Bracco Club of America

Hi all,
   Well I am back at home now after having a lovely break and spending time with my family...the weather was not too bad which was nice and me Mum had bought my sis and I a birthday cake which we all duly scoffed down....all in all a lovely four days where I walked some, lounged around watching films and basically eating all the things that I should not, oh yay and a few glasses of plonk as well. Have to say though there is nothing like coming home and getting into ones own bed..heaven!

 I did come home to a lovely email from a lady called Valerie Kessler who is the secretary of the Italian Bracco Club of America who had come across my image of Lola. She had kindly asked me if they could use the image on some T shirts to help raise awareness of the breed and their rescue efforts. Recently they have had a few come in who all need to be rehomed, which is quite sad as it is for all dogs. I myself have not seen any of these dogs at the shows apart from Lola, which makes me wonder why that it is as I think they are lovely noble looking dogs, with from what I know a great temperament, however I have seen more of the Italian Spinone which is sort of similar but has wiry fur and I think a heavier build. I do love donating some of my works to good causes whether it be an original piece of work, a digital copy, gift voucher or something more specific, it is a real feel good factor to give something back and I know that a lot of my artist pals feel the same way. I hope my readers will go over and have a look see at their site and I will keep you updated on this story as and when. Oh yes before I forget I do get one of the T Shirts for free which is so nice, and will wear proudly.

Graphite GSD

Hi all,
         Firstly I would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes, it makes me feel very warm and fuzzy knowing that they have come from me blogger pals/readers, and I am sure that I will have a pukka day!
        Monday was a bit of nightmare day as we woke up to find that poor Bluebell had quite a large lump under one of her titties which was quite tender and warm to the touch. At first sight I thought she may of been bitten by an insect as she does love to hunt in the undergrowth down by the river, but I could not see any puncture wound. She was very subdued and sleepy all day which was a little bit worrying, so we made an appt to get to the vets in the afternoon. Curiosity peaked I did a quick search on the net with her symptoms and the only consistent thing that kept coming back was mastitis.....but she has been spayed and this is something that is quite common in bitches that have not been, it really did not make sense to me. Anyway the vet on examination did confirm this, and said it is very rare for a spayed dog to have this and brings into question her operation. Some of you may remember that when we had her done she did have pyrometra, a potential killer for bitches, but lucky enough she was caught in time and apparently they got all her reproductive parts out, or not so it may seem. The vet said that the only thing that may of triggered the mastitis is she still may have some of her reproductive tissue left behind ! I am not sure what to make of all this really, and I suppose my thoughts were running amok after just having let Poo Poo go I kinda of panicked and thought I might be losing her as well! She is on anti biotics and painkillers now for a week and hopefully that will clear it up without too much pain, but if this occurs again then I am not sure what the outcome of it will be.Will keep you updated on that.
      The picture you see above is of a German Shepherd done in Graphite on Fabriano 5 paper size 12 x 10 inches. Quite a difficult dog this, as she has many colours and on hindsight might of been better in CPs, but this one has come too far to be abandoned so onwards and upwards.
     This will be my last update until next week as I am off in a day for a break at me mums...really looking forward to this as it is a family get together which is all good. I shall see you all on the flip side and whatever you are doing this coming weekend have a good one.

Old English Sheepdog Picture

Hi all,
    Another busy week and much to do before I get off down to me mums for a few days...got to say I am looking forward to having this little break.
  The pictures you see on the left are a Old English Sheepdog called Zepp, a youngster of three years old and a typical OES, and by that I mean as nutty and lovable as they come. This one does have a tail which is a joy to see, and hopefully the new law bought in sometime ago will prevent anymore from being docked. The common name for OES is bobtail and I have to say that my own PooPoo was a docked one, but I like them with tails and it does not seem out of place. This picture is on light blue canson paper, size 12 x 16 inches mounted, using Prismacolours and will be my 12th OES drawing. Being a mostly white/grey/blue dog drawing this on white paper is a big no unless it was to be done in Graphite, which I have done before and works just as well, but I do prefer doing it this way because working on a coloured paper makes the picture more striking. The bonus to this paper is that there are two sides to it, one more honey combed which is better for Pastels and the other smoother which is great for CPs, plus you get a nice range of colours from light neutral light shades to vibrant funky ones, ideal for the more creative pieces perhaps.
   The weather is being to change a bit now feeling cooler, but still nice for this time of year, and I can see a few changes coming in the trees as they turn from green to shades of gold,ochre,orange and red so I will be out and about with my camera nabbing a few shots hopefully. I went off Blackberrying last week and came back with a tub full of them, I just love lightly cooked berries with a dollop of natural yogurt on them, makes a nice sweet or even a good brekkie!

