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Hi all,
           We have finally hit the jackpot here in the uk as for the past week we have had some lovely sunny warm days, so much so that I was able to put Bluebells bed outside for her to sunbathe on. She is a funny little soul as she does love the sun and as soon as it is out she is up and gone around the back to the garden and will stretch out to catch some rays ! The photo above was taken last week when we went to visit a friend, and this is Blue and her best pal Pearl playing out in the garden. These two have been friends for ever and the last two summers were spent play fighting all day, going to the beach,sleeping,eating and drinking and a fine time was had by all. Sadly Pearls family moved some miles away last year, but still close enough for us to jump in the car and go for a visit.
           For the next month or so my blog posts will be few and far between as I am moving for definite and in the process of packing up my home yet again. I will miss living here as it has been great being so close to the sea that I can walk to it in under 10 mins, but for many reasons this move is more about practicality than anything else. So we are moving inland just a bit, closer to facilities and other things required for our needs but not too far away that we can still have a day out at the beach, a win situation all the way methinks. There will be no art to show for this period as well, as I just wont have time to create any, but I shall make up for that later on.
        I woke up this morning to find that my blog had been hit by a host of spam comment's from online casinos etc which is a real pain in the ass and most un welcome, so they have promptly been deleted and marked as spam. In my years of blogging I have never encountered much spam at all so was wondering if this was just me getting it or any of you as well ? Be warned it will not be tolerated !

Spots and Dots

Hi all,
         I have just realised that it has been a week or so since my last post, and I don't have any excuses for that except I have been tied up with some personal stuff and finishing off these stones for a friend. This is my last lot for a while now as it is for all my other painting stuff as I must be disciplined with myself and spend time with my pencils. These stones have been done with lots of different colours,including my new glitter paint which I love, and have gotten really wild and funky with some of the patterns on these,using flowers and multi coloured spots and dots. I have lots of new ideas whirling around in my head, but that will have to await a while now. As I sit here writing this post I cannot quite believe that I am going to say this, but it looks like we will be moving again! More on that later.

Irish Setter done.

Hi all,
      As you can see left, I have now finished the Irish Setter, and what a joy she was to do,just love that collar ! Having the pencils back in my hands felt sooo good, and I am raring to get started on the Mastiff.  I would of had done a little this week, but I have been busy painting stones for a friend of mine, they are all bugs, of funky colours and patterns and once I have photographed them will post some up.
  We finally had some good amounts of sunshine today which was nice, albeit the wind was still a tad chilly, but even so we made the most of it. Last week walking along the beach we came across a dead rat, a very large one which Bluebell thought it would be great to roll in not just once but twice which led to her having a bath each time, which she hated ! We avoided that spot for a while, but as she so loves this particular place because it is great for hunting we went back on that trail today, but with no rat thank god, so it was a lovely afternoon, with a hot cup of tea and jam donuts for afters. I think Spring is finally on the way yipppee !

Irish Setter 2

Hi all,
        Another post today methinks I am on a roll ! This is where I am at with this picture which is almost done now.  I do love doing some of these funky collars on dogs, and with a dog that has a lot of white in the chest neck area, or is quite pale can help break up a very large section of grey/white fur.
      I have so missed using my pencils and am enjoying this one a lot, so trying to get ahead of myself a little I am already thinking of my next picture. I do have one semi done that needs to be finished and that is Neapolitan Mastiff, but I think it is time to do some wildlife. Looking through my portfolio of completed drawings I have a lot of dogs and cats but very little wildlife. I do think that is because taking photos of dogs at the shows is really accessible,and cats are not a problem either but getting the wildlife requires a trip to the parks and zoos. I do have some shots of lions that I took last year at Port Lympe and a few of the Gorillas,Rhino and hoof stock so they are also on my list to do at some point. I have contacted some one on flickr in regard to a few Cheetah pictures which is my all time favorite big cat, and they have kindly allowed me to use a few for a picture I have in mind, more on that later.

Irish Setter

Hi all,
       Another week has gone by and I have been busy sorting out some of my art equipment and having a little tidy up lol...well sort of ! Having had a much too long break from the pencils I have been itching to pick them up and get on with some drawing and as you can see on the left the current subject is an Irish Setter with these beautiful tones,of orange and red. I did not take this photo her owner did and it was done outside when we had all the snow so her colours are coming across very vibrant and bright. I have tried to tone them down a tad to a more natural colour and hopefully will work towards that end. The size is 10 x 8 and is on Fabriano paper, but I am not sure it is the 5 satin/smooth type as this one tends to feel a little bit more textured so am wondering if I have picked up the wrong sort ? Having said that it is ok to use so not is all lost, the pencils are mostly Derwents drawing range as they have some really super shades of red like Ruby Earth,Sepia Red,Mars Orange and the much loved Terracotta.
 The picture is showing some dirty smudges on the top left corner, but these are on my scanner which needs a bit of a clean.