Bella - the finished portrait

So here is Bella, finally finished,  which took approximately 22 hours to complete. 

Bella

16" x 12"

Watercolour

Commission
Copyright MarionSimkins 2011



First stage of painting Bella

This was the start of the painting, laying the first glazes of watercolour.  Gradually building up more tones and washes on top.  Bella is a six month old puppy, a cross between a king charles cavalier and a poodle.

Six month old puppy

I will be posting some pictures soon!  I am painting this as a surprise birthday present, and I don't want to give the surprise away.  She is such a cute little dog, I have drawn her, laid the foundation washes and now building up the tones in the fur.  As I want her to have an almost 3D appearance, I am keeping her left side slightly lighter to her right. 

Meanwhile, my oil painting of "Millie" has had it's third layer and conveniently still drying which allows me plenty of time to finish the above painting.  Everyone seems to be arranging surprises lately, two of my recent commissions were for surprises, one being a birthday in November and one as a surprise Christmas present.  Which I know seems a long way off, when we are only just into summer, but the autumn run in to christmas is my busiest time of year, and as I don't like to let anybody down, it is great to get a head start.

Launch of my new website...

Thank you for visiting my new blog!

After many years of painting for my own enjoyment and friends and family, I received a growing number of commissions by word of mouth.   This has encouraged me to step into the digital age and make my work more accessible.   As a result, I have created the web site...http://www.marionsimkins.co.uk/

Hopefully my web site will be a good medium to display my work.  My intention for the blog is to display the ongoing progress of my latest commissions, showing the painting process from start to finish.

Be back soon,
Marion