Latest News for the UK Artist Karen M Berisford - Pets, Portraiture & Wildlife Art

Pets, Portraiture & Wildlife Art

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

Busy few months with Commissions

22/1/2018

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

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

7/3/2017

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.

Christmas Commissions 2016 - Pets & Portraits

29/12/2016

This year I was extremely busy with Christmas Commissions - I had 5 to complete in the space of 6 weeks, normally a portrait can take 3 - 5 weeks each so it was a very busy time. All were completed and delivered out to the Commissionees and here are the portraits alongside information on each and the customer testimonials.

Springer Spaniel sat on grass in front of border plants

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!

First stages of a Springer Spaniel sat on grass Acrylic painting

The base layer - Very messy but important

Acrylic painting of a Springer Spaniel sat on grass with beautiful border flowers in the background

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

Find out more about the process of Buddy's painting and view more progress images

Springer Spaniel jumping through long grass on a sunny day photograph

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.

Base layers of a springer spaniel acrylic painting

Loose undertones preparing for the layering

Acrylic painting on Ampersand Gessobord of a Springer spaniel running through long grass in the sun

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."

Photo of a Japanese Akita looking at the camera

The Commissionee only had a few photos of Kita who they had recently lost and so I was limited to flash photos. This image was a nice pose but as flash distorts natural colour I had to guess the balance by using online photos as reference. The image was slightly blurry up close but I found that I was able to apply a lot of fine detail simply by being aware of the fur shortness and the final portrait was far more detailed than I thought possible due to the quality of the photo. The final painting was framed in a lovely black frame which helped Kita's portrait to stand out.

Base layers of an acrylic painting of a Japanese Akita dog

Japanese Akita acrylic painting highly detailed with green background

"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"

Find out more about the process of Kita's painting and view more progress images

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!

Progress of a coloured pencil portrait of a couple and their french Bulldog

Working on the undertones and building up the tonal layers

Highly detailed Coloured pencil portrait of a man and his girlfriend with their French Bulldog

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"

Find out more about the process of Diarmid's portrait and view more progress images

Bearded Collies duo female and male photograph

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.

progress of Bearded Collie's coloured pencil portrait

Coloured pencil portrait of Bearded collies on white paper

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

Find out more about the process of William & Pyppa's portrait and view more progress images

Exciting new Articles at Step by Step Art including the first Coloured pencil tutorial!

22/9/2016

After 10 days away from the Art Studio visiting family in my old home town of Chesterfield as well as fitting in a well needed holiday down South in Dover I am now back and catching up on work. Before I went away, I finalised the 5 new Articles that have been created within the webpages of my official Art tutoring website 'Step by Step Art'. Here's what you can find within it's pages - take a look at our ARTICLES page to find even more!

Click to visit the web page

Step by Step Coloured Pencil Tutorial
Snow Leopard Eye

Here is the very first Step by Step Tutorial of a Snow Leopard eye created with Coloured pencils. You can use any Coloured pencil range to try out this Tutorial and is aimed at those who are looking to take their pencil Art to the next level or even those who have never picked up a pencil before and is looking for a challenge. This tutorial shows you how to create a highly detailed Coloured pencil drawing of a Snow leopard eye.
The paper is Art Spectrum Black Colourfix and the Coloured pencils are Caran Dache Luminance - you can use any black paper and any pencil range to trial this out - why not give it a go and E-mail me your work to add to the page, I would love to see them!

Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils

Prismacolor pencils shown in Black, True Blue, Crimson Red, Orange, Canary Yellow & White

Visit the Webpage

Prismacolor Premier pencils are probably America's most popular Coloured pencils, after buying and trying them out, find out what my thoughts are on these pencils.

Clairfontaine Pastelmat review

Colour collection of Clairfontaine Pastelmat paper in 12 different colours

Visit the Webpage

Have you tried Pastelmat paper, or are you looking for a new paper for your Art? This review covers the use of this paper with various mediums, see the results.

Derwent Graphitint Pencils Tutorial

A tin of 24 Derwent Graphitint pencils

Visit the Webpage

Just exactly what are those Derwent Graphitint pencils are all about? Are you looking to try them out but not sure how to use them? This article & tutorial may help.

