Black on Grey on White

This week's work took me off on a tangent, a good tangent but a tangent nevertheless. Realising I needed another entry for the up and coming CAG Helping Paws online show , I got down to business. Love the mystery of the piece the way so much is said yet so much left unsaid... Applied my lessons learned from the master Da Vinci once again in the drapery of the dog's blanket. Beyond is for sale unframed (framing is easily organised ). 20% of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to the DCGR . Dumfries & Cumbria Greyhound Rescue is based in Scotland helping Greyhounds escape their doomed future after their racing careers end. This is worthy cause I am proud to support the best way I can: through my art. Who knows maybe one day I'll be able to adopt one of these thoroughbred canines myself ... Until then I proudly present Beyond ... the dog that never turned round. Beyond 2009 Graphite on Paper.29x19 cm Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved 260 Euros

Welcome back to the sequel in the creation of my Greyhound portrait . After a good-night's sleep, I carried on by tackling the connection between girls and dog (see close-up of stage 4). This meant I had to ignore her hand.(- always a good idea to back-off until the frustration dies down). A quick recap on the material used: Mellotex paper Derwent graphite pencil 2B, 3B and 8B Staedler clutch pencil F and 2H Chamois leather Blu-Tack (kneadable eraser) The great thing with this piece is that it seemed to take shape from the very start and flowed easily all the way through. For stage 4 I used my clutch pencil filled with F to render the girls features and skin. Light strokes are then blended with a chamois leather, this is repeated until the right effect is achieved. Her eye was drawn with my 2B Derwent. No blending Close up on stage 4. Here the tongue and the connection between the dog and the girl has to be established.   Her hair was drawn with a 3B. No blending just layering.   S...

One week later and, at last,  Robert is looking more like an alert greyhound. I will put him out of sight for a few days and polish him later on next week. This is my first portrait for the CAG's next online show : Helping Paws 2008 Exhibition.   The idea behind the show is to have each artist pledge a percentage of their sales in support of an animal welfare effort.  I would like to help and support the Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue I have fallen for these gorgeous, gentle and loyal canines and have chosen to donate 20% from my sale of this piece to this specific Greyhound Rescue.   Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Rescue is the only greyhound re-homing in the Dumfries & Galloway and Cumbria region. They are a young dynamic charity and have found homes for over 450 greyhounds in 6 years. I am planning on having three ready for the show. "Helping Paws 2008" goes on line on October the 1st 2008 for 4 months.  Tomorrow's Monday: first day of school. After w...

Here are the first two steps (still very rough) of one of the drawings I preparing for the next Canine Art Guild's online exhibition. This is a Robert a gorgeous Greyhound. I love his light round alert eyes. The difficulties with this perspective is getting the length and width of his muzzle right (he still looks very much like a bulldog...!) and the 3D impression (will hopefully work in a few layers time...!). I have also decided to use the stripes and markings in his coat to establish his bone structure: this will also take another few layers... So far I have his eyes (basically) done and feel I can go on into the real detailing of his face. More to come.  Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday.