October, the Big Draw and Happily Ever After

In October, the Big Draw events happen.
If you're in the UK, you can see the list of free events HERE

I always try to do at least one drawing in October.
It helps keep my eye in - and truthfully, you get absorbed in drawing to the point it's almost meditative.

This year, I wanted to do a portrait - and the very lovely Miranda Dickinson,author and singer ( website HERE ) said that I could use her photo as a reference.
So I drew this portrait of Miranda's mum and daughter, hoping that I could capture the feeling of love and ease, between the two generations.
For those of you who know Miranda, you will also find the title of her latest release in the pile of books...

Happily Ever After

For the curious amongst you, this was done on Winsor & Newton paper, Medium Cartridge 70lbs, using a Derwent Graphic Designer pencil, Grade F.

As always, this can be found, along with all my other paintings and drawings, on my gallery site Pat Elliott Paintings - HERE

Where the Heart is.

I think the title of this, my latest portrait, speaks for itself..

Where the Heart is

Hope you've enjoyed watching me try out this new technique.

I will definitely be adopting it and combining it into my usual style.

and I just had to show you this darling picture of my two sitting next to me on the sofa..

Bubble the Clown

Here's my latest dog portrait, Bubble the Clown

she's a fun loving, joyous dog, so I painted her to reflect this.
I hope she brings a smile to your face!

Bubble the Clown

Surprise!

Paul and I got a surprise in the mail yesterday!

It was a gift from Sharon, who came to the Hashim Akib  portrait demo with me.

She painted an acrylic portrait of our darling Missy.

If you'd like to see more of Sharon's work, go HERE

Pencil Portrait

Sharon, who I went to the portrait demo with, posted a picture of her sister on the Painting Friends forum.  I liked the look of the photo and fancied making a portrait.
Every now and then, I feel the need to flex my fingers with pencils - so a pencil portrait it is:

Sisterly Smile

Its not perfect, I can see a couple of improvements I could make, but they're minor and I'm reasonably happy with the overall effect :)

Portrait practise

Mollie kindly let we Painting Friends use one of her photos to practise painting child portraits.
So off I gaily went and this was the first effort I showed the friends:

after a few suggestions on how I could make a few changes to bring her more to life and have more shape and form on her face, I came up with this:

I'm quite happy with the changes and I'm grateful for the help this novice receives!

The Cowgirl Series .. Cowgirl I: Pride of Texas

On the Painting Friends forum, we are currently having a portrait challenge.
Its such fun being in a community of painters and having challenges set. They're not compulsory of course, but joining in is, I find, a great way to stretch your capabilities.
In this one, we were given a picture of a tailor's dummy and asked to make her into a portrait. First picture is the dummy  - in case you can't tell :)
The painting is named Pride of Texas, because if you look very closely at the cheek in shadow, there's a star in there. A happy watercolour accident! 

I was so entranced by this painting, I decided to try it again - and again - using different techniques. So don't be surprised when you see more Cowgirls popping up on my blog :) 

Dummy

Cowgirl I :Pride of Texas

Portrait Fun

On the Painting Friends forum I belong to, we currently have a Portrait Fun challenge going on.
I'm not that used to doing portraits, so elected to try this photo in one colour only. I used Burnt Sienna and this is what I produced.

Portrait Fun

photo from morguefile and the photographer is luisrock62

Charcoal Portrait

Beryl and Dennis came over to our house on Boxing Day, and we all had a wonderful time.

Paul and Dennis did some woodturning - and Beryl and I watched and followed an instructional art dvd.
Here is my charcoal portrait drawn whilst watching the dvd.

Not being used to charcoal or portraits, I'm quite pleased with it!