Dog Portraits, Ruby the black labrador

Well I have got on a bit but not as much as I'd like. I'm becoming very annoyed with the fact that things seem to be very slow at the moment. I'm not sure if it's my doing or if other things are getting in the way. I did visit the handsome Shizzle yesterday and Shizzle is absolutely huge and has now started growing tufty ear bits and does look just so cute. We (myself and Shizzle's adopted Mum, Alex) are now not so sure if Shizzle is a male after all. Cyril was a much smaller squirrel and was very obviously male but Shizzle is either so plump things are hidden or he is actually a she after all!!!

Also, I can officially blame Alex for preventing my artwork getting done as she gave me a desk which took me all of yesterday afternoon to set up so I now have a dedicated area to work in hence not a lot else got done!

 

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. The competition has closed for this year but there will be a new one in 2010. Join in the fun and vote for this year's winner by following the links here.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!

Dog Portraits, Ruby the black labrador

Well I'm back to my old tricks of jumping around again, swapping from piece to another after I said I wouldn't. However this time it wasn't my idea! This is Ruby and she is to be a birthday present for a date very soon and as the other portraits are not due yet I am able to fit this one in and I have been quite good and carried on with Charlie's portrait too and I can post that as soon as I get a chance.

I've also removed the other reference images in a bid to speed up my blog but also to make me concentrate on one thing at a time (unless another short deadline appears of course!)

Plus here are a few photos I took from the view point at Symonds Yat Rock where we were working at the beginning of the week.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. The competition has closed for this year but there will be a new one in 2010. Join in the fun and vote for this year's winner by following the links here.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!

Pet Portraits and Wildlife Display

As promised some pics from my display, I was slighty disappointed (more than a little actually) that I didn't have more portraits to cover the walls. It seems I will need to get some more example portraits sorted out for future displays! More work!

Anyway, when we got home it turned out to be quite a nice afternoon so we all went out to play in the garden

And as you can see Willow and her football took centre stage. Willow is obsessed with football, she has 3 and carries them around with her everywhere just on the off-chance someone somewhere will throw it for her. She has lost them in hedges, in the wood and in the boot of the van due to her inability to be parted from her torn and chewed piece of rubber! She has now taken to following me relentlessly and dropping it on my feet to ensure I notice she wants to play!

I also thought I'd show you all the silver version of the appenzellar you met yesterday (here is one of the Elvis' as well)

And then I wandered around the garden and actually realised for the first time that at least 2/3 of our pets are rescued either because animals and birds have been dumped on us, were facing death or because we took pity on them! The 3 chickens above are from 36 we rescued from an egg laying farm in the Hendre in Wales. After a year of prolific laying hens are usually slaughtered because they lay less, they still lay mind you and we get an ample supply from them. We travelled quite some way to get a few but found they had 10,000 birds about to be replaced so we threw the bird cages on the back seat and rammed as many as we could into the boot of our car as well. It did turn out to be a very messy business but these hens have repaid us dividends by laying well and mowing the orchard!!! When we collected them, most were bald and looking quite poorly, in fact a few did die from poor health but the rest are now happy bunnies and run around in the orchard all day long.

Then we have Pierre (at the front). He was about to end up on a dinner plate, we were assured he was female, alas it was untrue and now he is embroiled in a torrid ménage à trois with George and Mildred. He has tried unsuccessfully for 3 years to part them but they have eyes only for each other and even with the addition of several other 'spare' females, he is uninterested and insists on trying to lure Mildred away (grey and white goose) much to George's annoyance and he manages to give Pierre a hefty peck every now and then to put him in his place. Pierre got his name as he is half Toulouse Utility so we said he was a bit french!

We've also gained 6 speckled sussex hens from a lady who was getting divorced and had too little time for them, they are lovely birds but don't actually lay so now we know why she gave up on them! Still we've kept them for a few years and I'm sure they are relieved to know they won't face the chop!

