the previous layers. Now her hair is a bit blonder and I also put some of the yellow ocre in the face and ears to tone down the red collors a bit and the blue became a bit greenish. Only slightly.
I had a commission of drawing portraits of her and her brother for her grandmothers birthday. And once fnished I decided to also paint a portrait of the little girl with watercolor paint.
The size is A4, 20x30 cm and I used hotpress watercolor paper.

watercolor portrait of a little girl, first stages

For the first time I try to paint a portrait with watercolor paint.
I use very diluted paint, layer on layer, a very slow process of building color.
No details added yet, so I have a lot of work to do.

watercolor horse portrait second stage

I put more layers on the portrait, almost there. I have to paint his ears and of course some detailing is needed. But I am getting there, slowly. I learn a lot by painting this portrait. It is a new way of working with watercolor paint. I have never done something like this. And I am very excited about this process. I like it and I hope you like it too:-))))

watercolor horse portrait - first stage

I have started to paint the head of a horse. This is my first horse head:-))))
So be gentle in your comment.
The photo that I use as a reference is unfortunately not so good. The neck and breast are not shown, they are in the shadow. So I have to use my imagination a bit for that.

Ah well, I see this painting as an excercise, like always. And one day I hope I will be able to say: "I am there, I am satisfied about the result". But I am a perfectionist, so I do not think that this will ever happen.

Already many hours are put in, but I do have to do so much more.
Like the ears, the eye, the mouth and a lot of details have to be added.
But still I think that it is a good start.

Chow Chow acryl finished

Finally the Chow Chow portrait is finished. This is the first time that I worked with acryl.
In future I want to combine different materials such as watercolor and colored pencil and/or acryl paint. And also acrylpaint as a base for a painting with oilpaint. This was a lovely excercise to get familiar with acrylpaint. I hope you like it.

chow acryl soften a bit

It seems that there is not much difference between the middle picture and the third one. But I tried to soften things a bit and I am going to put more detail in concerning the hairs.
Acryl is a total different technique and it is therefor more difficult to show the softness of the hairs.

chow chow acryl next stages

chow chow acryl first stages

Last week I finished a portrait of a Chow Chow in pastel and I want to make another one but this time with acryl plaint. Perhaps I will add also a layer of oilpaint later on but I do not know yet.
These are the first stages. I have to build up many layers of color. I dilute the paint with lots of water, almost like watercolor paint.

oil painting, little girl reading, second color layer

I added some more color to this painting. Of course ....... in real the painting is longer.
I corrected it a bit with Paint Shop but.... Ohhhh, taking good photographs is sooo hard to do and often the results are so disappointing:-))))) If anyone has a good tip for me..... please contact me.

Ah well, I cannot change it. The painting is far to big to put it on the scanner. My previous painting, a pastel portrait of a Chow I did scan it once finished. I still had to scan it though in two parts and had to put the parts together with using Paint Shop Pro. It took a lot of time to do so, but the result is so much better than when I photograph the painting.

Of course painting is far from finished, but it has to dry befor I can put another layer of color on.

pastel portrait Chow Chow finished

Finally the painting of the Chow Chow is finished.

pastel portrait Chow Chow next stage

I worked hard at the head and the collar of hairs of the Chow Chow. Now I am going to paint the body and the legs.