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!

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!

Busy framing pet portraits and wildlife art

I have been busy I promise! I've had some advice about the major issues with my website (thank you so much Alex) and decided to follow her instructions therefore I have been working all weekend on my website - see the snippet above. I've added commission guides to help with the buying process plus I've added a section about myself for clients and visitors alike to get to know what happens behind the easel! You all know I have many many animals but I guess that's about all you know so as time goes by more and more will be added to this section. I've also had a tidy up and used the same template now for all the pages and at last it looks more consistent although I'm having major problems with my links though, they have all gone haywire so until this problem is fixed I cannot publish, otherwise visitors could get lost!

Aside from this we have had quite a busy weekend, yesterday we rescued two geese who had been destined for the Christmas dinner table, long winded story but they were fostered for a while by the most unlikely couple (one is a ranger and despatches animals as part of his job) but he and his girlfriend took a shine to them and allowed them to run around in their garden. We have named them Bonnie and Clyde as they have escaped for a life in the country! They were transported home in a large dog cage and we must have looked a little odd with these two geese flailing about on the back of our truck through the rural lanes! We safely deposited them in the big pen with the other 14 geese and I stood inside waiting for mayhem and fighting, geese always fight at this time of year because of breeding but the female is a little small so I thought she may need a bit of assistance, however, they all greeted each other and set about making goosey noises with just a minor bit of feather pulling so I was able to take the video below to show you how they got on. Bonnie and Clyde are the grey skull cap but mainly white gander and the small pure white goose who stayed by his side.

Also today was reasonably warm so I left all of my rabbits and guinea pigs out in their pens as I framed and stringed up portraits ready for my display which I will be putting up the week after next. I also checked on our geese and they are all very happily ignoring each other which is amazing.

Anyway as I was sorting out my website I came across this photo of Willow, this was during one of my visits before she came home with us, wasn't she tiny?!? Plus I'd forgotten how she stared at me everytime we went to visit and that was why I chose her, I almost changed my mind to a huge long fur sable dog but I stuck to my guns just because she had eyes only for me...

she's a heartbreaker, the problem is she has grown to an immense size and from what I can gather, she still has about 6 months of growing to do.... how much is that dog food?!?!

and still the eyes stare at me...

As for Charlie the cat, the portrait has progressed since the last update, she is now sat in a stone window, I say sat but she has not legs so the update would look very bizarre but I will take a shot very soon.

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, Willow, Gypsy and Zac

Hooray!!!!! I've actually finished this dog portrait now, at one point I thought it would end up on my ever growing pile of half finished work, I keep telling myself I will go back to them but I think we all know that will not happen so perhaps I need to clear them all out so I don't feel so guilty about them!
Anyway, this was quite a large dog portrait and it did take some effort to fill it in, pencils do not have the greatest coverage, in fact it's akin to using a ball point pen I think so I'm pleased will my staying power at least.

And news on Cyril....
Just for you Liz, unfortunately Cyril escaped just before Christmas leaving his sparring partner Shizzle behind and made a mad dash after bouncing from the head of the lady looking after him. We've spent almost two weeks looking for him, I travelled quite a distance each day due to holidays to look for him and feed Shizzle, but it seems Cyril has decided he's a wild animal after all and would rather be in the trees with his kith and kin. I was devastated at first as was the lady who was taking excellent care of him, but all said and done, this was eactly what was meant to happen, it just happened before we planned it. For a couple of days I had terrible thoughts about him starving to death as he'd have no store of nuts but I work for the Forestry Commission and they have a never ending battle with squirrels as they chew the bark from trees for food, well there are trees everywhere so there's no problem there, then I worried about the snow, well who heard of squirrels being wiped out because of snow! Cyril was nice and fat before his break for freedom, in fact probably fatter than any wild squirrel so I should imagine he's living the life of Riley now and finding himself a girlfriend for the spring. We have left all manner of squirrels traps and nuts out for him just in case he does decide to put in an appearance but I'm very doubtful now as he is a wild creature after all.
All in all I think that he's had the best start, he was he size of an egg without fur when the cat delivered him to the door step without much chance at all, so after I fed him up and Alex has looked after him so well I'm confident he's chewing on a beech tree somewhere!
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, Willow, Gypsy and Zac

Apologies yet again for the poor photo, although the weather has improved the lighting is awful. It's not my fault honest! Anyway, this is where I've got to and the end is in sight now, thankfully.

