This is Rosie and one of the few portraits I have done from a client’s photograph, as I prefer to use a very detailed shot. Luckily for me the dog was clear and there was lots of detail to go on. She is a pretty dog, with possibly a touch of the Basil the Brush about her? Or is it Fantastic Mr Fox? Either way she was a rich and bright colour and it as fun using a more complicated palette. Enjoy

View across Bradford on Avon town centre

for a whole day! I thought cities were historically supposed to have cathedrals, so I am hoping we  get an inflatable one for the day. If we do and I can get a good enough bounce action going on, I can check out my camera’s anti shake system fully and take some never before seen (or ever again!) photographs over the top of the town. I could walk up Tory I suppose and scan downwards but hey! How entertaining does a ‘bouncy cathedral’ instead of castle sound?

Bradford on Avon won this accolade in a competition hosted by 5Live recently, as part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. A thousand or so towns were whittled down to three and people asked to vote.  It’s good publicity for the town at the very least, and of course adds another town centre street party date… oh, we do like a street party here. I was going to post a link to the local paper for more reading material on this topic, but some of the comments posted by people there don’t fit in with my panglossian image I am attempting to promote!

This photograph was taken by me from the middle of the town’s bridge using a Sony Sweep, which has totally distorted the angles and given a very interesting perspective on an old favourite. Enjoy.

How about a splash of red for a grey day? I enjoy popping colour out of my photographs and have taken many with a view to manipulating this effect when I get home, rather than the aesthetic value or technical ability of a shot. Oh, I do like a ‘statement’ piece! I pass by here many times and throughout the seasons this window box is always maintained with one thing or another ( gardening is not my strong point- can you tell?) These geraniums have such a vibrancy in their own right, that the image in its natural form was not far from the ‘popping’ process anyway. But I am still taking credit for lots of hard work. Enjoy!

I promise I do other art work and not just pet portraits, honest Guv’.

More often than not when I photograph a pet for painted commissions I only get a brief time with them and rarely get to know their characters…. but I do know this young lady. She is a wonderful. She is an elegant stealer of seats, a nuzzler, a licker of toes, she saves the world by shooing squirrels away and keeps arthritis at bay for you by letting you stroke her tummy all day long if you so wish. She even conveys with aplomb that she has never heard of the phrase ”why the long face” each and every time you say it to her. I am not sure if you are familiar with Huntaways, but they are a working breed and highly intelligent with soft natures. Pretty to look at too!

Many apologies for the glare on the picture glass. I forgot to scan the original before it went into it’s frame! It does however show you the type of finished article so all is not lost. Enjoy

Well, this is a New Year and a new blog seemed the right thing to do. I really enjoyed the old style one but could not change the name of it to my married name. I am guessing this is probably a very easy thing to do, however, it escaped my limited tech skills so I wandered over here to WordPress. I am in the process of shaking it around to see what falls out- so far no cussing, an image loaded and a reinvigorated sense of purpose. Not bad, methinks. I have a back up plan for all the difficult bits too, as my husband can deal with those. He is wonderful like that.

At SerenArts over the last few months most of the commissions have been pet portraits for myself, or websites for my husband. Lots of Christmas presents and ‘New Year, New Start’ stuff, so the next few postings will bringing everything back up to present day and beyond. This was a commission slightly out of the norm as 99% of the pet portraits I do are of dogs ( although I was once asked if I did stick insects.)  It was painted in watercolours and watercolour pencils- my preferred medium for this type of artwork as you get detail but also loose colour washes. Enjoy!