William in Oils on Canvas...

Here we have the finished 12" x 16" oil on canvas painting of William. Commissioned by Margaret, It's hard to believe that William is sixteen years young, as he looks just like a puppy in the reference photos. As she lives locally, I had an opportunity to go to Margaret's house and take a great selection of photos of William, which always helps for composing the final painting.

The next step is to go over to the framers in Kettering and choose a contemporary frame (not sure what colour as yet?) to complement both the painting and Margaret's decor. I think that we need a quite chunky wooden, possibly oak frame or antique silver but we will see on the day!

This month we also finally made the descision to have Cassie spayed, mainly to make her life easier and her less prone to illness when she gets older. She has been confined to the house for nearly three weeks as a result of the operation and has made a good recovery...now we seem to be getting back to normal at last!

Joe Unveiled...

Welcome to my latest update...

Here we have a fantastic sequence of photos from Mandy, depicting her daughter unwrapping the surprise painting of Joe. Some quite emotional moments and as quoted by Mandy...

"Hi Steve,

The portrait was a great success. I gave it to her the night before the wedding.

I think the photos of her opening it say it all."

I'm glad that the portrait was well received, and looks great in the contemporary pewter frame that we chose. Once again many thanks to Mandy for the great set of photos and for giving me permission to use them.

Joe, Horse Portrait in Artist's Watercolours...

My latest painting is a portrait of a horse called Joe. Commissioned by Mandy as a special wedding present for her daughter who is getting married early this month. Mandy's daughter has had quite a few ponies through the years but Joe is the favourite. In 1997 she rode him and qualified for Horse of the Year Show at Wembley, the hi-light of the horse world.

The 12" x 16" portrait of Joe is painted in artist's watercolours onto Bockingford heavyweight paper. I had some really superb reference photos from Mandy which has enabled me to include as much detail as possible into capturing a quite lifelike representation of Joe.

The background is a moody "wet on wet" technique colourwash and I suggested the irregular edge to the painting, which looks not only contemporary and fresh, but is a bit of a trademark of mine. It should look superb when the portrait is mounted and framed, the icing on the cake! I have included a full crop of the painting and a detail image and would very much like to receive some photos of Mandy's daughter with Joe's portrait, when it is being presented to her on her big day!

Some feedback from Mandy...

"The portrait is amazing. I am absolutely thrilled with it. looking forward to seeing it framed and can't wait to see Sophie's face when she opens it".