Starting Out With Acrylic Paints

Are you thinking of trying out a new medium or looking to take up Acrylic Paints as a complete beginner to Art? You can find lots of information on what product requirements you need as well as some helpful hints and tips to help you get the best out of your new medium. Most importantly when buying an Acrylic paint range I explain what the differences are between cheap/student Acrylics & Professional/Artists Quality paints.

Acrylics are a great medium as they offer fast drying results with great colour vibrancy which can be applied to achieve an Oil style painting or a watercolour, versatility for everyone!

Click to view the Webpage

There are more new articles being created, information of which will be included in our Winter Newsletter - Sign up today if you wish to receive the latest information direct to your E-mail*
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Recently completed Commissions of a Pusscat, Jack Russell/Pug & a Fawn Boxer Dog

15/8/2016

Murphie - Large Traditional Heart Memorial portrait

Murphie sadly passed away in December 2015 aged 20 years of age and her Mum was looking for something special as a memorial to Murphie and came across my Traditional Hearts portraits and got in touch. It is always a real challenge when it comes to black & white animals as you tend to find that a lot of definition is lost in photos as it is very difficult to strike a balance of these colours whilst still retaining detail however, through various layering of

Black and white shorthaired cat acrylic painting on a heart shaped sheet of MDF

Close up details of the yellow eyes of a black cat acrylic painting

Black and white shorthair acrylic painting being held by the Artist Karen M Berisford

paint colours including grey and brown tones added to the black fur and with greys added to the white fur I was able to create an equal balance of colour and detail to ensure perspectives were kept in check and the final portrait was as close a likeness to Murphie's photo as possible. Feedback from Murphie's Mum upon receipt told me that I had done a good job!

Acrylic painting of Murphie the british shorthair traditional heart in situ

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"

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT 'TRADITIONAL HEARTS' ACRYLIC PAINTINGS

Bailey - 10" x 12" Coloured pencil pet portrait

Bailey is the second portrait completed in Coloured pencils for his Mum after heartbreakingly losing both Bailey and Casey (the first portrait) in close succession of each other and was gifted both portraits by a good friend. Bailey was originally sat on a green stripey rug but I thought it would suit the portraits if they were both sat on the same wooden

flooring so that they would compliment each other once framed and hung next to each other.

" Bailey just arrived! Well, about 15 minutes of tape removal ago. We are so chuffed! Bailey was loved by all of us, but loves my husband best, he was over the moon! We are blessed by your talent!
I just love him! Thank you so much! xxxx"

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT COLOURED PENCIL COMMISSIONS

Obe - 11" x 14" Boxer Dog Acrylic painting

I was asked to create an Acrylic painting of Obie the Boxer dog as a surprise gift to a lady in the USA. The reference photo was a beautiful pose and of great quality and I was able to gather lots of detail from the reference image to create this special memorial painting of Obe.

All my Acrylic paintings are created using a mixture of professional paint colours and mediums which offer texture to the painting. The background texture was created using a palette knife and texture was limited on Obie himself except for a light layering of fur texture. Nearly 40 Facebook friends clubbed together to book this surprise portrait of Obe and it was lovely to hear how happy the recipient was upon receiving such a thoughtful gift from great friends!

"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."

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ACRYLIC PORTRAIT COMMISSIONS

A busy week in the Newbiggin Art Studio

10/5/2016

It has been rather quiet on both my Social media & News blog with Art progress posts however I have been quietly busy with both pencils and paints recently and thought I would finally share updates so far.

Acrylic Portraits

Acrylic paintings of a White Boxer pup, a daughter and Mother portrait and a Springer Spaniel in water painting on Gessobord

I have been working on a double portrait of my friend and her little girl (not so little now though) for both their up and coming birthdays in May & June. The skin tones have been layered with still a little more to do to add the realism and the hair has had a heavy layer of brown undertones on to allow me to apply the finer hairs and lighter shades over the top. The stripey top is still in the loose stages but I am hoping to get this painting finished by the weekend. Both the Springer Spaniel painting & the Boxer dog are nearing completion but as these are not commissions, these will be left alone for a few weeks.

