This is another quick experiment on drafting film, in this one I have pushed the drafting film to the limit to see how much pigment it will hold and I have also experimented with a more painterly approach and burnished the whole lot thoroughly!

Its not quite the result I was aiming for (it needs more layers but there is no more tooth left in the film), but at least my eight year old horse mad daughter loves it:)

I actually completed this one before starting the Weimaraner, so I hope I learned enough from doing this one to get the result I am aiming for with the Weim. I did enjoy doing this one and the journey is sometimes more important than the destination, so it was worth it.

I keep getting asked asked to do more horse art, so keep an eye out for them in the future!

Cheers

Michelle

Subscribe to this feed Animal Art By Michelle

Click to return to my Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Home

To purchase a variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, Please visit my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

A variety of wall art, gift ware and apparel featuring my artwork is available in my
GiftShop at CafePress.

Technorati Tags: dog, horse, equine art, painting, artist, artwork, drafting film, pet portrait, artwork, color pencil art,

This is a small selection of the merchandise printed with my artwork and photography available in my giftshop at CafePress.

If you are commissioning a portrait of your favourite pet, the completed portrait can also be made available for purchase on the items in my GiftShop at CafePress at no extra charge.

Coffee Mugs and Tile Boxes

Mouse Mats and Throw Pillows

Framed Prints and Badges

Calenders and Wall Clocks

Journals and a variety of clothing styles

Click to return to my Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Home

A variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, is also available in my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

Technorati Tags: art, wildlife art, wildlife artist, painting, artist, artwork, art prints, red bubble,gifts,photography,cafepress,
animal lover,

RedBubble now offers worldwide shipping and can handle different currencies - USD, Euro, GBP, AUD!

Currently RedBubble offers giftcards, wall art including laminated prints, mounted, canvas and framed to order prints, as well as high quality t-shirts. Here are a few examples of the items that can be purchased with my artwork and photography.

Gift Cards

Laminated Prints

Framed Prints in choice of colours and styles

Subscribe to this feed Animal Art By Michelle

Technorati Tags: lion, wildlife art, wildlife artist, painting, artist, artwork, drafting film,

Click to return to my Pet Portraits & Wildlife Art Home

To purchase a variety of wall art, greeting cards and t-shirts featuring my art and photography, Please visit my RedBubble Gallery. Purchases can be made in different currencies (USD, Euro, GBP, AUD) and shipped shipped worldwide.

A variety of wall art, gift ware and apparel featuring my artwork is available in my
GiftShop at CafePress.

RedBubble.com is a new Australian online Art Gallery and Creative Community where you can purchase high quality prints and t-shirts with artwork, photography and digital imagery submitted by a gallery full of Australian artists.

I have recently set up my own gallery at RedBubble so that I can offer prints of some of my artwork and photography for sale. I will also be able to offer prints and t-shirts (and other products as they become available) of commissioned art to my clients.

Please click here to visit my RedBubble Gallery.

I only have a couple of images available for sale right now, but will be adding more as soon as I have a chance to re-scan images at a higher resolution than I use for display on my website gallery.

At the moment it is only for deliveries within Australia, but I am sure that in time, Red Bubble will expand to include many more items that will be available for purchase worldwide.

I have contemplated opening a store at Cafepress for a long time, and once I have my RedBubble gallery up and running I will probably look into Cafepress again.

Michelle

Subscribe to this feed Animal Art By Michelle

Technorati Tags: art prints, pet portrait, dog art, painting, artist, artwork, dog,
red bubble, cafepress, gallery, t-shirts,

Pet portraits Home

The combination of soft pastels and velour paper is quickly becoming my preferred medium and support for animal artwork, and I thought it would be good to provide some information about pastels as a Fine Art medium.

Pastels are pure finely ground pigments that are rolled or shaped into sticks using a soft binder to hold the particles together.  The pigments used to create pastel sticks are the same pigments used to create all coloured art mediums including oil and acrylic paints.  Pastels as a Fine Art medium have been used for hundreds of years by many of the Masters, including Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, Cassatt and Matisse among many others. 

