Tuesday Update

Greetings Readers,
         It has been another busy week and I am almost finished with this drawing, which I have to say that I am very pleased with. It has been a while since I used Fabriano 5 for Graphite and my first attempts were appalling, preferring something with a little more "tooth" but as they say practice makes perfect and now I can honestly say that I love using it. I do use this paper for CPs as well and that works fine for me too, but have to admit that Stonehenge is my first preference. I hope to have this one done by Wednesday and then it is on to a great hairy Briard dog...should be interesting !

Sunday I went off to another dog show, I think probably my last one for this year as the weather will start to change, however we are still basking in late summer sun and it has been truly glorious. Sunday was no exception and I met up with various dogs again all shapes and sizes, and I came home smelling of all sorts which gave Bluebees the hump. She is such a funny gal, does not like to come with me, but sulks for the day when I am gone and then tells me off when I come home...perhaps she thinks that I am being "unfaithful" to her !

Today is my birthday another year older and wiser.....I often think about that word wiser, and ask myself am I ? I think we all do as we get older, and the decisions that I made in my colourful youth might not be the ones that I might make now, however having said that it has moulded me into I am now, and I can honestly say that is a good thing. There are still things that I need to come to terms with and accept and that brings to mind this ever truthfull prayer.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference





Flat Coat Retriever

Greetings Readers,
               September already where do the months go ? The sun is still shining and we are having a spate of lovely autumnal days, with just a few showers thrown in, however that is not bad as I am still sitting in my living room with the back door open, it is that mild.
                 As you can see above I have started another new drawing this time a Flat Coat Retriever, a youngster and looker methinks. She is being done in graphite on Fabriano but I have chosen to do her eyes in CPs which adds that little bit extra interest. I have not done many Graphite drawings on Fabriano 5 paper before as I tend to opt for something with a bit more "tooth" to it, but that paper is   more cream in tone, where I wanted something pure white for this one. It is also being done from my own photo that I took of her a while back at a local dog show.

Cool Saturday

Greetings Readers,
             It has been another busy week, and I am feeling a tad knackered on this damp Saturday morning, however it is all good as I achieved quite a bit including finishing this picture which I am very happy with. Next up is a beautiful Flat coated Retriever which I have not done before, and it will be in Graphite again. The one thing I noticed about these dogs is that they have quite long faces/noses if that makes sense and I do recall hearing a lady referring to one as a "flat top" ! Not sure if that is a compliment to the breed or not.

Tuesday Update.

Greetings readers,
              Have you noticed I have changed my usual start sentence from my usual "hi all " to the one above, much better methinks !
              This is where I am at so far, and the next update should see this done and ready to be mounted. I have had to tweak Angus a little more as I was not entirely happy with what I had done, and it still needs more, but it is coming together nicely now, but overall I am very happy with it.

          Just a quick word about the new Blogger interface, to say that after using it for almost three weeks now I quite like it. It is cleaner and I am able to see more detailed information about each of my blogs on the dashboard ,and I love the new compose post editor too, so all in all its good...kudos to the Blogger Team.

More on the Westies

Hi all,
    Greetings from a wet and windy Uk on a Monday morning ! Never mind it is not going to last, apparently it is going to clear this afternoon leaving us with some warmish sunshine, which will be nice.
  Ploughing on with this now, and you can see that I have started to render the dog on the right. As Westies are all white it can be quite difficult to do this breed as they tend to look a lot like one another, and these are two are no different when their coats have been shorn. To create them a little differently I have used two very different photos with Angus on the left with his fur longer and a little more scruffier, and he is almost a  bit smaller than Penny, so have placed back in the picture. Penny on the other hand is stockier and more rotund, and am doing her with her coat quite short, creating two very different dogs with very different personalities.

West Highland Terriers

Hi all,
       Bit behind with my updates again, just another week of feeling not so good and a bout of tonislitis to boot. I am sure the weather has something to do with it, as the UK has turned autumnal very quickly so it has been a mixture of high winds, rain and feeling a tad cool! Having said that in past years Sept and October have been very nice with temps in the 20s and that really nice pukka indian summer feel to it, so here is hoping next week will be a little better, with me included.
      The Rottie is still being worked on, but I have also started another drawing of a couple of Westies. This is going to be a pair and I know them very well, the one you see above is called Angus and he is 13 years old, a real sweetie and despite his age, going blind in one eye and dodgy back legs he has these spurts of energy where he runs around like a 1 year old for about 10 mins and then is out of puff for the rest of the day. I have to own to being a little bit in love with him because he reminds me so much of my beloved Monty in his last months of life, plus I can pick him up sit him on my knee and love him loads. His companion is a female called Penny and a very different kettle of fish, she can be snappy at times,and one has to be careful how you approach her to give her a little stroke, especially on her back as for some reason she is very sensitive there, but she is still very sweet and loving, and as both of these are rescues one does not know what has been in their past. Size of this one is 12 x 10 in Graphite.
     I am using the new Blogger interface which is kinda of nice, although the damm spell check does not work, it always seems to play up, but this style is nice and clean, and fairly easy to use. I shall continue on with it and see how it pans out.