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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
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This year has been an extremely busy Christmas for Commissions and I suspect I ended up biting off more than I could chew, finally finishing the last commission of the year today and feeling emotionally shattered after early mornings and late nights creating some beautiful doggies and very special portraits for some lovely people. This is one of the Christmas commissions that I can show as it was given to the recipient early so Kita's Mum could choose the frame of the memorial portrait of her precious boy. Having created so many Pet portraits over the years I was able to work far more into the painting than was seen in the photograph as Kita's owners sadly had few photos of him and as Acrylic portraits offer extremely fine detail, every single hair had to be applied individually using a very thin brush to give the fine detail.
Upon completion of the portrait I then applied 2 layers of satin varnish which was then framed in the 'Brockwell' moulding, packaged up and sent to his new home. Upon receipt Kita's mum sent me the following text: "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!!! It is always special recieving such feedback and I am looking forward to hearing how my other portraits have gone down this Christmas, hoping I am able to bring a smile to the recipient's face and knowing I did a good job for them all. I will share each portrait on my blog once I've had a decent break and would like to offer this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!!
Murphie - Large Traditional Heart Memorial portraitMurphie 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
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!
Bailey - 10" x 12" Coloured pencil pet portraitBailey 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! Obe - 11" x 14" Boxer Dog Acrylic paintingI 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!
I have had my eye on a stunning photograph of a Black long haired Daschund called Miss Molly taken by a lovely lady and Molly's Mum who lives in the USA, I asked if I could use the photo to recreate into an Acrylic painting and Molly's Mum said 'YES!' Here is the progress of Molly so far - an Acrylic painting always starts off looking rather messy whilst I lay down the rough base tones. Details are defined and refined as I go along creating finer details and applying washes where necessary.
As you can see on the last photo, Molly has more finer details now but there is still much to do on the Cherry Blossoms in the background. If you wish to follow progress of this portrait, you can find the official page by clicking the link below: Thinking of booking your own Acrylics Commission? Get in quick as the current Introductory prices are only available for a short time only, find out more on my ACRYLICS page or click any of the links below:
Thinking of booking your own Commission?You can take a look at my COLOURED PENCIL ART GALLERY to see more Pet portraits created in Coloured pencils and if you wish to find out more about booking a Commission with me, you can find out more HERE. You can also fill in the BOOKING form to request a no-obligation quote or place your booking. Should you need help at any time, feel free to get in touch: karenmberisfordart@gmail.com or call me on: 07854 677416
I have begun a couple of new Acrylic paintings to join my ever growing collection. After painting our Springer Spaniel swimming, having 2 Labradors also I wanted to create a trio of paintings of them and after thoroughly enjoying painting the water in Casper's painting, I decided that this would be the theme of the trio and so went off to Woodhorn's QEII park here in Northumberland to get some photographs of him. Haze is rather excitable and went off jumping in to the water on numerous occasions, which caused him to sprain his tail! poor boy! Luckily, it was ok after a few days and it did not bother him much, so I got a lovely, natural photograph of him enjoying his swim on a sunny Sunday! Here is progress so far of the rough base layers, this is also a 11" x 14" on Gessobord.  The 2nd painting is a 12" x 12" of a beautiful little Black Daschund called Miss Molly. She lives in the USA with her family and the stunning composition image had been posted by her Mom sometime last year and I fell in love with it straight away and asked if I would be able to use it for this painting, luckily her Mom was more than happy for me to use it and I got started. Molly is surrounded by Cherry Blossoms and so this painting is going to take a good few hours to lay down all the rough base layers before I even get to adding the fine details!! Both these paintings will have texture added in places applied with a palette knife to give the unique finish to every painting I do.
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 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
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
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.
Wish to Share this post? 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
Here is one of the new style Acrylic paintings that I have been working on the last few days. An Acrylic painting can look rather untidy during the creation process as Acrylics can dry so quickly. Once the Canvas is fully covered I then move on to defining the detail which softens the looser application of the underlayers.
My new style Acrylic paintings use a selection of mediums mixed with colour to create a very Individual painting and for this portrait I have mixed the Acrylic paints with a Heavy Gel to create a texture to the Artwork. The next stage is to refine the painting, working with an ultra thin brush and applying the paint using a 'wet in wet' technique to ensure the edges are smoothed out more and the final look offers vibrancy, strong colour and realism.
Feel free to like, share or leave a comment! Thanks for stopping by! For the last few weeks, I have been working on a few of my new style Acrylic paintings and thought I would share with you progress so far on them. An Acrylic painting begins with rough base layers so that I am able to cover the canvas before then going on to applying the fine details. No painting will be the same as the next as I use a palette knife to apply textures and tones and each painting may change dramatically throughout the process. Here are some of the subjects I am currently working on and if you wish to view progress, please click on the images below.
There are more portraits planned for 2016 and I will update this News page as regularly as possible. If you would like to book your own Acrylics Commission with me, you can find out more on my ACRYLICS ART GALLERY. I have also recently introduced a FRAMING service alongside my Acrylic portraits offering you the full package so you can be sure that your painting has been created using the best quality, lightfast products and framed safely & securely so your portrait lasts a lifetime (and beyond!)
If you need help choosing a size you can view visual images on my SIZING page. If you wish to ask for a no-obligation quote or book your portrait, visit my BOOKING FORM page, fill in the form and get a reply within hours. Any Questions, please ask! Karen :) |
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