Newbiggin in the sun

​ ​At this location, John once captured a photo of a Red-spotted Bluethroat, a rare bird that attracted many photographers from miles around. ​Unfortunately, not everyone got a chance to see it, including myself. You can find information about the latest rare bird sighting in Newbiggin at the bottom of this blog.

'On the Easel' - Kingfisher in Acrylics

'On the Easel' - Bullfinch & Apple Blossom acrylic painting

What a find!

European Bee-Eater in Newbiggin by the Sea, Northumberland,UK

Amethyst Sunbird on Red Hot Poker

Haze the Black Labrador

As this weekend has been very grey & drizzly I thought I would get to work on one of my Acrylic paintings sat on my 'progress' shelves here in the studio. This is a 12" x 16" painting of a stunning Jaguar that I photographed last year and knew it would make the perfect composition.  The base of the canvas was painted with a wash of Burnt Sienna before starting the build up of the background and I then moved on

12" x 16" on a 3mm Gessobord
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Buddy the Springer Spaniel  -  11" x 14" Buddy's portrait was created using 5 different photographs. The body taken from this photo, the head from another, the tail from a third, the background from a fourth and some of the background flowers from a fifth image, all cut and pasted together to create the mock up of the reference image. Doing this can throw a whole lot of problems into the mix as different images can have different lighting, luckily I was able to ensure the correct balance as I was provided with lots of great quality photos that i could pull detail from. As you would suspect the grass took the longest as each blade of grass was applied individually and this was done in 3 layers so individually repeated 3 times!

The base layer - Very messy but important

The final completed painting

"​​I'm sitting looking at Buddy in pride of place on the wall, photo attached! It is absolutely lovely and it had the desired effect on Steve when he unwrapped - there were tears!! Everyone that has seen it has said how amazing it is with the amount of fine detail and so Buddy. If I manage to get a decent photo of Buddy next to it I will send it on!  Thank you once again, it is lovely to have a painting of Buddy forever."
Esther

Dudley the Springer Spaniel  -  9" x 12" in Acrylics This was a lovely composition but a tiny photo meaning that it pixelated when zooming in and the detail was lost in the face, especially around the eyes. The Commissionee loved the composition so much that I decided to see what I could do and asked if she could send some close up photos of Dudley taken in a less sunny environment and using all the photos together, I elaborated on the background/foreground somewhat and toned down the colouration on his head whilst still keeping the favoured stance. This was a challenge but I really loved the composition too and was happy with the final painting.

Loose undertones preparing for the layering

The final painting

"​​Just wanted to let you know that mum loves her portrait and we all cried our eyes out when we first saw it. What you've done is so special and we couldn't have asked for a better painting to remember him by. It captures his brilliant personality so well.  I'll definitely be recommending you to my spaniel loving friends!
Picture of framed painting to follow soon!
Andrea xx."

The customer only had a few photos of Kita, having recently lost her, and I was limited to flash photos. The reference image was a good pose, but as flash distorts colour and detail, I had to research the breed and add a little artistic licence. The image was also slightly out of focus, but I found that I was able to apply a lot of detail by overworking the fur, and the final portrait was far more detailed than I thought possible. The final painting was framed in a black moulding called ASHGATE, which accentuated the light tones in Kita's fur.

"​Hi Karen,  I just wanted you to know that I absolutely love my painting of Kita.  Thank you so much, you have done the most amazing portrait of him. He was my best friend and my little boy and the painting has been hung in the living room so we can all admire him everyday! Thank you again xx"

Diarmid E-mailed me a great photo of himself, his girlfriend Max and their little French Bulldog Kyla stood in front of the famous red phone box from the film 'Local Hero' when they visited Pennan in Aberdeenshire. As the phone box only covered half the background and the other half would add nothing to the composition it was decided to leave the background out completely and simply write 'Pennan' in the corner of the portrait. As mobile phone images tend to 'flatten' detail, the fineness of the Coloured pencils brought back the sharpness of detail and I really enjoyed creating this portrait - I always love a challenge!

Working on the undertones and building up the tonal layers

The final portrait treated with an application of UV fixative

"​Hi Karen , Hope you had a lovely Christmas. Wanted to drop you a note to say that Max absolutely loved the portrait! She couldn't believe how well you'd captured the detail from the photo and was thrilled to pieces!  We've already recommended you to friends and family and am sure we'll use your amazing skills again in the the future.  Have a great New Year!!  ​Diarmid"

​This portrait was the last drawing I completed for Christmas and depicts 2 Bearded Collie's called Pyppa (L) & William (R) completed in Coloured pencils. I had taken some photos of them both a year earlier but as William (R) is a rather nervous little boy, I struggled to get any close ups of him. trying to distinguish between them after a year was a challenge too! I was provided with a few great quality photos which I could also use to add in their eyes a little more too.

"​Thank you so much for my beautiful portrait, you've really excelled yourself this time, its amazing!"

Kita

"I just wanted you to know that I absolutely love my painting of Kita. You have done the most amazing portrait of him, he was my best friend and my little boy. I love him so much and the painting of him has been put up in the living room so we can all admire him everyday!!!
Thank you again" xx
Rachel

The final painting

Myself with the 9" x 12" 22mm portrait

Fine details up close

22mm Board with painted corners

Wall protectors applied for all unframed portraits

Karen, I was the lucky one to receive this beautiful painting. I can't tell you what a lovely gift it is, thank you so much for capturing Willow's character so well. I absolutely love it, it's beautiful and one to be treasured for many years to come.
​Victoria D.M

Murphie - Large Traditional Heart Memorial portrait

Finally at home

"Murphie arrived home safe and sound this afternoon and what can I say.  The photos were fantastic but she is even better now I can see her in "close up".   I always knew it would be hard to lose Murphie after having her in my life for 20 years but I didn't fully appreciate just how big of a hole she would leave behind.  Your painting has given me little bit of my girl back and I can't seem to tear my eyes away from it at the moment.  I attach a photo so that you can see that she arrived unscathed and thank you again for everything.  You made the process so easy from start to finish and you took good care of my girl and have created a truly fitting memorial to her and for that I am so grateful"

Bailey - 10" x 12" Coloured pencil pet portrait

Obe - 11" x 14" Boxer Dog Acrylic painting

"Hi Karen, Your painting brought tears to my eyes and a huge smile to my lips.  Thank you!  I love it. He's home and on my wall." ACRYLIC Paintings

Acrylic paintings

Coloured pencil portraits

Bailey - Jack Russell/Pug cross

Dave - Airedale/Paterdale cross