Mini Painting: Patch the Cockatiel

Just last month we were devastated to lose our beautiful cockatiel, Patch. Having previously painted him in watercolours (check out my cockatiels tag) with his partners Georgie and JayJay, I wanted to do a small acrylic painting of just him. It's been a while since I had my trusty acrylics out - so long in fact that some of them had dried up! But it was good to get back in to painting, and my husband was thrilled with this small gift to remember a very handsome boy.

Cockatiels Watercolour II

I did a watercolour painting of our cockatiels, Georgie and Patch, a couple of years ago - you can see it here. Sadly, in 2016, Georgie passed away, and we subsequently welcomed a new cockatiel to our little family, JayJay. This, of course, meant we needed another painting! This painting is more informal than the last one - I wanted to give the impression of feathers rather than using precise brush strokes, and I wanted some splatter going on! Despite this, it really captures the two of them nicely.

Pet Portraits || Maltese Watercolour

We have a wall in our house dedicated to our family, a collection of drawings and paintings including treasured teddy bears, our two rabbits and two cockatiels. My husband recently mentioned that he'd like his late dogs added to it, and I agreed it would be a lovely addition.

December ended up slipping away from me (maybe I made too many tree decorations?!), but on 23rd December I managed to find an hour to do this watercolour painting in time for Christmas. I love my brushes that have handles filled with water, they make quick watercolour paintings that bit easier.

White fur is always a challenge, but I looked for the tones of the shadows in my reference photo and tried to pick them out in the painting. My technique has certainly improved from an earlier attempt, and I'm pleased and relieved that my husband can tell which dog is which, and even get a sense of their character from the images. I recently watched a video about how an artist, in this case a cartoonist, emphasised the importance of embodying a character as you draw them, and pulling the facial expression you are attempting to capture - I think this is marvelous advice, even when painting animals!

Felt Rabbit Ornaments

As I have shared before, I have two beautiful bunnies, Flopsy and Toffee. I wanted to include their presence on our Christmas tree, with a bit of Christmas spirit too! I first considered making 3D polystyrene baubles, but settled on felt - I think it will last well and make nice keepsakes. Flopsy is the black rabbit, Toffee is white and brown. Their features are all hand stitches, although their whiskers are held on behind the scenes with my glue gun! Flopsy features a pair of reindeer antlers, and Toffee a little Christmas bow. I added their unique colourings to their faces using some wool roving and my needle felting kit - I think it was really effective for their subtle changes in fur.

Pet Portraits - Gilbert the Rabbit Sketch

When I heard recently that a friend's beautiful bunny rabbit Gilbert had passed away, I felt inspired by one of her photographs of him to produce a quick sketch.

I feel so rusty with a pencil in my hand at the moment, but this loosened me up a wee bit, and was also gratefully received :)

Freestyle Embroidery - Dog Handkerchief

I haven't done a lot of completely freestyle embroidery before, but I've always wanted to stitch a design on to a handkerchief, and this made the perfect Christmas present for a relative!

I based the design on my in-law's dog, Millie. The stitching took a lot longer than I expected it to though haha, but then it's not surprising given that the white fur alone is created from 5 or 6 different shades of thread! I love the result, but I might need some time before I do any more, certainly with this level of detail!

Sam and Millie Sketch

I haven't been well enough to commit to a full drawing or painting recently. However, I am determined to try and make a painting happen in the next few months! In an attempt to warm my hands up again, I did this sketch of Sam and Millie the other night.

 

Sadly, Sam has passed away since I last showed any artwork/photography of them on here, and whilst this drawing may not be my finest work, I know it captures both his and Millie's personalities!

You may remember in these sketches of my pet rabbits, Toffee and Flopsy, I added a tiny amount of pencil colour at the end? Well in these sketches I experimented by adding some colour before I built up the sketch, and just intensified it near the end. I think I prefer adding it after, but I do like the subtle notes of this - especially in the nose!

Millie and Sam [Dog Photography]

[You may wish to click on the first image to look through these as a slideshow!]

Always open for Pet Portraits commissions!