Done and Dusted

Hi all,
     What a busy week it has been, running around like a lunatic...yesterday I went to Hever Castle which was great, and got some really nice photos of the gardens and swans, which has given me a few ideas for some pictures to do through the winter months. The castle itself was sumptuous and one could just imagine King Henry storming through the place on his way to see Anne Boleyn and one of his other numerous wives. I really admired the paintings of the wives and Henry himself, but I don't think these were done by Holbein. I have to admit of thinking about the raunchy series The Tudors whilst walking around, reckon those walls could tell a story or two !
   As you can see above the little Chihuahua is now finished, really pleased with this one, and just love the colouring of her...a very sweet dog and much loved by her owner Sandra.
 

Beaudor

Hi all
     I can now finally post up a picture that I had been working on and off throughout the first half of they year, and his name is Beaudor a beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback...what a stunner ! Earlier this year my blogger pal Marianne ( who is a very talented Mandala artist ) asked me to do a picture of Beaudor for her very good friend Marja. She emailed some photos which I have to say were lovely and clear and we chose together which one would be the best to use.I did this on Stonehenge paper to the size of 12 x10 inches mounted,using my favorite pencils Prismacolours in shades of yellow ochre,golden rod,terracotta,burnt ochre,peach beige,cinnamon,sienna, and for the darker tones a mixture of burnt umber,black cherry,chocolate and some black,and as always there are a few other colours added to the palette too. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this picture for someone who was so enthustiac and obviously loves her friend very much and I know Marja that you love it ! My thanks to Marianne as well for asking me to do this, it was my pleasure.
     This is a first of this breed for me and I was lucky enough to meet two of these at the dog shows this Summer, which was great as I was a tad concerned about the lighter tones in the Beaudor, but seeing them in the flesh so to speak put my mind at rest, and I was happy enough to know that I had got it right.

More Chihuahua

Hi all,
           Hard to believe that it is September already, and the weather is beginning to change a little...where has the year gone! I personally love this time of year leading into October,it can still be warm and sunny without that intense heat of the Summer and as an artist one always marvels at the changing colours of the plant life around us. I have been taking Bluebell out a fair bit to the beach and when the tide is out she has taken to running around like a lunatic chasing the gulls......like she is going to catch one...not! It is good to see her getting back to normality but the only downside to that is, she loves to roll in the sand, and as she sleeps with us, well you can imagine we end up with half the beach in the bed!
        As you can see above I have worked some more on the Chihuahua coming along nicely now still using all the same colours as before in various amounts, but I have also added in a Polychromos Cinnamon which is a lovely colour and great to add in tones that fall between pink/peach. This is almost done now and the next update will see it finished, my thanks once again to all your kind comments much appreciated as always.

New Chihuahua Drawing

Hi all,
        Once again thanks for all your lovely comments, most appreciated and thoughtful.
I have been keeping myself busy a lot walking and drawing which is a good healing process I think for both myself and Bluebell, and as you can see this is the early result of my efforts. This little baby is a sweet Chihuahua called Gem, who has the most wonderful range of colours in her coat from soft cream,peaches,
pinks,to beiges, and as I am using my fav pencils Prismacolours I have all those colours in abundance. This is the first dog of this breed that I have done before so its going to be fun getting all those colours right and the funky pink collar to match as well.