# My Art Journal



## ThatNinjaHorse

wow looks awesome so far


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## Kayty

Last 2 hours progress. This one is coming along much quicker than I thought it would as usually I HATE working with black and browns because they're so hard to get the right tones with, but I'm actually enjoying this one


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## Equusketch

Awesome idea to post your progress in here. I too am trying to discipline myself to start from the left and work my way to the right. I tend to be allover the place when I draw and move on to many different areas as I become bored with one area. 

If you don't mind, I'd love to start one of these threads of my own to post my progess on the next commission I get. 

Great work. You really inspire me to want to get into soft pastels.


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## Kayty

Liz, I highly reccomend working left to right. I also like to work in the same manner as you, going all over the place because you get bored with one area!! However, I've found that working from left to right is more satisfying on the eye, and stops smudging, PARTICUARLY with soft pastels, coloured pencil is not so bad, but you would find the smudging with graphite and charcoal, however after previously working primarily in graphite and charcoal, I've found pastel to be even worse for smudging!!!

Also for working with fur, generally speaking I try to work from a photograph that allows me to work left to right, where I am able to layer each section of fur on the previous section, as it is in real life. So I try to start on the base coat and slowly work backwards so the hair is being layered. If that makes any sense at all!!!!

Feel more than welcome to start a thread like this, you'll find it really helps your drawing improve as you can see it from a different perspective.

In fact, if you don't mind, do you think we could critique each others work as we progress with each commission? I like to have another set of eyes to tell me where I'm going wrong, if you're not interested no problems


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## Equusketch

Absoulutely, I'd be interested in sharing comments/critiques with you. However, I won't really have access to a computer after tomorrow as my hubby and I are going on our honeymoon until the 12th. Can't wait to see your progress then.


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## Kayty

Fantasic, thanks heaps 
Have fun on your honeymoon you lucky thing!! Where you headed??


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## jadeewood

good work. 


i love it, wish i could get someone to draw my horse like that :|


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## Kayty

Jadeewood, I'd draw your horse in pastels like this, but I'm commission only because it takes so long and it costs me enough money to not really make that much profit even doing a commission, because the pastels/paper etc. are really quite expensive to purchase!


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## toadflax

Curious, how long does a finished portrait take you?


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## Kayty

Depends on the portrait. This one is going quite quickly because I've had some time off work so can sit down for a few hours straight and work at it. Also because the portrait is very close up, so I can use bigger strokes with the pastel sticks. Have spent about 4 hours on it so far.
Last one of a jack russell took me about 20 hours, then maybe another 2 hours on top re-adjusting bits of pieces that the owner asked for, and adding a background. 

Horses generally take me a bit longer, I think it's because I'm more familiar with them and can see if my drawing has got the horse perfectly or not. For a head usually they'll take me about 25-30hours, and a full body up to 40hours. 

Of course, this is all 'A4' size, anything bigger and it takes me longer. By A4 I mean the actuall portrait would fill an A4 sheet, , so the actuall paper is usually between an A4 and A3.


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## dantexeventer

Thanks so much for showing the step-by-step. I'm a graphite/watercolor pencil girl myself; but I am always looking to expand my repertoire. Pastels I have little to no experience with, but these beautiful results are inspiring me to try!


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## Kayty

Give them a go!!! Only thing is, if you don't get pastels that are good quality, they might put you off using them because the cheaper ones tend to have more binder in then than pigment, so it's more like chalk. I use Rembrandt pastels, which are quite pricey but well worth it. Also you need to buy pastel paper, I tend to stick with Canson, which has two sides to work on- one with larger 'grooves'. The jack russell portrait I did last time was on the smoother side of the paper, and this dog is on the rougher side. I'm not liking this side as it's taking up alot more pastel to fill the area, and it's harder to get the texture I want.


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## Kayty

Today's work in progress:




























Hoping to work up to the left eye before I pack it in for the night, hate leaving things floating around the middle of the page!!


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## toadflax

"...toadflax works sort of in 'blocks' I guess, focussing on the really stand out sections..."
I'll admit this comment intrigues me, don't often have an actual artist remarking on my work, but am scratching my head as to what you are seeing---my habit of leaving sections of very understated space in some of my drawings?
I didn't want to reply on Eventer's thread hence the switch to yours.
Also wondererd how you would classify your own work.


