Welcome to my Website. As the title suggests I am a portrait artist who specialises in children and pets. You can view my work in my Portraits Gallery, some of it recent. Please continue your walk through my website and  take a look at my Watercolours, Pastels and Miniatures too. Also view the interesting Step-by-Step Murals pages.

NOTE: I strive to keep introducing new artwork on this site and keep it looking up-to-date. So please return from time to time to make sure that you are not missing out on anything.

My favourite medium for executing portraits is high standard artist quality Coloured Pencils, always with a finely sharpened point. This gives a very refined quality and allows for lots of detail, my preferred way of working, and I just love it. I am also happy to paint portraits and houses in a different medium i.e. watercolour, oils or pastels. Watercolour is a wonderful medium for landscapes and buildings, and used to reserve it mostly for those kinds of subjects, but  I have found more recently that this medium has a lovely quality all of its own which can be very successful for great portraits.

MY VIEW ON COLOURED PENCILS

It is a pity that Coloured Pencils still seem to be regarded as "kids crayons" by some people (even a number of professional artists) which is so unjustified! The Coloured Pencil is actually a very grown-up medium which is used by many very talented and skilled artists, and it is fast becoming as popular as watercolours, gouche or pastels. Thankfully things are now moving on in the twenty-first century, and organisations such as the CPSA in the USA, and the UK Coloured Pencil Society have for a large part contributed to this new awareness. To find out more and to see examples please check out their websites.  As you can see there, extremely high standards can be and are achieved. CP is absolutely wonderful for very fine detail. This does make it a time-consuming, although satisfying medium. A blessing is that most good quality coloured pencils are now also lightfast, and more and more colour pencil producers are following suit. Please keep in mind that artwork produced with CPs needs to be treated with the same care as you would a watercolour or a high quality print, or a pastel. Once in a frame they should all be kept away from direct (sun!) light and heat sources.

THE WAY I WORK

I work from photographs, as that is the most practical and economical way for me to work when using coloured pencils. There are many times when it would not be practical for my client to come and sit for me, especially where he or she lives a long way away or in another country. Children are certainly not that keen on posing for more than 5 minutes! Because I put a great deal of detail into each drawing it takes a good number of hours to complete, so by using photographs there is minimal pressure on either side. However, sometimes I will get my client to sit for me for sketches when possible, as that helps with my overall composition and will of course improve the drawing a great deal. But this can only be possible when he or she lives quite close to me and there is minimal traveling involved. I prefer to take my own photographs, but unfortunately as this means visiting the client distance will often not allow this. So I go for the next best thing and ask for the best quality photographs you can provide. Getting involved in travel would simply be too costly for me and therefore makes the whole process more expensive, so I would have to reflect that in my prices. My portraits are not that expensive when you consider the time it takes. I work hard to get a realistic end result and I try to make sure that my client is truly satisfied. I have received very positive feedback from many happy customers, so I am planning to reflect this in a new section on this site at some point, featuring some of the comments.

A beautiful portrait makes a lovely keep-sake, of your children, grandchildren, your spouse or a family member, or perhaps one of yourself.  It can be a lovely surprise for a friend or relative. Get your own pet drawn, or surprise a friend with a portrait of his or her dog or cat. Portraits also make wonderful original gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, or any special occasion.

I am confident in saying that the likeness I produce is excellent and I can assure you of the highest quality. Read more information about procedure and prices here.

Colour pencil drawing of sleeping child

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