Category: Bespoke Art Commissions

A customer testimonial - Red Fox Labrador called Dougal

29/5/2022

It is always lovely to receive feedback from clients. Every single one of my commissions are created with care and you do get attached to the pet. You know you're unlikely to ever meet them in the flesh, but could pick them out in a crowd, having spent so many hours staring at and creating, their beautiful faces with all their tiny markings and (im)perfections.

Framed drawing of a Red Fox Labrador called Dougal. Completed as a commission by Northumberland artist Karen M Berisford

A thank you from a happy customer is a celebratory one. The fact that someone takes the time to send an email and to tell me how well the portrait was received, always brings a great sigh of relief knowing that they appreciated the time spent on the portrait. I thought I would share it here.
Here is the framed portrait of Dougal, a Red Fox Labrador completed in coloured pencils. What a beautiful dog he is.

If you want to see more of my coloured pencil art (including Rua, Dougal's sister), click here.

If you are thinking of booking your own bespoke commission, find out more here.

A BIG THANK YOU to Karen for her fantastic piece of work to complete
the portrait of Dougal.

This was a gift for my cousin and he loved it! It's got pride of place on his wall!

Karen has managed to capture Dougal exactly with the exquisite colour and
detail and professional finish.

I couldn't recommend Karen's service enough, she has been proactive in communication and I felt part of the commission throughout the process.

Thank you again, Mike

A coloured pencil drawing of a Red Fox Labrador bespoke pet commission

Tweaking the final detail.

VIEW DOUGAL'S PROGRESS PAGE

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, or share this post with friends and family.

Karen
www.karenmberisford.co.uk

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Dougal the Red Fox Labrador - coloured pencil drawing

29/3/2022

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I recently completed this commission of Dougal. Pet portraits are my most requested subject, and Dougal's portrait was ordered from a returning customer as a birthday gift to a family member.

coloured pencil drawing of a Red Fox Labrador

The reference image

The reference image used for this drawing was a great composition, but the detail and colour, was unfortunately lacking. Extra photos of Dougal were provided, which allowed me to gather additional detail. The leash was removed from the drawing, as this added nothing to his portrait.

Drawing a Red Fox Labrador using Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils

Living in Northumberland, the Labrador is a very popular dog breed here and having two Labradors myself, we often encounter Red fox Labradors and their owners, which allowed me to study their natural colour as we passed. I always try to balance out the values in each portrait, which means I will correct the colour tones, especially so when the colours in the photograph are washed out or under-exposed. I also spend time researching online, collecting photos of other Red Fox Labradors which act as a guide too.

If you are thinking about booking a commission of your own pet, get in touch. If you want to find out more about my commissions first, you can click one of the tabs below and read about the process or view my art gallery. I work in coloured pencils and acrylic paints, both offer very different outcomes, but are highly detailed.

Coloured pencils

Acrylic paints

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Latest Acrylic paintings in progress during Covid-19 lockdown

14/4/2020

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Whilst in confinement, I plan to complete a 'few' pieces of art that have been hanging around the studio for a while. Over the weekend, I worked on a painting of myself with our old Labrador/Collie cross called Cindy. I am using the Ampersand Pastelbord which allows me to create smooth layers due to its texture.

Click this button to view the progress page of this acrylic painting of Karen & Cindy

Red Squirrel Traditional Heart painting

Last night, I worked on a painting depicting a Red Squirrel called Tintin. The subject lives in Denmark with his 'Paps' (you can read his remarkable story HERE). Paps, (aka Decan), has a special permit to keep Tintin. He also rehabilitates injured Red squirrels until it is safe to re-release them.

Click this button to view the progress page of this acrylic Traditional Heart of Tintin the Red squirrel

The colouration on Tintin has been darkened which aids definition, ensuring perspectives are kept in check whilst I work up the layers and finish by evenly applying the highlights. The detail already added is quite heavy at this stage, this will be softened down as I continue so the fur looks more realistic. Sections of the bark on the tree has been built up using moulding paste to create additional effect and this will be worked on a little more as I go along.

You can find more of my Acrylic paintings in my online art gallery
or see more of my Traditional Heart portraits too.
Bespoke commissions are available to book.

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Christmas Commissions 2018

26/12/2018

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Last year I had 4 portraits that were booked as Christmas Commissions as well as 3 that weren't but that needed to be delivered before Christmas to avoid the postal build up and last year was pretty hectic. All bar one (the Chow Chow dog) were small portraits but this year however I had 3 larger portraits booked in which allowed a much steadier pace. One was not booked as a Christmas Commission and so delayed until the New Year to avoid getting damaged in the overseas post to the USA, and so here are the 2 completed Commissions that I hope were received well by their recipients this Christmas day.
Click on either image to see the progress page.