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## Kayty

Oops it wasn't meant to offend at all!!!! 
Looking through your albums, I absolutely adore your work. And part of that is that it is quite different, you seem to put so much work and attention to detail in the really 'important' or standout areas of your subjects, such as the eyes, nose etc. And the areas of fur are realistic but do not go into as much depth as the eyes and such. I love the style, this is not a critism about your style, just commenting on how different it is to others. Same as with Liz Norris, her work has an almost cartooney feel to it while maintaining the realism.
I myself and I hugely tight and picky artist, I draw each and every hair (particuarly in graphite work, not so much with pastel), but in doing this lose some of the quality of the eyes, they don't stand out as much as yours do which is unfortunate, as the eyes are the most important aspect to a drawing in my opinion. If you don't get the eyes there is no animal there. 
For example, this is my last graphite drawing I did, about 2 months ago. You can see I've drawn in just about each individual hair, hence it takes me hours and hours to finish, but the eye never really stands out.


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## toadflax

Oh, I didn't mean to sound like I had my knickers in a twist and you did get me thinking.
In fact I do tend to 'see' the way you describe, I focus on what most interests me and let everything else become peripheral, and apparently that has translated itself in to my drawings. It can be hard to look objectively at one's own work for better or worse, I for one need a lot of time after finishing a drawing before I can accurately analyze its strengths and weaknesses. So, I think you are fairly describing a tendency of mine that I have to be careful of so it doesn't become sloppy or lazy.
I know what you mean about feeling compulsively obliged to render every hint of shadow and light that you find in a subject. My own drawing is in transition but I am not sure where it's going--I love photo-realism but as you say it takes forever and a day, and I'm not sure it's always the best choice artistically. 
Anyway your work is exquisite, your use of color masterful.


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## Kayty

That ok, didn't think you were getting your kickers in a knot but thought I'd better cover myself as I've been known to get myself into strife without meaning to with my comments :S
I do love your work, particuarly as you say it reflects your own way of seeing. You sound very much like me, I am a perfectionist in all ways of life, which is my undoing in horses, I want everything to just fall into place and try to work my horse as a whole, rather than focussing on one aspect and allowing that to influence the rest of the body. This comes through in my work, where i feel disapointed if I cannot capture exactly what i see in front of me. I don't consider myself a true 'artist' as an artist in my eyes is someone who can transfer and image from their head onto paper, come up with some magical and obscure image that is the pinical of creativity. I simply reproduce what I see, and it works for me with commissions, as pet owners seem to want to have a photo reproduced, but I'd love to be able to one day sit and 'play' with my own mind and see what comes of it. I need to loosen my style, rather than being so finicky about it.
My way of thinking is that if I can loosen my art, my mind will also begin to unwind. I am a very highly strung human being, and am always on the go. It will be interesting to see how I go when I go on holidays to the tropics at the end of October with my better half, whether I'll actually be able to unwind there. I want to bring a sketch pad andcoloured pencils with me and try to draw loosely what I encounter there.


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## 1dog3cats17rodents

Gorgeous work, it's fascinating too see the layers. I'm not at all artistic, so it's very interesting too see the use of reds and blues!

Do you have a website by any chance? I'm still throwing the idea of getting a portrait of my Little Man (kitty). He was my everything though, I'm not sure I could handle seeing his portrait everyday... But if I do get one, I would love to see more examples of your work


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## toadflax

Interesting, in college our teachers were not too concerned about us working from our imaginations, they reminded us that the Old Masters certainly didn't, I guess it depends on what sort of art you want to produce. I like realism and can't draw accurately enough without a subject, but I feel completely ok with that, thanks solely to those art professors giving me that permission so-o-o many years ago.
It is frustrating though if I have a picture in my head that I can't put on paper because I don't know how to recreate it, which the masters certainly could do.
"True artist" is a concept I've wrangled with and have had to make a certain peace with, I know my limits (color for one) but I also know artistic ability is always in flux and where we are now is not where we will be as long as we keep working. So that's some comfort to me. I look at your beautiful rich drawings and they feel like art to me, I know you know it's all so subjective, but if you aren't creating what your heart and mind tell you to, then that's a sticking point all right.
Well, it sounds a marvelous step in the right direction, paper, pencils and a warm blue ocean.


