Pencil sketch of the Poet's Cottage Camross

This plein air pencil sketch of the Poet's cottage in Camross village was completed over a couple of sessions. It took about two and a half hours in total (most of the time was spent drawing the stone work). I might add watercolour or ink washes to it if the mood takes me then again perhaps its best to leave well enough alone.

The Poet's Cottage Camross - A4 size

Jack - Commission

This is a commissioned painting of Jack. He is placid horse who loves a nice apple. The painting shall reside in the window of Jack's stable so has been given a good few coats of varnish to protect it from the weather.

Jack - Acrylic on ply - 23 X 35 inches

Jack in his new home

Monty & Roly - Commissions

These are Monty & Roly, two commissioned oil paintings of champion Irish Springer Spaniels just finished today. The paint will need to dry for a week or two longer, hence the bad photos trying to avoid glare from the wet oil paint.

Monty - Oil on canvas - 16 X 20 inches

Roly - Oil on canvas - 16 X 20 inches

Hotchpotch from my sketch books

Once again, here are a random selection of drawings from my sketch books (some good, some bad). Nearly all drawings were completed in 25 minutes or less. Various mediums were used - charcoal, colour pencil, graphite, ink and watercolour. The drawings are on cartridge paper no greater than A4 size, with the exception of the charcoal still life which is A3 on newsprint paper. Some of these drawings are unfinished and shall remain so.

A perfect Commission

This stylized painting is a commissioned piece for Rahanni Healer Liz Phelan. A while ago Liz asked me would I be interested in taking on a commission which she would be giving as a gift to her fellow Healer Mags Harrison. Liz warned that the piece could be radically different in style from my  usual work.

Intrigued, I accepted the brief and we began to discuss concepts for the painting. I painted a watercolour sketch for Liz with my interpretation of our initial discussions. As the actual painting began to progress we consulted as to which elements needed to be added or modified to reflect the spirit of Mags.

As to the mechanics of the painting, my usual colour palette went flying out of the window on this piece. When would I normally use a hot orange pigment or even fluorescent or metallic paints? Still I learned a lot working on this piece, most importantly, listen to your client. All in all this is the perfect example of how a commission should work. I hope both Liz and Mags are pleased with the end result and my thanks to them both.

Angel - Acrylic on canvas - 50cm X 70cm 

Unfinished portrait detail

If you have an idea that you might be interested in commissioning to a finished painting please email me at the address above to discuss. I promise I don't bite!