Cat Study in pastel

As I am busy with some large commissions - hopefully the client will grant permission to show them on the web in due course - I am posting a 2007 pastel of a dear 'old style' Persian cat. He is a dear soul, very sweet and affectionate and it was a joy to paint his beautiful fur. As I took many photos of this lovely cat hopefully there will be more studies of him in the future. (For those who are experimenting with pastel the shadows in this study were browns and blues.)

Spring Blossoms

After a cold snowy winter a very welcome spring has arrived. Last week's mild temperatures and sun brought out the blossom on some of the trees and some spring flowering plants. As I am working - but nothing ready to post yet I thought I would share some photos of the garden. I hope you enjoy seeing them :)

Miniature - Graphite Study of Jenny

Still enjoying experimenting with the dura-lar film in the evenings, here is a new graphite study of a very pretty young girl called Jenny. I could not resist transferring her serenity from a photograph (she lives a long way from us) into a portrait. People are more of a challenge to draw/paint but very well worth the effort. This image is much enlarged - the original is 3" x 2.5".

Miniature - 'Aragorn' Graphite study

I am a big fan of Tolkein and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films so when I was looking for a small study to try out some Dura-Lar film this one of Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn seemed a challenge - because of the look in his eyes. The original is 2.75" x 2.5". O.K. I know it is not my copyright but I have no intention of using this experimental image anywhere but here.

By the way I thoroughly recommend Dura-Lar Acetate alternative, it is archival quality and a pleasure to work with. Just a shame that I had to ask a friend in the US to send me some as it could not be found here in the UK. There will be more graphite studies - I will be going back to Arabians and other animals very soon. These studies are a useful change in the evenings when taking a break from larger commissioned oil work.

Blacklord Caesaro - building up colour.

Here is the late stallion Blacklord Caesaro, a wonderful character and ambassador for the Arabian breed. I have been asked how to build up soft pastel on a black horse (the same principle applies to any black animal) and am using this study to show some of the under colours, blue greys and purple browns amongst others that are laid in before any blacks are used. Blue greys will give the hightlight areas and purple browns give a warmth to the whole pastel. Care must be taken with the purple brown however, otherwise you can end up with a 'sun burned' brown/black. Use the black pastel lightly over other colours and on its own only in the shadow areas. (I like Rembrandt's deep rich black.) Try to stay away from the pastel pencils as much as possible and use them only to finish the fine detail. Note to self: I must remember to take more photos when working as I am good at asking other artists to do this!

Graphite study of an Arabian horse.

I have been down with a nasty bug for some time hence the lack of new work updates on the blog, but here is something I was able to do in the evenings without risking the pastel dust making this darned cough worse. Working with graphite is interesting and you can get quite dramatic effects. I may use this 7" x 6.5 study for a larger pastel image in the future.

Many thanks to Geoff Rigby, a good friend, who gave me permission to use one of his beautiful photos as inspiration for this study. If you like Arabian horse photos be sure to check his site out.

It seems a little difficult to get a good representation of graphite work on screen. The images do not seem to 'zing' the way they should. Anyone got any advice on this subject? Meanwhile I shall go and ask the experts...

Graphite Study of a Goeldi's Marmoset

'Morning Light', (8" x 5")

The Goeldi's Marmoset (or Goeldi's monkey) graphite study is finished (I think.) Dreadful light here today, so may have to re-photograph tomorrow.

After looking at Colchester Zoo's website I was able to identify this species from the reference photos taken some time ago. It is a Goeldi's Marmoset, a South American New World Monkey from the Upper Amazon Basin of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is a tree dwelling (arboreal) primate about the same size as other Marmosets and is listed as vulnerable.

Working in graphite again has been very enjoyable and I am going to try to fit one or two in around my regular work.