Maddie Finished

Here is Maddie finished unless I have to make any fnal adjustments. I am now going to have a sleep as I welcomed a couple of sailing friends in at the finish of the Solo Trans Tasman Yacht race last night and I have only had two hours sleep. They would be feeling alot more sleep deprived than me however since they have been at sea for just over a week. Bighorn coming up!!If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Happy Easter

Wishing you all a very happy Easter holiday break! My husband and I are taking our boat out on the bay for a few days which should be wonderfully peaceful. I might try my hand at watercolour out there. So far I am not happy with my attempts at this medium. I have finished the pastel of the horse and rider but I will not be able to post a picture until August since this is when it is being given as a gift. The recipient is young and computer savy and we do not want to spoil the surprise!! I have been working on the oil pet portrait of Maddie the blue heeler today but I will post a picture late on Tuesday next week when I have more to show. I also plan on doing more work on the Bighorn Sheep but Maddie takes prioity unless I need drying time for the oil painting. I am wanting to enter a few competition/exhibitions and so I will be starting a pastel of boats soon using a reference photo I took in Tasmania last year. There is also a 'Fabulous Fakes' competition which I would be very excited to enter but the exhibition is at The Entrance in NSW and the painting has to be delivered in person so an entry from me may not be practical. I would love to attempt a copy of a Renoir who I think may be my favourite grand master. I love his use of colour!! And lastly we have put our plans on getting a puppy/ies on hold for the moment because the fencing was going to be very pricey and we are away on our boat allot. There are not many places in our sailing neighborhood where you can take a dog ashore for calls of nature!! If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Australia Day and Next Project

We have had a National holiday here for Australia Day this week. We spent it out on our boat with friends and had an absolutely awesome day! I am just putting the finishing touches to Cap'n Jack and Mr Sheffield and my next project is a portrait in pastel of two very cute little dogs Smoeky and Twinkles. If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Happy New Year and Back to the Easel!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and that the New Year brings good health and prosperity to you all! I have had a wonderful break (cruising around on our boat 'pictured above' which we have just had repainted) and it is now time to return to the studio. I have The Red Boyz to complete then I will be doing a two dog portrait followed by a horse and rider. These are all pastel and in addition I will be slotting in an oil painting of a very cute little pug dog. It is very hot here at the moment so I will be starting early each day at the easel to beat the heat. If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Pastel Workshop Boats and Seascapes

The above is pastelled using a reference photo I took at Strahan in Tasmainia earlier this year.

The above is copyright to Regina Hona as it was pastelled using her reference photograph.

I have just spent two days doing a pastel workshop with an artist I greatly admire Regina Hona. The theme was seascapes and boats and we did one picture each day. Being a 'boatie' I was really drawn to this workshop. Neither of the pastel pictures shown here is complete but I thought I would post them both anyway. If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Frisky!

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Frisky our very special friend and companion passed away on Saturday. He was 11 years old and became ill suddenly due to kidney failure. He had not touched food or water for days when the vet and I decided that it would be kindest to euthanise him. Heart wrenching is an understatement. Frisky was extraordinary; having lots of character he would sit at the top of the driveway waiting for us to come home just as a dog would; he played games like hide and seek with my husband; and he was very affectionate and loving, curling up with us to watch TV and sleeping on our bed during the night. He is a huge loss.

On a brighter note my husband and I sailed in a race to raise money for breast cancer awareness yesterday and had a much needed very happy day! I think my next work will be cyclists inspired by the Tour de France which we watch every year without fail. If you enjoyed this post please consider becoming a follower of my blog. See the Followers section down the right side of my blog. You may like to add me to you own blog. If So my link is www.portraitsthatbite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Long Weekend!!

I am now going to be focussing on finishing Daffy and Peli Can Can!


Our Boat!
We have just had a long weekend here in Australia. Monday was a holiday "Labour Day". We have a small yacht which we took out on beautiful Moreton Bay for the three days. It was quite eventful. First we arrived at the sailing club and unloaded all our gear onto the boat. Food sleeping bags etc. Then the engine would not start. There was no way we were giving in so we pushed the boat out of the mooring pin and hoisted the sails. This manouvure does have risks but all went without a hitch. We were then sailing beautifully across the bay and my husband went below to make a cup of tea. The metho stove leaked and when he lit it he had a fire which he had to put out with a fire blanket nad extinguisher. I was on the helm so all I saw was the smoke which was probably just as well. After that excitement the weekend went beautifully.