And More Chance

I think I fixed the eye. Pastels can be such a forgiving medium when used correctly and on the right paper. Being a sanded pastel paper the tooth is able to take on multiple layers of color. This makes it easier to just go over the incorrect eye and sketch in the new one. I'll still be tinkering with that eye when the piece is almost finished. I also blocked in color for the rest of the fur and the paw. I'm playing around with different shades of green for the bed he is lying on.
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More Chance

A further attempt at Chance. For some reason the left eyeball is driving me nuts. I'll be going back to it. Worked on getting the fluffyness of the fur and added in some of the background to get it to pop more.
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Back to "Chance"

With the rush order and some of life getting in the way I had set Chance's portrait to the side. There were some issues with the fur color and things just weren't working right. So, I did another sketch and started over. This time around I put down my base colors first and then went into more detail. I'm pleased with how this redo is going...but it all depends on the client!
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Ollie the Rush Order

In the midst of working on other commissions I acquired a rush order! A repeat customer, which is even better! The client that requested Diamond's portrait wanted a portrait to give to her husband for his birthday. It took about 6 hours and I finished on time! I'll leave it over night as is and then wait for tomorrow to matt it incase I want to change anything or do last minute tweaks.

I did learn from this portrait that I should work with gloves or something when I blend in pastels with my fingers because the sand paper as given one of my fingers a "sand burn". Ow.
Medium: Pastels on sanded pastel paper
Size: 11x14
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Chance the Cat WIP2

More work on Chance was done today. I have a rush order that was put in yesterday to be ready this Saturday. For once I'm glad we are going to have a snow/ice storm tomorrow...that'll keep me inside working! 

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I'll write more about my 2011 plans and things later. I need to get done with 2 commissions before I make any plans. A past client commissioned a pastel pet portrait of her "tough" looking cat, Chance! Here are the very beginnings. It almost looks like he has some kind of phantom mask on. Well, more soon I hope! 

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