Jetson - The 9 month old Newfoundland Dog
in Coloured pencils

Images of Jetson was Emailed to me by the Commissionee, having been taken by the husband of the recipient. Black dogs are very difficult to photograph as it requires the correct amount of lighting to capture good photos that differentiate between highlights & shadow, and so I worked from a few photos to create a portrait of balanced tones. The importance of working with high quality Coloured pencils allowed me to apply the highlights over the darker base tones and achieve the correct perspectives which can easily get lost in a portrait like this. Click the image to see Jetsons progress page.

George Darling
1940's Black Watch soldier
in Coloured pencils

I was contacted in November with a challenging request. A gent sent me an old sepia photograph depicting his girlfriends Grandad when he was in the Black Watch regiment back in the 1940's and asked if I could create a coloured portrait of it within a suitable background to give as a Christmas gift to his girlfriend after recently losing him. Having been provided with as much information as possible regarding the correct colours of the uniform and an extensive search online, I was quite excited to get started! Click the image to see how the portrait came together.

Find out about commissioning your own bespoke portrait with me

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas day and received some thoughtful gifts too.

Wishing you the very best for the New Year 2019!

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Busy few months with Commissions

22/1/2018

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Christmas orders began coming in by September last year (2017) and I had little time to spend on anything else. I worked around 10 - 12 hours a day from mid October onwards and had to create a finely tuned schedule list for each day to ensure every portrait was completed for a specific date because there were a few overseas orders, some framed too and I had to ensure frames were received in plenty of time knowing framers tend to be extremely busy in the run up to Christmas too. I was hoping to have finished all my orders a week before I was due to travel to my old home town of Chesterfield so I could relax a bit but I was literally working late into the night before my journey the next morning!

Luckily everything worked out well in the end and my final portrait Star the Chow Chow, was literally collected by the Commissionee at the train station when I arrived in Chesterfield, he had travelled the 6 hours with me on bus, coach and then train in my suitcase! I received a lovely bunch of flowers from the lady for his painting and was pleased to see some lovely comments from recipients throughout Christmas day upon seeing the portrait of their much loved Pets. Click on any of the images to visit the progress pages.

Now all the Christmas Commissions are all complete and I've had a couple of weeks off to recharge, I am back in the studio working on new articles and 2018 Art Workshops for my Step by Step Art website, there's always so much to do behind the scenes. If you are looking to book your own bespoke Commission with me or are an Artist interested in articles, mini tutorials and possibly taking in a 1 Day Art Workshop with me, click on either of the links below to visit the page/website.

Here's hoping 2018 is a wonderful year for you!

Karen

Find Out About our Commissions

Visit the Step by Step Art Website

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Currently on the Easel....Mr & Mrs Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland

7/3/2017

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I was approached by a returning customer from the USA to create a Coloured pencil portrait of a Barn Owl and offered to create a few mock ups of compositions before I began as I always do. As a lover of photography I have a large photo reference library of various animals and birds including Barn Owls and so put together 5 different compositions one of which was the 2 Owls on the wall which became the basis of the portrait. The second stage was creating a few mock ups of the Owls within different backgrounds and finally, with the Owls and background in place the last collection of mock ups made were with various walls for the Owls to stand on which were in focus and added interest to the final composition. Many of my Wildlife portraits are created this way.

Early progress of a Coloured pencil portrait of Barn Owls on a wall

The first stages

Progress of a Coloured pencil Barn Owl on tan Ursus paper

Mr Owl so far

I chose a tan toned paper to work on which matches the warm tones of the Barn owls as well as giving strength in colour to the lighter tones such as the whites. The tonal background will be created using Derwent's Coloursoft range pencils which are soft and blend well for great effect and the Owls & the wall will be created using the caran Dache Luminance pencils which are ideal for very fine detail and strength of colour. A base layer of tones and loose detail is first applied to the whole of the portrait before I then apply the stronger & finer details to completion.

Coloured pencil Barn Owl head portrait in progress

Loose details of the male Owls face

Drawing moss on a wall within a Barn Owl portrait created with Coloured pencils

The moss - a good 3 hours in....

The Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland (UK)

This portrait is based on actual Barn Owl territory at Cresswell in Northumberland (UK). It is a 40 minute cycle ride from where I live along the beautiful coastal route of Lynemouth through to Cresswell pond, this place regularly has Photographers set up waiting for this little guy to make an appearance. Sitting in the undergrowth of the wide open field which connects to a lagoon where you can regularly see Avocets, Oystercatchers & even Otters on the rare occasion, is an area overlooking the coast and is ideal for field mice and voles. I wait patiently as I see him in the distance, flying silently and hovering on numerous occasions, not at all phased by the long line of photographers with their huge cameras on tripods waiting to get some great photos themselves. There is something breathtaking about seeing such a Bird in the Wild and feeling honoured that this Owl continues it's daily journey passing close by whilst I click the rapid fire button on my camera. Here are some of those photos.

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Bespoke Commissions - Looking for a specific piece of Art by me? Read on...

5/2/2017

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Most people visiting my website would understandably think that I only take on Pet & portrait Commissions but I actually create various Commissions if someone is looking for something specific. The 3 images below were created using an editing program to cut and paste various sections of other photographs to create the one 'mock up' which becomes the reference photo for the portrait. As a huge fan of photography, I have collected thousands of photographs of various animals, birds & subjects that can be used for a bespoke portrait whenever requested.

2 Barn Owls sat on a wall in Cresswell, Northumberland

The Barn Owls were taken on 2 separate occasions at the Butterfly House in Sheffield, the background was taken in Cresswell, Northumberland which actually has a Barn owl flying through the middle of the image (see the back of the left Owls head) and the wall was taken on different day at Woodhorn church in Northumberland. They were all roughly 'stuck' together to create a single

composition and the Artwork, which will be completed in Coloured pencils for a returning customer from the US, will be created by balancing out incorrect lighting and generally offering a more appealing and balanced background. This is currently in progress and a link to the progress page will be applied to the image when available if you wish to see it come together.

The Sumatran Tiger was also created in Coloured pencils for a returning customer who allowed me to create my own composition. The Tiger image was taken at a Zoo of which you can still see the bars, the water, rocks in the foreground and the tree branches at the top left of the image were all cut from individual images to create the one composition. You can see the final Artwork by clicking on the image.

Sumatran Tiger in green water and surrounded by greenery

Girl with green hair image edited using Picmonkey

The Green girl was created purely for a competition entry for the USA Colored pencil Magazine. You could pull any section from the image itself and create your own composition, for this I uploaded it into Picmonkey and literally played around with different tones, overlays and applications until I came up with the final reference image, click the image to view the progress page.

If you have your own idea for a piece of Art that you would like to Commission me to create in Coloured pencils or Acrylics, you can drop me an E-mail direct at: karenmberisfordart@gmail.com, fill in my CONTACT FORM or BOOKING/QUOTE FORM or even give me a call on: 07854 677416 with your own idea. Here is another bespoke Commission that was requested for a Wedding Day and another for a very special portrait that captured the moments of a romantic Engagement

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A customer testimonial - Red Fox Labrador called Dougal

Dougal the Red Fox Labrador - coloured pencil drawing

Latest Acrylic paintings in progress during Covid-19 lockdown

Red Squirrel Traditional Heart painting

Christmas Commissions 2018

Jetson - The 9 month old Newfoundland Dog
in Coloured pencils

George Darling
1940's Black Watch soldier
in Coloured pencils

Busy few months with Commissions

Currently on the Easel....Mr & Mrs Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland

The Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland (UK)

Bespoke Commissions - Looking for a specific piece of Art by me? Read on...

Author

Categories

Archives

SERVICES

COMMISSIONS

HELP & INFORMATION

A customer testimonial - Red Fox Labrador called Dougal

Dougal the Red Fox Labrador - coloured pencil drawing

Latest Acrylic paintings in progress during Covid-19 lockdown

Red Squirrel Traditional Heart painting

Christmas Commissions 2018

Jetson - The 9 month old Newfoundland Dogin Coloured pencils

George Darling​1940's Black Watch soldierin Coloured pencils

Busy few months with Commissions

Currently on the Easel....Mr & Mrs Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland

The Barn Owl at Cresswell, Northumberland (UK)

Bespoke Commissions - Looking for a specific piece of Art by me? Read on...

Author

Categories

Archives

SERVICES

COMMISSIONS

HELP & INFORMATION

Jetson - The 9 month old Newfoundland Dog
in Coloured pencils

George Darling
1940's Black Watch soldier
in Coloured pencils