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## Kayty

1dog3cats17rodents said:


> Gorgeous work, it's fascinating too see the layers. I'm not at all artistic, so it's very interesting too see the use of reds and blues!
> 
> Do you have a website by any chance? I'm still throwing the idea of getting a portrait of my Little Man (kitty). He was my everything though, I'm not sure I could handle seeing his portrait everyday... But if I do get one, I would love to see more examples of your work


Yes, I get alot of people asking about my use of red and blues!!! I use them alot as an undercoat to my drawings depending on what colour the animal is. In this dog for example, I can see alot of blue through the darker bits of his fur, so while I'm doing the drawing I use mostly a variety of blues until the very last layer where I'll put a small amount of black and a little white to get the lighting. Very little of my work is down with straight 'brown, black and white' as I find these colours make for a dull, flat and lifeless picture. The only way I can make them come to life is by adding a 'multi-coloured' undercoat!

My website is : www.freewebs.com/horseandhoundartistry
Unfortunately it is only a temporary site due to my registered site going through a few 'hiccups' with the server, hopefully I'll get it back up and running in the next few weeks, however, there are a few more examples of my work on this site, as well as a basic pricing list etc. 


Toadflax, you have been taught opposite to me! When I was at school I never got good grades on my artwork because it was 'imaginative' enough. In particular my final piece in year 12 art, I was on a steady A all year from my art teacher, then when it was moderated by outside markers, they downgraded me to a B- because it was not 'artistic' enough and only represented a photograph!!!!!! :evil:
I know how you feel about having an image in your head and not being able to reproduce it. The same things plagues me all the time, drives me utterly insane sometimes. I'd also LOVE to do a portrait of my other half and I for his Christmas present, as he's been asking me to do a drawing for him for some time now, but I struggle with human portaits as my perfectionist side seems to kick in even more and I find it near impossible to satisfy myself with my own work, it NEVER looks quite right even if others appear to love it. 

In Port Douglas, I plan to try and 'loosen' my style a little, even if I revert back to my tight portrait style when I get back, I'd love to let lose a little with a few sweeping strokes and swirls to depict a scene rather than creating a photograph again.


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## jackieebitu

wow your so good!!!


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## Kayty

Finished:


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## Kayty

Next one. Two cocker spaniels for my boyfriend's little sister's 21st birthday. She adores her dogs, so we thought it would be the perfect present for her.
The boy on the left with the long face is Lloyd, the girl on the right is Charlie. They're going to be a bit of a challenge for me with all that curly fur and the colours and facial structure is very different on both of them. I'm nervous about this one more so than other drawings, because it's for my boyfriend's sister so I feel I need to really excell with this one.


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## cheply

> Interesting, in college our teachers were not too concerned about us working from our imaginations, they reminded us that the Old Masters certainly didn't, I guess it depends on what sort of art you want to produce. I like realism and can't draw accurately enough without a subject, but I feel completely ok with that, thanks solely to those art professors giving me that permission so-o-o many years ago.
> It is frustrating though if I have a picture in my head that I can't put on paper because I don't know how to recreate it, which the masters certainly could do.
> "True artist" is a concept I've wrangled with and have had to make a certain peace with, I know my limits (color for one) but I also know artistic ability is always in flux and where we are now is not where we will be as long as we keep working. So that's some comfort to me. I look at your beautiful rich drawings and they feel like art to me, I know you know it's all so subjective, but if you aren't creating what your heart and mind tell you to, then that's a sticking point all right.
> Well, it sounds a marvelous step in the right direction, paper, pencils and a warm blue ocean.


-Toadflax- thats interesting.. in my college classes the teachers stress creativity to an extent. The drawing teachers do anyway. We are not allowed to use photos. Only draw off whats real... and we are encouraged not to draw realistic drawings down to a T. I hate all this.. I'm good at portraits off photos.. and thats it! I can't do my own art...


Why the cartridge paper?
My proportions are often off... I wanna know how this works to get your drawing in proportion?


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## cheply

Also.. sorry for the double post.. are any of you on deviant art?


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## toadflax

Hi, Cheply, it was the seventies, my teachers were a very non-judgemental bunch.
They didn't discourage imaginative art at all, but they also thought we should use whatever tools were available to us to create what we wanted in paints or pencil.
We did work from live models and life but we were also assigned to do a few paintings from photos, as well as make over a piece of classic art. The point was to be versatile and not to dismiss a perfectly legitimate option (the photograph) on some idealistic grounds.
Drawing from life is excellent for developing eye and enhancing your skill and style, no question about it, but I'm old enough to be very settled in my own mind about what I want to do with my pencils . 
I have found that the more reference you have in your head from drawing realistic images, gained however you want to go about it, frees you up to and gives you a greater ability to draw from your imagination if and when you choose.
School's different of course, teachers do want to lay good foundation and expose the students to as much variety of media and technique as they can, not a bad thing.
I do not know about Kayty's cartridge paper but if you know the grid system for transferring images by hand it is really very effective for keeping proportions accurate. I use it if I want to be sure my outline is completely accurate. Here's one explanation, you can search and come up with several more:

