Acrylic Dog Portrait: A million tiny hairs

Over the past month or so I've been working on an acrylic portrait of a dog, picking it up on and off when I've had time.

It's finally finished and will be given as a surprise for its new owner on their birthday this week.

The background was the first thing I painted, leaving the dog shape in the middle white. In hindsight I should have painted the whole background, then sketched out the dog afterwards.

I ended up having to repaint the background because there were some little white gaps around the dog and I couldn't match the colour perfectly to fill them in.

Anyway, we learn from our mistakes and, even though it took a little longer than it probably should have, I'm pleased with the outcome.

For anyone interested, I used Daler Rowney acrylic paints on acid free 240g acrylic paper. It's got a nice texture which is visible in the photo above.

While working on this pet portrait I did a bit of research into acrylic techniques and discovered the wonderful artist Marcel Witte. For my next project I'm going to try his technique of painting the background and blocking all shapes out first.

To deliver the painting, Sam and I took a trip to South Devon this weekend. It was a great chance to meet up with all our friends and we even got out on the water on Saturday in a friend's boat.

I was disappointed not to have brought my wetsuit as the guys were wakeboarding and it looked like so much fun!

Here are a couple of snaps from the wakeboarding session near Torquay.

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook if you haven't already! Ciao for now :)

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Paint Party Friday Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Summer fun in Torquay - watercolour seagull painting for PPF and WOYWW

Hi folks! I've had a fantastic time this week with the students of Kaplan International English school in Torquay! We've been all over the place, doing lots of activities outside to make the most of the sunshine. An afternoon spent on the beach here, a game of crazy golf there, trips to Living Coasts (the local seaside zoo) and games of tennis and bowls at Torre Abbey - we've really been spoilt with such good weather! Some of the students at the school haven't even experienced one day of rain during their stay!

All this fun hasn't left a lot of time for creativity, but I found an hour or so one evening to finish this painting of seagulls which I started last week. Firstly I drew a grid to arrange the seagulls in, then sketched them out in pencil, taking care that each one was facing a different direction to the next. When I was happy with the combination I drew over them in a fine pen and painted them in watercolours. I had trouble getting the colour of the wings all the same as the paint kept separating once I'd mixed it (cheap paints maybe?!), but as Sam said, seagulls are all slightly different anyway! I'm linking this one up to Paint Party Friday. What do you think?

'Seagulls' - © Clare Willcocks

All it needs now is a frame! Can you spot the teeny line I forgot to draw? 

This afternoon, when I got home from work, the sun was shining and the decking in the back garden was calling! Armed with a juice, my pad and watercolours I spent a lovely hour painting al fresco! I wanted to paint my 'workdesk' for this week's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), so here it is! I don't have a set place that I work, so my workdesk always changes!

Watercolour painting in the garden.

Same view, with a few bits and bobs added/moved!

The painting in progress...

Just a quick post today as I'm off for a barbecue on the beach! I love summer! See you soon lovely readers :) Don't forget to follow my blog if you like what you see!

Today I'm linking up at Shabby Nest, Creative Princess and Rhinestone Beagle.

A peek into my sketchbook and an overdue comic strip journal page!

I've finally found the time to catch up on my comic strip diary! Today I bring you a whole week on one page. I used my very fine waterproof pen as I had in mind to paint it in watercolour for a special colour edition. Unfortunately I didn't get around to adding colour, so it remains in black and white. Hopefully I'll have a bit of time this week to paint it, but until then...

A whole week of sunshine

This is only a brief post today as I have been working on a painting to go on our wall. At the moment, having just moved in, we have plain white walls which are just begging to be filled with lovely paintings! I have a little obsession with painting seagulls at the moment and as they seem to be everywhere here in Torquay I thought they'd be the perfect subject. I drew it out today onto watercolour paper and outlined it in waterproof ink.

'Seagulls' - © Clare Willcocks

The chips in one square are to add a bit of interest, after all, they are a seagull's favourite food!

I took the ferry over to Brixham the other day with the students and took advantage of an hour while they had free time to do some drawing by the harbour. I sat on the slipway in the sunshine and had a lovely afternoon sketching the replica Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake's ship, which has pride of place in Brixham harbour. This drawing needs painting really, to stop it looking so busy and make the boats easily distinguishable. I may get around to it one day!

Golden Hind, Brixham Harbour, Devon

I just had time left to sketch a little sailing boat.

Sailing Boat, Brixham Harbour, Devon

I also finished my greetings cards today, but I'll have to share them with you next time as I forgot to take photos of them! See you guys soon!

I'm linking this post to Handmade Harbour and Balzer Designs.