A lovely part of my work as an animal portrait painter is when a client gets in touch regarding a memorial portrait. It’s such an honour to be asked to produce an artwork of an owner’s much missed pet and this latest portrait is of a beautiful Border Collie called Jack, whose eyes just melted my heart.
I’m pleased to say that Jack’s owner and family were very happy with his portrait and hopefully it will bring a bit of comfort to them.
I like the idea of this event.. a chance to say Hi, show a few samples of what you do and thank your supporters… so interesting to look at what other creatives are producing too!
It’s always exciting taking part in an art exhibition and my first one with the Association of Animal Artists will be happening from this weekend until 30 November.
The venue is the Granary Room in Weston Park near Shifnal – a beautiful country house in the Shropshire countryside , which I’m looking forward to discovering.
These are my 3 exhibits which will be taking part amongst an amazing display of talented work by animal artists from all over.
Whether you want to treat yourself to a piece of animal art or just view this collection of work, I reckon it’ll be a grand day out in lovely surroundings. Enjoy!
I’ve been doing a few paintings on small 5” x 7” canvasses recently and enjoying scaling down – the longest side is about the length of a standard pencil. A good excuse to dust off my tiny ‘000’ brushes. The new smaller sizes mean I can offer a lower price for commissions and sales, yay! That is, as long as the subject will fit on a postcard size format! Here’s a couple of recent examples…
Following on from my delight at having a painting selected for last year’s Paisley Art Institute’s annual exhibition which consequently sold, I am absolutely chuffed to bits to let you know that I have been selected for this year’s PAI exhibition too.
‘Pug Dug’, acrylic on canvas panel, will be taking part and I couldn’t be prouder!
Exhibition runs from 7 September – 20 October 2019 at the Piazza, Central Way, Paisley, PA1 1EL, Scotland.
‘Pug Dug’
I think we all need a bit of cheering up now and again in this mad, mixed up world of ours and how better to thank our four (and two) legged friends who always bring a smile and provide unconditional love, than with a day to celebrate them.
Happy National Pet Day!
Back in May, I blogged about having a painting accepted for the Paisley Art Institute’s Annual Exhibition in Glasgow, well I’m very happy to let you know that my little ‘Siamese’ painting actually sold. This is the first time I have entered a major exhibition and was knocked out to have a painting accepted, but the icing on the cake was when I visited the show with a friend, only to find a small red dot on my label! Yay!
The gallery was extremely quiet and echo-ey so my friend and I had to do silent ‘whooping’ and slow motion jumping up and down so as not to disturb any of the viewing public!!
This Unison pastel painting on Pastelmat is of my studio assistant, looking pensive. I like slightly unusual poses of animals to work on – candid shots can produce interesting portraits.
Pastelmat paper by Clarefontaine is a slightly unusual surface to use, almost like a very, very fine sandpaper so that the ‘tooth’ of the paper texture holds the chalkiness of pastels. I found it a tricky paper to use to start with but the more I use it the easier it gets and the end result makes for a smooth pastel painting, great for details.
These two beauts, Kiku and Kura, are owned by friends who live in Australia. They both have faces full of character and expression and I couldn’t resist trying to capture them. They are done with soft pastels (Unison) on Pastelmat paper which has a good ‘tooth’ for holding pastel. Fortunately, the drawings/paintings survived their global journey from the UK to the other side of the planet and arrived unscathed within a fortnight. Amazing! Well done postal service.
This cat is not exactly my niece’s cat but she spotted it in the garden of her London flat and sent me the pic. Bengals are a fabulous breed, quite exotic and regal looking. They also make great subjects to paint, all those markings!
Rosie Mark Artwork 