http://www.allaboutdrawings.com/grid-drawing.htm


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## Kayty

The cartridge paper is just another way of getting the drawing accurate. I've tried the grid system but I hate using it when I'm doing pastel, as it is alot harder to cover the pencil lines because of the 'toothed' paper, I find. 
Doing it with the cartridge paper takes more time, but I find it better in the long run because I dont have lines all over my paper - don't know if you've tried graphite on canson paper but it's **** hard to get off and a normal eraser leaves lighter marks across the page. 
If a client wants me to do an A4 drawing for them, I make sure the actuall subject is A4. So I cheat but blowing it up on the computer to the right size, then 'tracing' the vital points and drawing in the rest, to get the prportions correct. Then I mark in charcoal or pastel pencil the dimensions of the paper onto the Canson paper, and using a ruler to mark in the vital points of the drawing. 
Takes a long time but when doing a commission I stress about proportions, if you don't get them perfect you have a subject that doesn't look anything like the photo. 'Colouring it in' is the least of your worries in my opinion!! 
When I'm drawing for myself, I don't do this as I want to continue developing my eye for detail, I will draw directly with pastel onto the Canson and if I make a mistake it's not so drastic as it's only a practice piece.


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## toadflax

Kayty, I think we may be running into some inter-continental confusion. I don't know what cartridge paper is, assume Canson is a toothed pastel paper, and A4 would be what, a size..?

Oh, cartridge paper must be what we call tracing paper, I'll bet.


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## Kayty

Oops sorry, cartridge paper is just computer paper, what you put in your printyer  Nothing fancy, not even as fancy as tracing paper haha!!


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## Equusketch

Well, I am back from my honeymoon and very pleased to come home and see the final product. Well done!!! I love how you layered over unconventinal colors to make the drawing pop and pick up the lighting so well. 

if you don't mind me asking, how long did this piece take you? 

I ask this because sometimes I think I am selling myself short because of my rush to get a drawing done. I am always so anxious to see the final product. I am committed to disciplining myself to devote no less than 10 hours to my next project. It's going to be difficult, but I really think I can take my art to the next level. I am on the verge now and my artistic juices are flowing. 

Next commission I get I am going to start a progress thread.


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## Kayty

Welcome back Liz, great to have you back around 

This latest one took me a good 15 hours and was easily my quickest!! 

As for selling yourself short on time, I always warn people who commission me, and also when I advertise, that it can take up to 3 months depending on my work load and time of year to have their drawing in their hands. When you do commissions, definately set a generous time frame to do it in, If you tell them they'll have it withing 2 weeks, you're going to panic and rush it. I am able to sit back, have a good look at the photograph, plan the drawing, start putting undercoats on, and just potter along doing a couple of hours here and there when I feel like it, and still manage to get it done on time  PLus you can then sit it up on the easel and walk past it every day. You'll pick things out that you missed before, where as if you just sent it straight off, you'll miss out on finding little errors across the drawing. 

Don't push yourself to take ages on a drawing though, jusr focus on an area at each sitting, get it perfect and if you get bored walk away and do something else rather than pushing yourself and hating it.


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## Colorado Dobes

That is amazing.


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## Kayty

Start of 'Lloyd'. The photo has washed the colour out quite significantly unforatunately, so next time I take one I'll try different lighting.


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## Kayty

Lloyd part 2. Aparently my camera doesn't like the colours I've used so doesn't show them up anywhere near how they really are, thus makes the detail look... interesting? to say the least.
'


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## 1dog3cats17rodents

Wow is all I have to say!


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## Crimsonhorse01

I absolutely love your dogs! Im going to have to get a commission her in the near future. I'm not familiar with the A4. What are the size in inches? Sorry.


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## Kayty

A4 is about 8.3 inches by 11.4 inches. That is the size of the actual drawing, not the paper as a find doing a drawing on the smaller paper makes for a lesser quality drawing. So add another inch or 2 to that to get the paper size 
I'll try and find the measurements for A3 which is bigger, but it's roughly 1 1/2 times the size of A4


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## Kayty

Well, I've finally got around to finishing the two dogs. I'm at work at the moment so can't post a photo but will do when I get the time. 

