Julia Kay's Portrait Party

I recently joined a Flickr group called Julia Kay's Portrait Party where artists contribute photos of themselves for other artists to draw/paint.  Here are a few sketches I have done of other artists so far.  It's really fun and will be good to improve my portrait skills.

Here's the link to the group if anyone is interested in checking it out:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/portraitparty/

Antique doll

Here is a graphite drawing I did of one of my antique dolls.  This is actually one of the assignments for the Pet Portraits Diploma.  We had to draw something that says something about us, not necessarily an animal, so I decided to draw one of my dolls.  I've been collecting antique dolls for nearly 3 years now.

......and the winner is!

Penni, congratulations on winning my blog giveaway.  Your name was drawn out of a hat by my 5 year old son :)  I have sent you an email.  Thank you to every one who entered.

Labrador

Another exercise finished for the Pet Portraits Diploma, a labrador in graphite pencil on watercolour paper.  I find rendering the fur particularly difficult but I'm pleased with this piece.

Blog Giveaway!

Would you like a chance to win this cute 2 inch tubby teddy?  All you have to do is leave a comment below to be in the running!  A random name will be chosen from the list on Wednesday 23rd November (Australian time).  Winner will be announced on this blog and on my facebook fanpage.  Please pass this on to anyone who you think might be interested.   Good luck everybody!

Ethel Oliver

I discovered a beautiful antique photo of an actress from the early 1900s on Flickr this morning and knew I just had to draw her.  With kind permission from the owner of the photo I set about drawing her in graphite pencil, this is the result.  I'm really pleased with it.  This is the first time actually that I have drawn a portrait in graphite, I've used charcoal a few times and I think now I prefer graphite.

Pet Portraits Diploma

Very excited to report that I received my course material from the London Art College and I have now commenced the Pet Portraits Diploma!  Typically it takes students 1 year to complete, I think I may be a bit quicker than that but we'll see :)  Here is one of my first assignments that I am planning on submitting.  A pug dog in graphite pencil.

New Website!

It's been a while since I posted on my blog.  I now have a new website hosted through Artspan.  Please visit at http://www.catgabrielart.com.  I hope you like it.  It took me many hours to set it all up and I'm really happy with it, easy to maintain too.  If you are interested in joining my mailing list, please click on "Notify me of new art by this artist" link that can be seen at the bottom on each page of my website.