That basset look

Well, here's my latest, another canine portrait. The reference photo for this one came from the WetCanvas reference image library, courtesy of Artmutt - thanks! What a great expression, and a sweet doggie!

Watercolour, 11" by 15"

Pumpkins lost and found

It's not often that I paint vegetables! This was painted for an exercise on the Painting Friends forum from a reference provided by Jaytee, to get us all thinking about lost and found edges. I like the foreground pumpkin, not so keen on the other one...

I think controlling lost and found edges in watercolour can be tricky, as it's easy to get a bit carried away and fiddle to much, and end up overworking, or else just be a bit too timid. With enough practice you will get to know the medium, but there are always unanticipated things going on - that's the nature, and the charm I guess, of watercolour!

9" by 12"

Feather for Drawing Day

Here's a quickie I did for Drawing Day 2010, a feather I picked up while out walking along the river. I did actually do the drawing on drawing day, June 5th, but didn't get it uploaded til today!

Water soluble graphite on watercolour paper
5" by 7"

The glance

Here's my latest effort for the portrait paintalong on the Painting Friends forum. I especially enjoyed the colour combinations in this one, purples with orangey tones. It's a bit more subtle than the in-your-face man from Halong, anyway!

The original reference photo was by lisilk, and came from the WetCanvas reference image library.

I'm pleased to say that this image was featured on the RedBubble homepage - well chuffed!

Watercolour, 8" by 10"

There was an old man from Halong

Here's another portrait from the 'portrait paintalong' on the Painting Friends forum. This one is a quarter sheet (a bit bigger than my usual 8" by 10"), and it's on Arches Rough paper, a surface I don't often use (found this piece lurking at the bottom of the drawer, it must have been there forever). Thought it might be ok to use for a nice craggy subject such as this chap, and I really enjoyed painting it. Best viewed from a short distance away, as with an awful lot of my paintings ;)

Watercolour 11" by 15".

Ref photo is by chilombiano from morguefile.

p.s. yes, the title is just begging for a limerick...

Tommy's spot

Here's another painting of Tommy, the pub cat. Here he's in his basket, at the end of the bar, a vantage point from which he can keep an eye on what's going on, and also enjoy plenty of attention from people coming and going. Perfect.

I really liked the photo ref I took for this, but I think the painting ended up a bit overworked once again. Ho hum.

Watercolour, 8" by 10"

Frosty

Here's a pencil drawing of a friend, completed a few weeks back from a photo I snapped.

A4 size (approx 8" by 11").