Pet Portraits: Toffee and Flopsy

Hello!

It hasn't been too easy recently between my health and my husband's health, so I apologise for the lack of creativity around.

However, I was able to sketch our two rabbits last week, so here they are!

 

Don't forget I'm always open for Pet Portraits commissions, more information in my next post :)

Anyway, if you're at Liverpool ONE, do check out the Capture Liverpool photography competition. And if you think my photo, Pleasant Street Board School, deserves to win the people's vote, do head down to the Information Centre on Wall Street and vote for number 56! It would mean a lot to me :)

Also, if you're voting through the latest Saatchi Gallery Showdown and come across my entry "Roses", and think it deserves to win, please click vote! Thank you :)


Hopefully more creativity coming soon...

New Year, New Projects!

I have been very bad at keeping this updated, I do apologise!
I have spent the last month or so feeling extremely creative and never wanting to stop, and yet with greater pain levels and more brain fog than I have experienced in a long time... It's hard to get the balance between having clean dishes and dinner on the table, and getting stuck into art! Here's how things are going, and some recent projects...

Photography
I of course received my new camera a couple of months ago. I still don't have the lens I so desperately need, so photography has taken a minor step back. Here are a couple of shots I do love though:

Foggy Light by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART


Misty Torquay Sunset by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART


Painting
This has also taken a slight back seat, as I'm struggling to sit at my desk atm. I have so many ideas, and hopefully they will be realised shortly. I also have a commission I am working on, so that is quite exciting! Here's the other painting I was able to complete before Christmas tho, for my Nan-in-law, I am determined to improve my use of watercolour paints!

Millie and Sam Take II by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART


Craft
I suppose my crafty side isn't something I shout about, but it has been a huge part of my life this year. I've made my first sock monkey and learnt to crochet, and we're only a few weeks into January! I'm hoping to get felt brooches and crochet brooches, amongst other things onto Folksy in the next couple of months, so that will be exciting!

Mr Sock Monkey by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART


Crochet Flower by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART


Cardmaking
I realised after Christmas I'd run out of Thank You cards, and with my 21st Birthday last weekend it was time to make some more! I scavenged a sheet of images from the back of my last pack of Thank You paper, and created these:

Pet Portraits
I spent some time over New Year practising pencil sketches of animals, just to aid my eye in painting them really. These are the results, which I hope to get posted off to people when I can think a bit clearer:

Danger the Chinchilla by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART
(Original photo courtesy of Kat.)


Guinea Pig Sketches by ~bicyclegasoline on deviantART
(Original photo courtesy of Rachel.)

Barney

I've just finished and delivered my latest Pet Portraits commission, "Barney" :)

 

Pet Portraits

 

Do you have a pet? Be it a dog, a cat, a rabbit... or some other wonderful creature that helps make your house a home? Well, I'd love to paint him or her for you! You have more than one? Well, then I can paint them all! There are so many different options available to you, and me (or my husband!) would love to spend time discussing them with you, to create for you a piece of art you can treasure forever.


Prices vary depending on several factors, such as the size of work you want, how many pets you have and the style you want it in. Generally prices will start from about £30.


I work from a photograph (or multiple), which you can either provide yourself, or we can take for you. I am based in Wirral, and if you live in the North West region myself or my husband can arrange to come to your house and take appropriate pictures for you, for a small fee.



The various styles that I currently offer can be seen in the pictures above:

1. Acrylic paint on canvas - impressionist style
2. Acrylic paint on canvas - mixture of impressionist and detail
3. Acrylic paint on canvas - highly detailed
4. Watercolour paint on quality paper - impressionist style
5. Watercolour paint on quality paper - detailed
6. Pencil drawing

For a small extra cost, watercolour paintings and pencil drawings can be provided in a mount, or framed ready to hang.



All pieces come with a free booklet detailing the journey your art work has taken to reach the finished piece - this may include the original photograph, any pencil sketches undertaken, and the final piece as I transform it from a blank slate to your personalised piece of art.



I would love to hear from you if you are interested, and we can discuss options to suit your requirements!