Although some people refer to them as ‘chalk’ pastels, this really is a misnomer as pastels are not anything like the chalk sticks you will find in a classroom - nor do they only come in soft light ‘pastel’ colours, they do in fact come in many vibrant colours 

According to Answers ”pigment applied with pastel does not change in colour value, the final effect can be seen immediately. Pastel remains on the surface of the paper and thus can be easily obliterated unless protected by glass or a fixative spray of glue size or gum solution. When pastel is applied in short strokes or linearly, it is usually classed as drawing; when it is rubbed, smeared, and blended to achieve painterly effects, it is often regarded as a painting medium.”

There are several types of pastels available to artists as defined by Answers:

Soft pastels — This is the most widely used form of pastel. The sticks have a higher portion of pigment and less binder, resulting in brighter colors.

Hard pastels — These have a higher portion of binder and less pigment, producing a sharp drawing material that is useful for fine details. These can be used with other pastels for drawing outlines and adding accents.

Pastel pencils — These are pencils with a pastel lead. They are useful for adding fine details.

Oil Pastels - These have a soft, buttery consistency and intense colors. They are slightly more difficult to blend than soft pastels, but do not require a fixative.

Water-soluble pastels — These are similar to soft pastels, but contain a water-soluble component, such as glycol. This allows the colors to be thinned out using a water wash.

Personally I work mostly with soft pastels, with a few hard pastels and pencils for final line work, as the softness is very suitable for creating believeable, almost touchable animal fur.

Finally, pastel artwork (with the exception of art that is mostly line work) is generally referred to as paintings rather than drawings, and due to the delicate nature of pastel paintings, it is very important that they are cared for properly and framed in the correct manner, with an acid free mat and behind glass so that they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

Hahnemuhle Pastel Paper is produced in Germany using inert synthetic fibres on an acid free backing sheet.  This beautiful paper actually feels like velour fabric, and because of the nap (long fibres) it holds most pastels very well.  Of the soft pastels that I use, I choose the harder ones (if that makes sense) as some of the more softer brands are more delicate when used on velour paper. This velour paper comes in a range of colours that are all lightfast (so they are resistant to fading) and they all have acid free backing which prevents yellowing over time.

So there you have it, pastels and velour paper, my new favourite medium and support for animal artwork!

Technorati Tags: art, artist, artwork, velour, pastel, old masters, soft pastel, art medium, dog art, Fine Art schminke Hahnemuhle

I’ve managed to do the next two of the “In The Night” ACEO series, #2 is a chestnut stallion “Trojan In The Night” and #3 is another cat (yes I have a real big thing for cats at the moment:) “Boo In The Night”.

Here are a couple more, “Kaiser” A German Shepherd Dog. I’m really pleased how this turned out, especially as the eyes are only about 3mm in size!

A Pink and Grey Galah (a common Australian native bird). I tried a looser more painterly approach with this one, which was created as part of an International Artists swap.

And a Gibbon (a primate) - when I saw the reference photo for this one I couldn’t resist the priceless look on his face. I havn’t quite decided what to do with this one, but need to come up with a suitable title first.

As well as getting these ACEO’s done, I’ve also been able to get everything uploaded to the new gallery on my website, it looks much better now, and should be fairly easy for people to navigate.

And now its back to work:)

I am just loving these Art Card’s, it’s true, they really are little gems! And for me at the moment they are particularly good as with my three darling children on school holidays I can still manage to complete some art as it it possible to get a couple finished on a good day!

I’m finding that they are more of a challenge than I originally anticipated - at least as far as my normal very detailed and realistic style. But the good thing about having such a tiny space to work with is that you really need to think before you act and make each pencil/paint brush mark count:)

This little bunny rabbit is ‘Nibbles’ ACEO #12. Prismacolor Artists pencils on matt board. This ACEO is currently for auction on Ebay, but if he dosn’t sell I will put him in my Ebay Store at retail price…actually that’s what I’m planning on doing with my Ebay art auctions, start them at a lower price on auction and then if they don’t sell I will put them in my Ebay store at the normal retail price. LOL - unless my kids claim them first:)

This little cute chestnut foal is ‘Toby’, I havn’t listed him on Ebay yet because I need to find my original reference as I can’t remember what breed of horse he is. I am really pleased with the way this little fella turned out, unfortunately it lost some of the vibrancy in the colours when I scanned it so I will have to try a digi pic to see if that is better. ‘Toby’ has also been done in Prismacolor colour pencils on acid free mattboard.

