Here is the finished portrait of 'Keane' It was a pleasure to paint a tribute to such a handsome dog and one who served the public for many years.

'Keane' Detail of eyes.

Here is detail from his eyes. I needed to capture nobility, character, strength and also devotion as he was listening to his owner at this moment.

More work on 'Keane' On the day this photo was taken it was raining so light was not good, hence the colours are a bit off. At this stage I was still being careful of proportions and the positioning of his major features. Eyes have been worked more but will not be finalized until he is nearly finished.

'Keane' Pastel of retired Police Dog. Work in Progress.

Start of a large pastel of 'Keane' a retired Police Dog. As this pastel was to be a surprise for his owner I have had to delay posting it on here. The above sketch was worked lightly with pencil and then vandyke brown pastel pencil on top so that it showed up on the photo. Proportions had to be exact at the first stage as corrections are not easy to do in pastel.

'Young Bengal Tiger' - Graphite on Mellotex

Time to work has been in very short supply these last months due to urgent family commitments but here is an 8" x 6" study done for a late Christmas present. Snow on both sides of the ocean held up delivery so much I feared it was lost in transit but it finally arrived just in time for the New Year. Hopefully this Tiger will soon join the others already on the recipient's wall.

This was the first experiment with Mellotex and I found it very good to use, it accepted the graphite readily for a great depth of black in places and a soft kneaded putty rubber lifted it off for the lighter hairs without damaging the surface. I am looking forward to working with it again.