Unfortunately, I'm not at all happy with it. I feel like I've taken 3 steps back with my drawing after looking at this one. The lighter coloured dog (above) is ok, but the darker one just looks too cartooney and I have made of a mess of her right eye. I'm scared to give it to my other half's sister now, she adores those dogs and I've made them look stupid


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## Kayty

Finished:









So depressed with this one, they look like cartoons


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## Kayty

Next commission, hopefully won't get anymore for a while (unlikely with Chrismas coming up- sucks getting overloaded with commission requests 2-3 weeks before Chrismas!! - but with any luck, I'll have some time to do my own drawings for a while. I'd like to draw my horses, and also my 3 dogs for my mum's birthday next year. 










I'm not sure which colour paper I should use for this little bloke, I'm thinking a greenish/blue colour to bring out his lovely green eyes and blue in his fur, but I'll have to have a play. Not a fan of black animals, trying to match colours is hell!


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## Kayty

First installment, just the initial stages. Have done the basic outline of him, and put a few minor colours in so I've got something to follow as I work. Have chosen a deepish sky blue so hoping that the black will come out well on it.


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## Equusketch

looking good so far...

Ugh, I know what you mean about having a ton of commissions at once. It seems with me, either I have nothing or I get a bunch of requests at the same time. I am getting a bit nervous because I have 5 people right now interested in commissions for Christmas and NOBODY has sent me an image yet. I am sure they will all send in the images like 1 week before Christmas. It's frustrating really.


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## Kayty

Yep I get the same thing happening, you'll have a break of even a couple of months where you have nothing at all, and when you think that the end, you get a bunch of requests all come through at once! 
Now when I advertise I always push the point that I need at least a month to work on a portrait, and depending on my work load it can be up to 3 months. I refuse to do a portrait it they have given me less than 3 weeks notice.


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## Kayty

Ok almost finished little Max. I'm umming and ahing over putting a background into it. I need to bring his left shoulder out still and touch up his eyes etc. but otherwise I feel better about this one than the last one of the dogs, it doesn't look as 'cartoonish', still annoyed at my work at the moment though, I am rushing through them when I really shouldn't be and taking shortcuts where I shouldn't :S


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## Gidji

Looking good so far. 
Personally if I could draw, I wouldn't put the background in.
I wish you put his little paws in though. That woulda make it cuter.


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## Kayty

The background isn't like a realistic one as is in the photo. If you go back a couple of pages I've got what I mean on the one of two dogs. It's just pastel the same colour as the background paper blended in to look a bit 'cloudy'. It usually ameks the subject 'pop' out of the page and finishes it off, but because it's a black cat, I'm not sure if it stands out enough on it's own or not. I'll have to sit on it for a while I think, finish it completely then make the decision I think.


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## Kayty

Oh and with the paws, I wanted to but the lady that is commissioning me only wants his head and chest in it, so I have to do what I'm told


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## Kayty

Finished?










I'm glad I did the background, I think it draws the cat's eyes out off the page more and brings the whole drawing out, I thought it was quite boring without that bit of colour... now to see what the owner thinks :S


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## ohmyitschelle

Your work is gorgeous. 
I've never seen so much detail before... your drawing of the first dog was breathtaking that I had to quickly share the link with my friends. 
I'm in awe with your work! Will have to think about saving some money sometime next year so I could get something done!!
Looking forward to seeing your future work.


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## Kayty

I'm not so happy with this one, I think it's just my lack of experience with black animals, particuarly cats, hopefully after a few more I'll have it up to scratch. Feel like I've lost a bit of ability in the last two drawings, I'm not totally happy with them.

Haha I'm glad you liked my dog, that's certainly one of my favourites!

If you're still interested next year, just send me a PM and we'll go from there.


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## Kayty

Ok well so much for that being the last commission of the year. Since I updated my website and finished the charcoal drawing for Midwestgirl, I've had 7 commissions come through *sigh*.
I wasn't going to accept anymore, particuarly ones for Christmas, but of course, I spoke too soon and I have 3 to do before Christmas. All 3 are for friends so I feel a bit bad if I don't do them ( one thing about me is that i really struggle to say no!!). I've finished the first - a dog in charcoal- and have made a good start on the second - a foal full body in graphite. The third is a dog in pastel. eek! It's my birthday tomorrow so I am party planning, then my work Christmas party next friday, going to look at 2 horses, working 6 days a week, then Christmas!! Stressed!!!

