Lovely little Laura

I think baby portraits are going to be my thing! I've just finished this one of baby Laura and loved every moment of the process. I'm working much more confidently with tone and contrast these days and it's starting to pay off. Laura has the most beautifully expressive eyes and I simply loved drawing them because they just brought her portrait to life. Now that I've completed this drawing, I'm itching to start the next one but haven't got a subject yet........any ideas?

Beautiful Henry for his mum xxx

I've been concentrating on my drawing a bit more lately and it shows with two pieces of art created in quite a short time. Here we have baby Henry at six weeks old. I just loved the way the light was shining in his eyes and couldn't resist drawing him. He was actually lying on his back in the photo but I felt that he needed to be sitting up. With his dark good looks and flawless skin - he was a joy to draw.

Macey for Steve

Continuing on my theme of pet portraits, here is one I did of Macey the Labrador. She was gorgeous to draw and also a bit challenging with her light coloured fur. But I think I nailed it ! I'm happy with this portrait and so is her owner - yay!

Mika the Malamute

How cute is this guy? He's as big as me when he's standing on his back legs, but he's a gentle giant who just wants to be loved. Mika is in his senior years now and just loves laying around on the outdoor sofa's enjoying the serenity of the garden.

I enjoyed drawing Mika. He has a very thick, lush coat and looks just like a HUGE teddy bear.

Another new direction...

I've really enjoyed working on portraits of people both adults and children but now I'm taking a new path along this artistic journey. Animal portraits have appealed to me for ages but I wasn't ready to go in that direction....until now! Here is a portrait of our lovely border collie 'Saffy' that I completed recently. She's pricked up her ears and concentrating on a dog barking in the distance - can you see it in her eyes!?

Changing direction

Up to now, a lot of my art work has been pretty conventional - head and shoulders - very detailed and viewed straight on. I wanted to try something a little different so searched for a suitable image of this beautiful young woman. Luckily, she had recently taken some really nice ones and as soon as I saw this image, I knew I'd found the ONE! A simple picture in black and white, over exposed on the right side it suited my purposes totally. So little detail really - compared with my previous drawings and yet works wonderfully. I love it - hope you do too!

Born in 1899 - my Gran when she was a young woman

I've been overseas recently to attend my son's wedding. It was quick trip - just four weeks and as I wanted to keep up my portrait work, I took a very old photo of my grandmother along with me to work on whenever I had a moment.

I was only intending to do a rough draft of this portrait - it was more a means of 'getting to know you' than a finished item. However, it seemed to grow a life of it's own during those four weeks away.

I love how it turned out, even though I still feel it could have been better.

What do you think?