Coloured Pencil portraits

Coloured pencil portrait of a Jack Russell/pug cross

Bailey - Jack Russell/Pug cross

Creating a Coloured pencil portrait of a airedale/paterdale dog

Dave - Airedale/Paterdale cross

I currently have a couple of Coloured pencil Commissions on the Easel. An Airedale/Paterdale cross called Dave and a Jack Russell/Pug cross called Bailey. They are both still in the rough underlayers stage and the fine detail will be applied once the working area has been covered with the pencil base layers. I am applying a light application of tonal background to Dave's portrait before I can begin to apply heavy applications and layers over the top which will define him in both colour and detail.
If you wish to view more of my pencil works, you can find more in the COLOURED PENCIL GALLERY

On The Easel - Airedale/Paterdale Terrier cross in Coloured pencils

26/4/2016

Airedale/paterdale terrier being completed in Coloured pencils by UK artist

This is the latest Pet portrait I have been working on recently - an Airedale/Paterdale Terrier cross being created in Coloured pencils. I was lucky enough to get to meet Dave and take some photographs of him for the reference image and so have some wonderful images with great colour and detail to work from too which is always a bonus. I don't think he was too impressed with the camera in his face for at least half an hour but he was a good boy for his Mum!

I always begin every pencil portrait by laying down the base tones which is the stage the portrait is currently at. Once all the under layers have been applied, I will then begin by layering finer detail to create the realism.
I plan on adding a background too but have yet to decide on this detail until the portrait is a little further forward.

Thinking of booking your own bespoke Commission?

Coloured pencil portraits are created on acid free, archival paper using lightfast quality pencils and if framed correctly, a pencil portrait can last a lifetime and beyond! (if protected & cared for correctly) Coloured pencil pet portraits start from just £150.00 and you can find more details on my COMMISSIONS page or fill in the form to request a no-obligation QUOTE.

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You can do so by clicking the Facebook 'like' button below to share on your profile, click the 'tweet' icon to share via your Twitter page or simply post a comment or ask a question below if you need any help.

Thanks for visiting! Karen

Christmas Commissions

4/1/2016

2015 Commissions & Artworks all completed in Coloured pencils

Belated Wishes for 2016

It has been a very busy Christmas for Commissions and I am so behind, this poster I created to wish everyone a Happy Christmas is now rather out of date! I do hope everyone had a good break over the festive period and all good wishes to each and everyone of you for this New Year!

This poster shows all my Artworks I created in 2015 - some commissioned and others for an article in the Colored pencil Magazine in June.

Below are the Christmas commissions that were all completed and received as gifts for the special day - if you wish to see how they came together, please click on any of the images. If you are thinking of booking your own Commission with me and wish to know more, you can visit my COMMISSIONS page which explains the very simple process.

'The Girls'

20" x 16" in Coloured pencils

'Cyrus'

10" x 12" in Coloured pencils

'Tia'

10" x 12" in Coloured pencils

'Casey'

12" x 10" in Coloured pencils

Looking for advice on buying Coloured pencils?

19/7/2015

Help and advice is at hand if so....

For those who are not aware, I also have an official 'Step by Step Art' website that allows you to check out my current Workshops or take a look through Articles, written and via video (coming soon) on a plethora of Art related things including Coloured pencils, paper reviews and pencil reviews too. The Article section is still in the early stages but will continue to add to it as regular as I possibly can. My latest Article focus's on Coloured pencils and I decided to do a trial on different pencils that I currently have in my collection.

Berol Karisma, derwent coloursoft, Caran Dache Luminance and Faber Castell Polychromos pencil image

Read the Article by clicking the image above - opens in a new window

This article shows the 5 most important factors that I look for when selecting my professional pencil range:

I need to have a range that allows multiple layering
I need them to blend well for backgrounds and skin tones
Will work well with fixative
The pencils must be extremely lightfast and the colours strong
Need soft and hard pencils for different areas of my work

The 5 'tests' shown in this article includes:

Black & White Test
Hardness V's Softness
10 layer test - 'Mixed' layering
Fixative test
Blendability

This article also gives information on the importance of paper weight (gsm), information on each pencil including costs (GBP) and lightfast ratings as well as my own thoughts on 'adapting to coloured pencils' . I hope that this will be of help to all Coloured pencil Artists out there from those starting out looking to buy their first range to those interested in how Coloured pencils compare.

The very popular Prismacolor Premier & Verithin ranges will also be added to this article very soon and an adaptation of this article (with even more information in) will be available to view and purchase (download or hard copy) from the USA's Colored pencil Magazine 'Student' version in the next few months.
Find out more about this magazine here: Colored pencil magazine - Student Edition

Read the Article 'Comparing Coloured pencils' here

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