George is finished

Did the final pulling together of this painting today. I decided yesterday that I really liked the movement of George's coat, and wanted to capture this in the landscape as well. I've just received a lovely response from the lady who commissioned the painting. I've used some strong contrasting colours to draw the eye to different parts of the painting, hopefully taking the eye through the composition.

I must finish my lioness, I'm also very excited about a new project. I've recently joined a group of Kingston artists called Kingston Artists Open Studio (KAOS). We are planning to exhibition twice a year in the centre of Kingston. As well as this we are opening up our studios to the public in the Summer. It's a great chance to get to meet the artists and get an insight to how our paintings happen. I'm waiting for our website to be completed, then I will post a link and give more information on the dates of the exhibition and Open studio event, I'm sooo excited!

George is getting there

I think now I know how to bring this painting together. I definitely need to put more contrast into George's shaggy coat. The rock/cliff under his nose needs reshaping, and the lead needs to curve out of the frame. The rocks in the mid-ground need more definition. George is a pale dog, but I'm thinking his body needs more lowlight colours.

Too much fur

I've had one of those days where I question how much difference I've made to my painting. George is very shaggy, and his fur is matted from a recent dip in the sea. There are lots of layers of fur, all wavy. I'm thinking I may play on the wavy theme in the landscape, maybe Van Gogh in style, lots of movement in the strokes.

Dingy Days

I'm getting fed up with the recent weather, it's so dark all day. Not very helpful when you are trying to pick up subtle tones and colours. By 2.30p.m today the light was so low. I do have a daylight bulb which is better than normal light bulbs that knock out the yellow hues, but it still tends to bleach out light colours so not very good for this work.

I've started to work some texture into the soft pastel using charcoal pencils mostly using a mossy green and lavender.

I'm moving onto the body for now, the fur is darker, there is also lots of textures where his fur is drying after a dip in the sea. The background is St Ives in Cornwall, a beautiful place, which I know well.