I've been featured!

How flattered am I?
Today I have been featured on another blog.

My paintings of St Nicholas, our local church, and Wilbur, A German Shepherd dog have been featured on Ann Nichols' blog.
My photos are first an image from the work in progress of the church; secondly Wilbur hanging in his new home. The complete village church painting can be seen on Ann's blog, as can the close up of Wilbur.

You can go here to see Ann's blog.
It is a blog about St Nicholas and Christmas - and once a week features the most darling cat - Edward :)
I have been included in the feature St Nicholas Around the World.

Wibur - Stage 7

Today I have added a red collar to Wilbur.

Because he is a long haired German Shepherd, you don't get to see all of the collar, just a few glimpses of sections here and there.

The collar may stay as it is, or it may yet be covered by long fur. It is a variable at this point, because until I paint the dark fur in, I won't be completely sure how well it looks.

All that's left now for me to do is to paint the darks of Wilbur's top coat.
Soon be finished!

Wilbur - Stage 6

Wilbur now has his nose - and a glorious wet nose it looks!

I have also added a shadow under his top jaw on top of his tongue.
This helps to make the snout stand out more from the lower part of the dog.

Looking good, Wilbur!

Wilbur - Stage 5

Today I have added the eyes to Wilbur's painting.
Now he starts to come alive!

I try to paint eyes expressively, because in the eyes the owner will see all the love the dog held for them. Its the one part that absolutely must be right.

I paint from my heart when I paint eyes, hopefully that will show.
I'm pleased with how Wilbur's eyes have come out.

Wilbur - Stage 4

In this stage a mix of raw sienna and burnt sienna was applied all over Wilbur following the same areas worked on in the last stage. It has the effect of deepening the coat.

The wash goes even where the black will be, because shepherds do have a double coat and glimpses of sable always come through the black.
Slivers of white are left at the edge of his ruff, to help differentiate where the ruff ends and body fur begins.

I'm quite pleased with how the dog is progressing, the next stage I will do will be the eyes to bring him more into life.

Wilbur - Stage 3 - and new Link

Here is the next stage of Wilbur's painting.

A wash of raw sienna has been added wet on wet . This will serve as a foundation colour to all of the fur on Wilbur, be it light or dark. It will help tie the two together. Wet on wet is a technique where you wet the paper first and then add the watercolour wash into it. It makes the colour flow and blend beautifully.

I like this stage, you can see the dog coming to life more.

The new Link is to Terrier Rescue.. a rescue dedicated to finding terriers new homes. Something dear to my heart. If you're a dog lover one of these beauties will steal your heart away...

Wilbur - Stage 2

In this stage I have painted the ears and the tongue with a glaze of rose madder and deepened the glaze in parts.

The parts I have deepened will be the most visible parts in the finished painting.

For instance, although the ears have a glaze all over them, only the deepest "pink" will not be covered by a layer of paint to represent fur.

Wilbur - Stage 1

I thought it might be interesting to post a stage by stage painting.
So here is Wilbur - the drawing from Summer School.

The background washes were an ultramarine blue for the sky and yellow ochre for the sunlit clouds.

This wasn't what was in the photo at all, but that's an artist for you!
We like to change things that aren't necessarily attractive into something that is. ( I hope it is!) Artistic license, its called.
Wibur's owners will hopefully prefer it too.