Three faces of the season.

How cute is this little girl? She's carefully cleaning her paw. Or is she? Caption competition?

 

Sometimes I have to wait to after Christmas to share what I have been up to with some furry friends. Such is the case with these three lovelies. 

So good to be asked to do a rat again. I will always love rats and value them as pets as well as subjects!

 

A girl Yorkie and a boy with the best nose ever are this years delightful dogs. 

 

I can't wait for the new year to begin. It's going to be a good one. I think 2016 held a lot of challenges. How was it for you? 

Edward Tulane rabbit doll still having adventures ...

Two Edward Tulane Dolls just Left my hands ...

One of them took a moment to send a picture of himself in his new home, via my Etsy shop! He does look rather handsome if I say so myself ...

And here is a little Edward, the smaller version of the doll I make, making a new friend with a very young fan!

It looks like they are going to get on well. If you have one of my dolls I would love to see him ... And you!

Bobby the Dog ...

Working on this portrait involved tilting the head of the dog, removing his lead, back and shoulder, and adding in some of his neck and chest ...

There were lots of colours in this white dog! And as you can see, I left his head at a slight angle for the cute factor!

And his dear owner loves it :-) 

This is Lilli

A Yorkshire terrier from down the road ...

And she's been given the Raggy Rat treatment in time for Mother's Day!

A Cheetah called Tyson

Here is the most exotic pet I have immortalised, to date ....

As I began to work on him I did feel overwhelmed by all those little spots!

Of course I love to build up colour, which I began to do once I had mapped out most of his markings...

I created the markings on the bandana by using oil pastel over chalky pastels which I had blended using my finger, working as usual in coloured pencil for Tyson's fur and his deep eyes!

I worked on him for some time, and so it was hard to let him go, and I let him watch over me for a couple of days before it was time to ship him off!

Peanut The Beagle!

This is Peanut who was fun to draw with so many colours to build up the rich tan!

As you can see from Peanut's photo one of the eyes was clear and one was very much in shadow so I enjoyed the challenge of making the right eye reappear, using the left as a reference. 

White highlights show how the beagle has aged. At this point (below) the drawing looks almost done!

The final touch is the shading on the white parts of the dog, making the dog look three-dimensional in this area too!

I think Peanut is pleased with his portrait!

And so does his owner! 

Drawing time!

Here is a dog called Max. He has quite a lot of Alsatian in his barky self...

5 year old Mary sat next to me and had a go with pencils and felt-pens. 

And seven year old Matty also enjoyed colour mixing in making Max's portrait!

And so did I! Lots of progress pics for this guy on my Facebook page ...

Horsing around...

Here is Lily, horses are more challenging to draw as they are usually wearing head gear!

But I think I did ok with this commission. Contact me for information about pet portraits ....

A sweet lass called Geordie...

A Pup called Bailey ...

These two pics show colour build-up on this lovely boy, he was a pleasure to create and the portrait made his owners very happy as Bailey-Dog is no longer with them ...

Also to create this work, i removed the collar for a cleaner look, and drew in the fluffy head top which was cut off from the photograph! Pet portrait, anyone?

Little Edward Tulane, sweet rabbit doll!

another sweet rabbit doll is finished!

He is off to make a school teacher happy, as The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is very well read in schools...

Edward Tulane - small Rabbit Doll ...

This little chap, and naked-Jess are sitting together waiting for some kit - I want to see if his trousers fit her!

jess, the muppet doll.... head to toe!

so I gave Jess a tongue ...



and then I concentrated on her toes ...



and fiddled with some funky-foam and ribbon until Flip-flops appeared!



So now, if she wants to, Jess can have a little wander through the daisies, white I finish the rest of her wardrobe!

special rat girls ...

hello from two very special hooded rats ...



Poppy and Harley like my trolley, too ...



I can often copy a pets markings, and I am about to make a special raggy rat with cute wings!

tiger tiger ....WIP - furring the head ....

this photo shows tiger's upper head fur is in one piece, almost ready ... eye liner is needed here ...



I have made the best possible use of fur, without constructing a 'white' tiger head and doing air brushing ... which I have never actually done! Mary is playing with 'snakes' made from fur salvage edges...



and here the eye sockets have been lined, I carefully hand-sewed black fur around the sockets, leaving the tear ducts free. These are covered with chiffon, now.

tiger tiger ....WIP - ears!

its takes 12 small pieces of fur to make 2 tiger ears ...



here they are on the head, the fuzzy things are black pipe-cleaners that I am using to facilitate some expression ...



to have also painted inside the eyes to change the blue foam to black where it might well be seen ...

WIP - fursuit rat head coming together ...

Steve took this pic of me busy in the garden ...



and here is the result of fixing the fur tightly arounf the cheeks and nose ...



the eyes and jaw are only pinned, the nose is being sculpted, so don't look for that yet! But the jaw slipped while taking pictures, and the rat looks very cross with me!
Perhaps because the window is pushing his ears forward!



I am loving his shape now, all balanced out by the big ears ...