KATJAS WORK IN PROGRESS BLOG

Today we had a visit from the Family who came to collect their painting of Robin and Tuffe, we drank coffee and talked for a few hours. It was very nice to meet them. Its so rare to meet with clients as most of the packages goes through post, but this time I had this privilege.

This is Robin and Kent with their painting, unfortunately they didn’t bring Tuffe because they live pretty far away from us and wanted to go to other places before traveling home again.

Kent and Robin with their Painting

Robin and Kent with their painting

For three days I have been drawing Dingo and Kassi in Colored Pencils. I can draw, draw and draw and it feels like I’m getting nowhere.  This is why my colored pencil portraits now costs the same as my oils. Yes they are  drawn on paper, but the time creating the portraits has to make the price. The result is of course also outstanding and very detailed!

The reason why the Long-haired Dachshund doesn’t look quite as finished as the Wire-Haired is because I have to draw it with a different technique in the face.

Step three of Dingo and Kassi

Today I went to collect the Framed Portrait and its looking great. The client choose between Frame number 1, 2 and 4b. Me and the Framer chose number 1 because the Frame made the painting look more beautiful and it suited perfectly. I photographed the framed painting and I’m posting it for the client to see before I ship it.

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Framed portrait

Today the first Giclée Print arrived and I opened the package with excitement. Its just perfect, I think its even better then the original. The Fine Art Print is of the Norwegian Elkhound I drew some time ago. The print has a watermark, is numbered and is signed by myself. Even though this is an Open edition Print its numbered and has a Certificate of Authenticity from both the company who created the Print and one from me.

The Company creates the Prints with the Digigraphie printer from Epson, so the Prints are in highest quality possible.

Print Art Giclée Print of Norwegian Elkhound

This is the second step of Dingo and Kassi in Colored pencils. I started to darken some shadows and find dark and light areas, along with right colors. I have to use several colors to create the right hues and that takes some time. Several layers are applied when I draw in colored pencil and I don’t want to leave out to many of the tiny details.

Dog portraits in colored pencil - step 2

For many months now, I have been working on a new website for Pet-Art.net. I worked on it from time to time between portrait commissions and other work I had, that’s why it took so long. Yesterday I finally uploaded it and today I spent some time correcting bigger errors. I believe that I won’t do any new websites for a very long time; I will only update the current one when I will have some spare time. The hardest thing I had to do was to create a Wordpress theme on my own, from scratch. Because I love challenges I wanted to do this and of course it looks really nice with the same look on my work in progress page (blog) as rest of my pages. Well it’s not only the same “look”, it’s the same page! I still have some minor things to add and changes in the Wordpress theme.

The entire website has a different navigation system with a menu divided in offering sections. HOME, CUSTOM PORTRAITS, ART SHOP, FRAMING, DESIGN, IN PROGRESS, ARTIST, CONTACT. In these sections you can find everything related to just that and I’m really happy with how it turned out. Read about more news on my website:

CUSTOM PORTRAITS
1. Some older portraits have been replaced by new ones.
2. More testimonials have been added and divided into sections.
3. More information can be found about my Gift Vouchers.
4. Deposit payment can be done directly on my website

ART SHOP
1. This section is new and I’m now selling Fine Art Giclée prints
2. Find Galleries, FAQ, News, info about Licensed Artwork and Terms.
3. Buy Giclée prints directly on my website

FRAMING
1. This section is new and I’m now offering professional Framing and Frames in highest quality.
2. Find Frames for canvas and paper and read information about the frames and see pictures. Frames are divided into sections.
4. Read about how I pack my Framed and Frame-ready portraits.

DESIGN
1. Galleries, Prices and Portfolios are now divided into sections. More info is available.

IN PROGRESS
It’s written about above in my post

FREE DOWNLOADS
Almost everything is new over there. New wallpapers, E-cards, Letterheads, Stickers, Bookmarks (BITE INTO A GOOD BOOK), Postcards and Calendars for 2010.

ARTICLES
Improved Article about painting in oils on canvas, of a dog.

Well, that’s all I can remember right now. Browse around my site and see how it looks. To some of you out there, don’t copy too much :)

New website 2010

I have finally finished the portrait of Robin and Tuffe. To paint Robin was a bigger challenge then i thought from the beginning, but I finally got it right I hope. It took me much longer to complete the painting the predicted, but that’s all right because you never know how long time it will take to create a painting and some paintings takes longer then others. Tuffe is a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, and has a very interesting look in his eyes. His coat is very soft and beautiful. Robin is a beautiful boy, he loves and plays soccer (like my son do).

Portrait painting of dog and boy

Close-up of Tuffe

Close-up of Robin

Some days ago I got en email from a client who just got the framed watercolor portrait of Dodger back from the framer. She also sent me a photo of Lilo framed, which she commissioned a while back. She used the same frame for both of them since they both hang next to ethoder. I´m very happy I got the photos, thank you! So here are the two dogs, Lilo and Dodger:

Watercolor portrait of Lilo

Watercolor portrait od Dodger

I’m posting a new portrait I have been drawing on today. This is step 1 of Dingo and Kassi in Coloured pencils. The portrait is in size 29 x 42 cm. Rest of this week I will be working with the oil painting Robin and Tuffe.

Two dogs in colored pencil - step1