I’ve added a few more birds and cat ACEO’s and several pieces of handcrafted sterling silver and gemstone jewellery to my Ebay listings as well, so if you’d like to take a look, please click here.

Now I must run and get dinner sorted out for my hungry family!

Michelle

I havn’t done a portrait of a horse for a while, so decided to do one of this lovely Bay Arab filly in pastels. I’m quite happy with the way the horse turned out, but the background grass and trees still needs a bit more work to complete it. The horse itself is pretty much complete although I will leave it for a few days and see if any minor adjustments are needed. Pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix sanded paper.

Cheers

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au

If you have ever tried taking a photo of your beloved pet, you probably already know that it is not always as easy to get the perfect shot. Whether you are taking photos to add to your family album, or a trying to get a great shot to use as reference for a pet portrait, hopefully the following tips will help!

The number one tip for great looking photos is take them from the subjects level - for pet photo’s, that may mean laying on the floor! By taking the photo from the pet’s level, you will avoid the camera distortion that makes some photos look like caricatures.

Use natural light if possible, no flash or artificial lighting. The best outside photographs are taken on overcast days with light cloud so that there is plenty of light. If it is sunny, position your pet in the shade and take the photos with the sun behind you. Don’t take the photo in direct sunlight as this will make your pet squint (not to mention get impatient).

If you do need to take the photo inside, take it near a window that allows plenty of natural lighting, and try to avoid using the flash. Take the photo with your back to the window with the subject facing the window.

Take photo’s from a distance of 6ft or less. You want your pet to be the main object in the photo, not the surroundings, so zoom in and fill the viewfinder with your pet’s image. This is really important if you are taking a head shot, as you really want to see the eyes and facial expression clearly.

Make sure you allow some space around your pet in the viewfinder so you don’t accidentally chop off an ear or a nose!

Take as many photos as you can, a digital camera is excellent as you can keep taking multiple shots in the same pose to give you a good range to choose from.

When taking photos of pets, enlist the help of another person to stand beside you and get the animals attention with a toy or treat. A shot of the head looking forward and slightly to the one side usually makes a more interesting phot enlargement or pet portrait than a full side-on profile pose - try to take the photo from an angle that shows both eyes (for dogs and cats).

Photos that capture the subjects personality and character are important. Be patient and be prepared to spend a fair bit of time, possibly over more than one photo session. Dog’s in particular will sense if you are getting frustrated or grumpy, and this will reflect in their demeanor. Try to make it fun – toys and treats usually work!

Always keep a camera handy and know how to use it in a hurry - candid shots can often truly capture the personality of your pet, but you usually don’t have a lot of time to get your camera organised before the pet moves!

These two photos of Jess are examples of good close-up and detailed reference photos. I took these photos following all the advice I have have listed above - so you can see these tips will help:)

Of course, some pets are easier to photograph than others - I have taken several hundred photos of my own dog Tia, a black Shar Pei (you know the dog’s with all the wrinkles) and only one is suitable for use as a reference for her portrait, so I shall keep trying for some better ones.

Happy snapping!

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au

I am very proud to announce that I received a number of awards for my artwork in the show I entered over the weekend - seven awards in fact!

I receieved First and Second for my two entries in the class for Painting/Drawing - Animals/Birds; First and Third for my two entries in the Painting & Drawing - Any Subject class, A Third in the Painting & Drawing - Portrait class, First in the Article of Silver Jewellery and Third for my entry in the Article of Beading class:)

I am feeling pretty pleased with myself as this was only the second show I have ever entered:, and like I mentioned before, the other artworks were something special!

Definitely a GOOD day!

Michelle

http://www.pencilportraits.com.au