I've actually learnt a few things doing this portrait

1. Never leave a piece half way through, I mixed up colours as a result and it did take a concerted effort to 'fine tune' them all

2. Never use the back of drafting film, I know a lot of others do, but all of my leaves were on the back, it was supposed to give a distant quality but it made them look very flat so I went back over them all on the front anyway, what a lot of work that was!

3. Derwent studios give a kind of painterly effect on drafting film. I used them on the paving stones and they do look like watercolour (apologies to all those professional watercolour artists out there, I expect you are shouting at my post now)

4. Never try such a bold background again! I think I'd go back to paper for another portrait of this size and complexity, then for the background I could use pastels and cover the space quicker.

5. Don't do a background so intricate and monotonous next time, those leaves felt like being lost in the jungle!

6. Never work with outsized portraits again, I had to search high and low for a frame and then it was a very long winded job to get a mount cut, and I wanted a double mount plus it's slightly too small, that'll teach me!

7. Give up the day job, I can't remember when I started this portrait, I think it was July last year, I know I've done many things in between but this is ridiculous, I need to give up my day job to increase my work rate!

8. Leave portraits until a pet is fully grown, Willow was only 7 months old when I took her photo, she is now coming 14 months and looks much more grown up, I feel I need to do another portrait of her to keep up to date!

9. Forethought! If I'd have known I was going to put them on a patio I would have liked to add watering cans, plant pots etc but I just beavered away without any planning, I will spend more time with the next one sorting out the compostion rather than just going for broke!

So I'd best get back to it, I have to go back to the day job on Monday and I would like to get things finished by then and start something new to put up at my display, tell you more about that soon.

Hope you all had a happy New Year! Oh and well done so far Oakley in the voting for a custom pet portrait, keep up the good work Bonnie!

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 Commissions

As you can guess with Christmas just around the corner, commissions are coming in which means unfortunately I shall have to put Willow, Gypsy and Zac to one side. I have done a little more since the last update but maybe I can use their dog portrait as a break between commissions. We'll see! I am concentrating my efforts on postal commissions first as I believe there could be a postal strike which will cause choas, so if you would like a commission please order it as soon as possible to ensure a safe and timely delivery.
And news for the pet portrait competition, if you are interested in entering please ensure you follow the instructions, I have now received over a dozen images which are simply too small, I have asked for images of 250kb and above but many are simply too poorly detailed and less than 100kb, if I allow these images to be entered, should one of them win the resulting portrait will be unacceptable, this will reflect on my reputation so therefore I'm afraid they cannot be used. Also .... please.... take time to add a few words about your pet, I have emailed many entrants who have sent images minus this little biography but I'm afraid I shall be too busy to continue with this, if an image arrives without any additional text I will simply post the image from now on minus the text as commissions will take priority. It really isn't an essay I'm looking for, just something to persuade visitors that your pet is the most worthy of a vote. Hope that helps clear up any queries!

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. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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 Website

Well I've spent a lot of time updating my website over the last two days, plus I think I've managed to match my blog to my website. If it works I'll be so proud of myself, I am not an internet expert by any means but I am pleased I'm beginning to understand the coding basics (and very basic it is too at my level) but it did take a lot of head scratching and trial and error to get it to match. Have a look at my new image logos on my website and let me know what you think. I've also managed to figure out how to add a blogroll to my blog (it's definitely not as simple as hosting with blogger when you can just add gadgets all over the place) so again, if you would like to be on my blogroll, just let me know (please return the favour - my new blog address is www.artbykarie-ann.co.uk/blog.html) and I'll add them. I'm not sure if posting this will come up with my revamped blog page yet but my website is definitely up and running correctly so if you do spot any deadlinks or any errors just let me know! If you have any suggestions of how I can improve things more just leave me a comment

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. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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 at Dog Show

I have spent a lovely day with Willow and about 400 dogs at a local dog show near Speech House. This was my little pet portrait display I set up, as I've not done many shows I don't have much in the way of equipment so now I have another excuse to go shopping!!! I handed out quite a few brochures so fingers crossed I should have some more commissions soon!!!

Anyway, below you will find a variety of competing dogs, all the while Willow dozed under the truck or chewed on a bone, she really wasn't interested in much at all, what a good little girl!

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. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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 Art

To all of my valued followers and readers, twitter and facebook followers, please note my blog will now be at this new address very shortly:

www.artbykarie-ann.co.uk/blog.html

Please update our blog rolls and go to the new address to follow me again to keep up to date with my latest news on my pet portraits and wildlife art. You may find the blog undergoing changes but please be patient as I sort things out.

