Black on Grey on White

Christmas commissions are in the making, all a little hush hush until the merry day is passed. Needless to say, the studio has been swamped with loud music, empty coffee mugs, pencil shavings and lights burning well into the night. While all this was on the go great news reached my inbox... "Holding On" has been chosen to appear in the upcoming Polo Players Edition more specifically in the "Making History" article featuring a quarter century of Polo and equestrian art. Chuffed to bits, the way I am every time a graphite piece makes it alongside the strong contenders that are oil and acrylic... Last spring, I was approached by a ICA publishing. They were putting a book of contemporary artists together. International Contemporary Artists Vol 1 has been created showing the visions of 262 artists from 42 countries and is now available on Amazon . It's a stunning book filled to the brim with talent and great works of art. Once again, I am chuffed to little bits ...

Mention Florestan and you automatically mention: success, beauty, quality and ... history. Florestan I is a German Warmblood (Rheinland) breading stallion with amazing statistics. Since 1989, this Fidelio -Rheingold son has sired over 5000 mares (yep three 0's after the 5) which has resulted in the following historical statistics. (Actually, I have it from good authority that he is so successful that it is near impossible to count all of his offspring...) 55 registered sons in the Stallion registry 200 State premium mares in Germany alone. Approximately 2000 show horses registered at the German National Equestrian Federation. 1.2 Million Euros life time earnings. A bronze statue of Florestan I can also be found in Wickrath Germany http://www.pferdezucht-rheinland.de/index2.htm Knowing all this, you can now all fully understand the honour and the excitement I experienced last spring when I was given, not only a private photo-shoot with the star but also the request to draw a portra...

"Grégoire" Pencil on Paper. 18x24 cm Sold Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2010. All rights reserved. Two weeks ago I was in Brussels delivering these golden curls and receiving a mother's seal of approval. Child portraits are something so delicate and mesmerizing to create. I was on tender hooks throughout the entire portrait. Drawing the soft pure and innocent features of a child requires accuracy and very high concentration. Well, I felt that's what I wanted to give this gorgeous wee chap. Gregoire (French for Gregory )has just turned two. He's a wee boy with bundles of energy and sunshine smiles. Being the youngest of three boys he is not into being left behind... Emphisizing his sunny nature and energy were crucial to the success of this portrait. Through this pose, a summer feeling of energy and fun was created and his surfer curls subtly emphasised. Having him look away from the viewer adds a certain sense of movement and his eagerness to "get on". I was r...

"Big Ben" Graphite on Paper. 27x11 cm SOLD Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved. Monday has turned into to Wednesday...late as usual! Here is the promised updated and finished portrait of Big Ben. The references I had to work from were, for various reasons, a little off. This left loads of room for my imagination. I have used powder graphite to create the darker values. They limit the detail but give a lovely soft feeling. Big Ben is just that: big. His features are are also a little larger than usual. The frontal view was picked as it shortens his nose . The result: all the attention goes to his large kind eyes. Next step: the framers.

It would be fair to say that a million words have not been flowing off my keyboard lately. Sorry for the sporadic posting. Life has a habit of keeping me on my toes with all sorts twists and turns. This week has been no exception. Sadly, all this spinning has kept me away from the buzz of the cyberwaves. Actually to be very honest, in order to get away from the twirling demands, we (pencils, cats and I) have been hiding deep and low in the cave studio and working on my latest commission. Time has been spent on Big Ben, a great big (surprise!) bay gelding. Sadly, due to injury, Ben is not able to live a full active life but is incredibly well cared for and loved by his owners. Below are the first few hours into the drawing. I am using a 200g Hahnemuehler paper and Derwent's 2B, 6B and B. So far so good. I'm a happy with his expression meaning: green light to go ahead and complete the portrait. All being well will be back at the drawing board on Monday and will be sure to post ...

Bricks and Stones has been pulled out of it's packing box. A sprinkling of work has been added to the baby steps. Working on the contrast between bricks and the Clyde's velvet coat is great. The end result can only be startling. Not a regular occurrence to find a horse standing free in front of a stone wall. The stone wall is starting to take on a life of it's on. The intricacies found in walls are mind boggling and really something to get my eager little scribble friends dug into. There are going to be cracks, patch-ups, distortions, crevices, breaks, unbalanced layouts. Basically an engineers nightmare come true: not one brick will be alike. Each and every one a little bit more broken or distorted than the other. Fun stuff! Next update coming soon ...

Last week has been a blur, a messy distasteful blur. Technical hitches, hick-ups and burps have been plaguing the studio ever since the move. Last week they hit an all time high. The intensity turned up just the right amount to blow things out of control; over and out of laughable margins. All my contacts (data of) were spotlessly erased, in one clean swoop (back-ups included!). 15 years of contacts, whooshed out, overwritten, lost, scarperred! 90% is (thank goodness) retrievable but 10% is not and that is NOT good! Why, I asked myself, am I so floored by this situation. Simple, the time span: 14 years 11 months 28 days are a massive 5,477 days. 131,448 hours which have encompassed countless meetings, encounters, running into new acquaintances, bumping into old friends, meeting fellow artists, shows, exhibitions, inquiries, interest... a network of varied and treasured contacts. All, so crucial, so vital to an active studio. Loosing access to all this priceless data simply gave me the ...