Pug Update

Hi all,
Firstly I would like to thank every one for their comments, each one has been most helpful, and helped me to come to a decision about this piece. As you can see from the picture I blended the blue some and took out the horizon as many of you rightly pointed out it was distracting, and cropped it a bit which methinks works better. I am not entirely convinced that I really want to add proper backgrounds into my work, favoring much more a soft blending of colour, or just a hint of something extra like grass/trees/toys/ or putting the animal into something like a dog/cat bed/basket etc. This has been something I have done for many years and is a tried and tested formula that works, and I enjoy.
It still needs a few tweaks here and there especially on the neck,but I will leave it to sit for a day, before doing that.

Problematic pic....Advice anyone?

Hi all,
So is my latest update and with it problems of my own making ......will I never learn!
I love this dog picture, but I am struggling with the background which I have said before, so useless at ! The idea was to suggest the sea and some sky, but to me it looks really rubbish, and to add into the mix not sure whether to crop into the dog some making it more portrait, or leave it as landscape. The mounted size will 12 x 10 inches when done, but I am stuck, so come on all me arty pals...any suggestions ?

Pencil Pickup

Hi all,
I have had two weeks of rock painting and much fun getting creative, and I will post up a pic of my efforts when I take a photo tomorrow, but now it is back to my pencils with vengeance ! I had hoped to get a little more done today, but was unable to for a multitude of reasons, but as you can see the body fur is going in however the neck does need more work doing to it,especially around the whorly bit.The colours are still the same with a bit of extra brown ochre thrown in, and obviously the collar colours which again are Prisma's, and as a whole I am quite pleased with this so far.

For some of you who have been reading this blog for a long time, a few of you may remember a few posts that I made about some problems with my right shoulder, which resulted in shoulder arthoscopy surgery about three years ago. At the time I was having a lot of pain and restricted ROM, a real pain in the ass, but the surgery did work wonders and I have been ok up till now. For some reason it has started all over again and not only in my right but my left as well, and the last few days has been really awful, so am really having to rest from the art/rock painting for a day or so. It has also been effecting my neck which is most uncomfortable with nights being the worse, as this is when you feel the "impingement" most....cant sleep for long on my right side or my left, so it is a case of turn over regular!To cut a long story short, I have been to the docs and referred to a consultant, cant quite believe it but I already have my appt (albeit an evening one ) in two weeks time by using the choose and book system. Last time I did this it took six weeks, so I am well pleased, unlike my poor hubby who is still waiting to get his appt to see a back consultant ! Anyhow I am hoping it is fixable without surgery, but I wont hold my breath...keep you updated on that one.

Dog Progress

Hi all,
This is where I am at the moment, but this pic is taking a little longer than I had hoped, especially around the mouth area, getting that pug pushed up nose look ! I am still using the same colours, but as you can see the collar will be a little more colourful. The scan does not do this picture justice really, as some of the colours seem quite faded out, but when the pic is finished I hope to get a truer copy.

Over the next few days I am going to get another picture on the go, but am thinking of posting that one as wip on my website, just to see how that might pan out.