With many thanks to you all for your conitnued support.
Karie.

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. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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!

Blog Award and Future Portraits

I've been given this Premio Meme award by Doreen Cross of http://www.dorsart.blogspot.com/ and just take a look at her header image, it's such a lovely chocolate box cottage, I want to live there and also by Christine Perry of http://www.creativelifestudio.blogspot.com/ who does amazing people portraits in graphite pencil.

Now for the important bits, I need to list 7 things about myself.... sorry about this but....

1. I am gadget mad, digital cameras, slr cameras, mp3 players, digital video cameras and so on, I could play with them for hours, never reading any instructions at all and luckily I've never blown anything up to date!

2. I'm not keen on children (should I really say that?) I prefer feathers, four legs or fur myself, all are welcome at my house! My home is not a zoo! I wish our constant stream of visitors who bring their children and expect a few hours of free entertainment from my bunnies, guinea piggies, puppies and fowl would please leave me alone! I just want them all to myself! Will I be shot at dawn?

3. I'm a sucker for a sob story, not films mind you, any poor animal which is looking for a home inevitably ends up at my house, 5 rescue rabbits, 4 guinea pigs and a limitless supply of cockrals will all testify that I will take them in!

4. I have just spent over £100 on a guinea pig who had a bladder stone (Pickle) and once had a rabbit with such bad teeth he cost me well over £200 in opertions to stop them growing so crookedly....don't tell Ronnie though!

5. I'm pretty sure I am the only girl tariffer in the country at the Forestry Commission, tomboy or what! Today I waded through clay mud and suffered a severe downpour of heavy rain all in the line of duty.

6. I hate shopping, any kind, grocery, clothes, household, the only kind of shopping I enjoy is fish shop shopping (try saying that after a beer) for my aquariums.

7. I hate flies, they make my skin crawl, I don't mind snakes and spiders at all but flies just make me feel ill. Yuk.

Now I must pass this to 7 others I feel deserving of such an award, however I'll be completely blatant in passing it to some of my most loyal followers who constantly leave me comments and encourage me to continue along my artist's path!

1.http://kathleen-coy.blogspot.com/ meet Cloud her doggie too!

2.http://portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/ I loved her pelican portrait

3.http://artwithliz.blogspot.com/ a South African artist (lucky lady)

4.http://artwithapencil.blogspot.com/ a fellow pencil portrait artist

5.http://sheilatajima.blogspot.com/ a lady who does an immense amount for rescue animals

6.http://jeannegrant.blogspot.com/ she has the most wonderful field trips, I'm so jealous

7.http://artbygail.blogspot.com/ I just love her ravens!!!!

All of the above blogs are well worth visiting, I visit them all very often and look at the stunning artwork on each so do take a few minutes to meet some new friends and artists.

Also I have updated my future portraits list as much as possible in the right hand column, I am still waiting for a further three dog photos and will add them as soon as possible. Please ignore the order they are posted in as this may not neccesarily be the order I work them in as some are for Christmas presents (can you believe it) so others may get slotted in or put aside for the time being. Phew I think I am going to be a bit busy for a while and at least it keeps me out of trouble!

Anyway Willow and I are off for our last training session before her bronze exam so please all keep your fingers crossed for us for a week as we need all the help we can get!!!!

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower (see bottom of page). If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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

Thanks for visiting!

Pet portrait update

Well I am still alive and I have been working, although not full steam due to all of our little chicks and so on. Unfortunately my sd card for my camera is up the swanny so until I get a new one I can't post any new images!!!

Also my blog links seem to have gone awol, all of the blogs have disappeared, if you were on it previously or would like to be added, just let me know, I had quite a few on there and can't remember many (it's the hot weather I'm sure) so give me a hint please!!!

Willow and I have been to bronze dog training tonight and she was very very good, I think I have an advantage though because as she's been at work all day she just sits or lies down very quietly until it's her turn so she does look so calm and collected. Top puppy!!!

Anyway, the deadline is approaching for Snoop so I'm going to begin that, as for Brodie, he now has a pheasant in his portrait and I'm just looking for the right trees to put behind him.

If you like my work please take the time to leave me a comment or become a follower (see bottom of page). If you would like to win a pet portrait of your dog, cat, horse or any other pet please see my new competition. It costs nothing to enter, all you require is internet access.

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

Thanks for visiting!