You've all met Willy the chocolate dutch rabbit, he was ordered from a pet shop by a lady who wanted a pair but then didn't want the male, he was left in the shop all alone with no friend for over 6 months until we popped in one day.... the rest they say is history!

Then a very sad tale, Bobtail and Rag are 2 of 3 brothers, I did also have Tag at one point. I saw these 3 when we collected some guinea fowl, their owner was old fashioned and set in his ways, and he bred rabbits to eat them. Not the usual New Zealand whites bred by everyone else and kept in the shed, he had been given some pet rabbits and had used these as his breeding stock but he also allowed his grandson to play with them so they were all quite tame. I spent a whole weekend fretting about them but had to go back to buy them from him, the very sad thing was he would not let me buy their mother as she was used for breeding. He lived about 1/2 mile away and I could never visit there again until he died, we went to rehome his geese!!!

I could go on and on with a story for each pet we own but I wonder what happens to all those other little pets that become too much of a hassle, I hope there are plenty of other softies like me out there that keep taking them in because the thought of what happens to them if they aren't so lucky just makes me feel just so sad.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. The competition has closed for this year but there will be a new one in 2010. Join in the fun and vote for this year's winner by following the links here.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website

Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!

Cat Portraits, Charlie

Well things have been very slow going with the cat this week, sorry, I've become caught up in the website yet again. And sorry about the flash yet again too! As you all know from my last post I revamped the site and uploaded it, however I am now lost in cyberspace and having a very heated ongoing email conversation with my host and after they have kindly taken my money for a couple of years, I'm very disappointed in their speed of response let alone help in fixing things. I am beginning to lose my patience (I have very little) and have been looking for a new host who will be much more helpful in times of future disaster!

Also, after another violent snow flurry, we were able to get outside in the garden today. On Friday I popped into the village and within 20 minutes the snow had covered the road and cars were pulling up on pavements, it was bizarre, I've never seen it settle and cover so quickly, then no more snowfall! Unfortunately it froze overnight and yesterday was bitter cold and icy so the bunnies and guinea pigs stayed inside. Today was a different matter though and we all went out to play, including Willow above who as always...just wants to play football!!!

This is one of our golden appenzellar cocks we bred last year. These are funny breed and come in a silver version too. They are quite nosey and cheeky but will follow you all around the garden. Each of the golden cocks has been nick-named Elvis due to the 'hair quiff' and at the moment we have 3 of them, I never know which is which so I just call them all the same....Elvis! Good job they don't get offended!

And introducing the latest project, this is a dexta and Ronnie has been collecting spare parts for it from far and wide, spot his helpful hen trotting under the back of the tractor, you can just see her tail feathers. She loves working in the shed with him and has taken to pecking Gypsy on the tail when they come into contact!

I can also tell something is afoot, Ronnie has been reorganising his tractor shed which currently should house 4 tractors, 2 landrovers and 2 morris minors however, all of the tractors are out, plus the land rovers have been moved to leave additional space, one morris is now outside and tools have been tidied away so I guess we are awaiting delivery of some other vehicle! Oh well, we are more like Steptoes back yard now than a country cottage!!!

I'm off to set up my display tomorrow so I will take some photos to blog aswell. Then you will see I do actually manage to do some art every now and then!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. The competition has closed for this year but there will be a new one in 2010. Join in the fun and vote for this year's winner by following the links here.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!

New Pet Portraits and Wildlife Art website

At long last I've uploaded my new style website for publishing and I'm quite pleased with the look of it but I'm having problems with links which is currently undergoing investigation by my hosting company so please be patient if you are trying to navigate around over the next few days.

Still framing portraits for my display so best get back to it!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower. If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. The competition has closed for this year but there will be a new one in 2010. Join in the fun and vote for this year's winner by following the links here.

If you are interested in commissioning me please visit my pet portrait artist website or my wildlife artist website
Now visit my picasa photo album to see completed pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting!