http://www.martinanewtonart.com en-gb martinanewtonart.com 2011-6-12T00:00:00Z martinanewtonart.com http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#96041 Please continue to follow my blog here 2011-6-12 12:35:08 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#90570 2011-3-30 14:00:14 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#90002 My first commission of 2011. Scooby an English Springer Spaniel from Hampshire. A4 white velour paper with a mix of soft and hard pastels for this one to give him a softness around his lovely floppy chops 2011-3-23 22:09:51 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#87357 This is Riley a lastminute commission before Christmas. A straightforward graphite on A4 Waterford watercolour paper. 2010-12-20 05:31:04 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#81847 Hes all finished now and Ive collected him from Browns Fine Art Gallery in Locks Heath as I wanted him properly photographed and printed so as Ive got a copy for future art fairs. Ive really enjoyed using the acrylic inks as theyre great for fine detail and the colours have a great strength. Rapidly becoming my favourite medium beginning to overtake coloured pencil. 2010-12-2 01:03:02 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#84191 Heres Spirit from start to finish. A lovely Cavalier King Charles spaniel who is just like Minty one of our family dogs when I was growing up so I particularly enjoyed painting this one Having said that I do enjoy them all. I cant believe I havent painted at all up until a few years ago all that wasted painting time Now Spirit Ive had the pleasure of meeting on several occasions as Spirits owners and myself often walk our dogs in the same park. 2010-12-1 16:37:23 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#80742 Nelson English Bull Terrier. Nelson partway through hes being painted on A3 watercolour board in acrylic paints and inks. I needed a few reference photos for this one as the original photo was a little overexposed the hair couldnt be seen clearly enough. Ive found photos of other EBTs online so as I can get an idea of how it should look closeup. 2010-11-19 16:35:11 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#80740 This is Spirit a beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Its soft pastels for this lad too. A3 size on velour paper. 2010-11-19 16:26:12 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#80739 Jubilee Rhum completed He was a pleasure to draw and I think pastels were the best choice as they really brought out the softness of his fur. German Shepherds are such stunning dogs to draw with their fantastic wolfiness 2010-11-19 16:20:25 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#76302 Busy this morning darkening down and adding more detail. Ive just popped downstairs to upload this and also to give my two naughty boys a kong each. Max hasnt had one before so isnt too sure what to do with it. Buddys throwing it round the room but the treats inside are stuck to the peanut butter Thats enough now back to work . . . 2010-9-20 23:20:31 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#76301 Today I darkened down the darker areas of fur with black conte pastel. The mouth I gave a layer of pale blue covered with two different pinks Ill come back to this at the end. The eyes I used three different browns again Ill continue with the fur then go back and make a few more changes to them to sharpen the definition. For some reason I find noses incredibly difficult It doesnt make sense I know because I find eyes and mouth ok but Im building the nose very slowly as velour paper isnt very forgiving with mistakes 2010-9-12 23:17:30 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#76297 Jubilee is my latest commission a working police dog and all round handsome chap. Im doing him in pastels as I did Relax with a Max except on ambercoloured velour paper. The paper is A3 my favourite size to draw and hes attached to my new Reeves drawing board which Im very pleased with Here are some inprogress photos 2010-9-5 22:50:51 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#76296 Im pleased with progress on this one as its a technique Ive never tried before. I attended a workshop in June with Clive Meredith www.artofclivemeredith.blogspot.com and was very inspired by his use of layering different grades of graphite pencil to get a truly lifelike depth. This is my effort so far and is probably about 15 hours work by now it is A3 2010-7-13 22:45:57 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#76295 20 x 30 cm coloured pencil on Fabriano 50 cotton rag paper. 2010-6-5 22:39:03 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#66255 2010-5-27 12:08:01 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#64968 More depth added now trying to bring out the muzzle so it looks 3D. A little bit more detail on the eyes but still quite a way to go . . . 2010-5-10 18:43:48 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#64073 Ive decided to start this portrait a little differently beginning with a dark background. It looked a little alarming in a messy burnt umber but the latest edition of Leisure Painter had an article showing a stepbystep of a painting of a springer spaniel which I thought Id use for practice. Working from dark to light seems to give a good impression of the fur closer to the skin. Ive used titanium white followed by sand followed by mixtures of mars black white and yellow ochre. I think itll need several coats to give it more depth of colour and tone. 2010-4-28 21:20:22 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#60978 I decided to give my new Cryla acrylics a tryout and thought Id transfer my practice piece of Buddy onto a canvas. This was the first stage a sketch in 2B pencil on a canvas 40 x 50 cm.I thought blue for the background as I could then use some greyish blues in his coat to bring the two together. Next I blockedin some of the main colours including some red on his ears no doubt inherited from his Irish setter mum Hes taking shape now Ive used a range of greys browns and whites to give him the different contrasts he has in his what looks like predominantly black coat. Its amazing just how many colours a black dog can have in their coat.Here he is finished for now. Ive left him on the easel so might add a few hairs here and there. This was taken in quite gloomy daylight so the colours dont look as rich as the ones above. Overall though a good likeness of Buddy the Border Setter as we like to call him. 2010-3-20 19:50:36 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#60669 I first sketched an outline of the dogs then using grey velour paper I put the sketch over the top and with the lid of a pen lightly pressed through to give an indent. I wasnt sure whether Id be able to rub out pencil marks so this seemed the way to go.I lightly applied the base colours with Rembrandt conte pastels.Rosies complete and now to continue with Gracie. For the detail I used FaberCastell pitt pastel pencils. I worked mainly from left to right in order to avoid smudging but I also covered up sections with clean paper to rest my hand on.Here they are both finished ready in time for Mothers DayNow off to the framers for mount backboard and cellophane. 2010-3-16 20:37:25 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#60516 This is Gracie a retired rescue greyhound. Shes cheeky a prolific food thief and a bit of a tomboy.This on the other hand is Rosie the ladyof the household.Also a retired rescue greyhound a beautiful brindle colour which Imlooking forward to drawing 2010-3-14 20:00:02 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#60334 Here he is . . . white picture mount backed and covered in cellophane to keep him clean. I thoroughly enjoyed drawing him he looks a real character. 2010-3-11 17:55:46 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#59866 Another two hours or so and most of the detail is there. Im finding this much easier now Ive got a daylight bulb in my lamp much easier on the eyes and no distracting colours thrown onto the page. Ive just got the detail of the ears to do. I left these as they look a slightly different texture to the body fur more silky and the curls are a tad tighter. The bib also needs some shading as its too stark as it is. 2010-3-5 18:47:00 http://www.martinanewtonart.com/page4.htm#59685 Im happy with the sketches and now have transferred the outline to some Fabriano 50 cotton rag paper. Ive not used this before so a great learning experience all round. The pencils Im using are FaberCastell and Derwent graphite. This is progress about 2 hours from the outline. Still a fair few layers to do in order to get the depth. This photo shows the original image although Im using a couple in order to check between features that arent too clear. 2010-3-3 14:51:01