Diamond - All Done and Ready to Run

Yes, I must admit she really came together well once I got my cloth and tortillon working. I was very pleased with how well she worked out. She is now on her way to her new home.

I have had several people ask about some of my blending tools. I use the standard tortillons of various sizes but my favourite tool is a 'color shaper'. It is great for blending in very tiny places, doing that little fluff of hair off the side, etc. It has a foam type tip that you can use to burnish the graphite and you can draw with it once it has picked up a bit of graphite. It fits beautifully in your hand and is great fun to work with. Shapers can be found in the paint section of most art supply stores as they are used to move oil and acrylic paint around. There are several tip shapes and sizes. I find the point and the chisel are the best shape and I get size 0. They are relatively inexpensive, approx.$8-10 but well worth it.

Diamond – WIP

Short white hair, can it get any harder!! This is the kind of challenge I really enjoy. Drawing Diamond was going to be fun.

I decided to put a bit of a backdrop to set off her whites but I didn't want to do too much. It is so easy to make a black and white mess. I usually start by playing around a bit with different parts of the picture to get a feel for where I am going. For Diamond, I found the secret was to first of all get over the 'white thing'. When dealing with white, no matter what, there will always be a slight degree of shading. Once that was settled things really began to fall into place. Yes, there will be white but only on her forehead and nose area to really develop the focus on her face.
The second secret was to use both a cloth and tortillion to burnish my pencil work; this really makes her coat sleek and lifelike and gives many levels of subtle shading. I am very pleased with the results and anxious to finish her up. Things are really starting to come together eh?

Meeka and a Dog Show

Isn't he a fabulous looking dog? This is a memorial piece for a wonderful family dog. He lived to be a great age for a large dog and was definitely well loved. I really enjoyed working on his picture as he has so much life to him. Not to say he didn't have his challenges, all pictures do. I find that the fun is trying to work out the how I will depict different parts to make it a realistic picture. It is always a wonderful feeling to see things come together. My next challenge is a short hair white dog, Diamond!!

In between drawing I also went off for three days to a major dog show. It was my first trade show and my first dog show. What a fun event! I came home just high with excitement. There were so many beautiful dogs and all so well trained. They were in shows, dances, agility and Halloween costumes, what a sight! The vendors that were close to me were a wonderful group of people and we all had quite a good time. Of course many people commented on how wonderful my drawings were and that is always good for the ego. Here is a picture of my booth, and as you can see it was a really nice spot.