Here's the dog anyway.


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## 1dog3cats17rodents

Gorgeous! Do you have a link to your website? I would love to see it


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## Kayty

Website is www.freewebs.com/horseandhoundartistry

Here's the foal I'm starting on, this is graphite. It's not the best seeing as I'm rushing a little, I know I shouldn't but I am dropping the price from full price if it doesn't turn out how I would like.


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## toadflax

very pretty, of course and as usual. How do you get fine detail with charcoal?
What a fantastic birthday present a new horse would be-!


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## Kayty

I used charcoal pencils and just kept them super charp. Havent used charcoal for ages but had fun doing the two horses the other day so my mate decided she'd let me do her dog in charcoal. 

Urgh hectic birthday party planning for tonight, I cracked up at my boyfriend last night when he said he didn't spend more than $500 on me :O I told him wasn't allowed to spend more than $100 at a push!! The ******!
new horse would be nice, but wouldn't be coming from anyone else, would be from my own pocket, a birthday present to myself


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## toadflax

However you swing it, a new horse is a New Horse.
Now that boyfriend sounds like a keeper .


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## toadflax

Happy Birthday Kayty, tell us all about it when you get home from partying and horse-shopping!!
(No that is NOT one of my horse drawings, it's just a birthday horse for you.)


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## Kayty

Haha thankyou very much Toadflax 

Yep my fella is most definately a keeper. He came in yesterday with a HUGE bunch of red roses and a really lovely card. My present is a solid sterling silver charm bracelett with a K for Kayty, a horseshoe with 'diamonds' in it for my love of horses, and a soccer ball to remind me of him (he plays soccer for the state ). I can't believe he spent so much on me :O I have a rough idea of how much those braceletts alone cost, and the pendants are mega expensive too :S


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## toadflax

Most excellent fellow indeed.
But no horse..?


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## Kayty

Nope no horse! Going crazy, it's been almost a year now since I've had a youngster to play with and I'm hating it!! Have ridden maybe 4 or 5 times in the last 8 months now :S


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## toadflax

wow-! That's amazing, only 4 or 5 times??


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## Kayty

Yeah it's a ******. I was intending to bring my dad's new horse into work for him, rode him 3 times and now the old man thinks he's ready to do the rest himself. Ah well back to the drawing board!!


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## Kayty

Foal is finished


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## Kayty

Next one. Pastel by Christmas!!!! Feeling a little bit stressed... Anyone want to draw this for me, it must be one of the worst photo's I have attempted to draw from :S This could be a very interesting result


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## toadflax

I did a Pomeranian from an absolutely wretched photo--tiny, blurry, almost bizarre really. I called it the Nightmare Drawing From Hell and I wasn't exaggerating.
Good luck. I'm utterly baffled that people don't understand the better the photo the better the drawing. I suppose they don't get that a cute photo is not necessarily a 'good' photo.
You'll do fine, there's enough there, just barely.


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## Kayty

Yeah I'll be able to do it... but they want a full body drawing now.... for christmas!!! A head alone takes me over 20hrs on a normal haired dog, curls, add an extra 5 hours to that. Full body from THAT picture, my god they're probably going to tell me it looks weird.... the photo is a horrendous angle! I really hate drawing from bad angled photo's because the result drives me crazy even if they're happy with it.
WOuld much prefer to do it in charcoal or graphite at the moment I really couldn't be bothered getting out all my pastels and trying to keep the place clean from pastel dust. PLus I can do the others at work, I'm working every day up to Christmas now and then from xMas to new years, then a few days after that. Last thing I want to do is come home to this little fuzz ball.

Sorry, bit peeved that I'm expected to finish it by next friday!


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## midwestgirl89

You have my sympathy! Just looking at the photo gives me a feeling of dread and I'm not the one drawing it. 
And now that I've added to the negativity...on to the positive...
YOU CAN DO IT!!!  And it'll look amazing!


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## Equusketch

I completely understand on the crappy picture part. I have literally been sent a scan of a 4 x6 photograph out of focus with the sun "behind" the horse, thus creating a shadow of a full body shot and then be expected to do a head portrait...not kidding. 

As for your poodle looking critter. I think you have some great undertones to work with and if anybody can make this drawing pop, it's you, especially with soft pastels!!! But I hear ya on the anxiety part. You have no idea how scared I was to do that poodle painting. I had no idea how I was going to pull off that fur texture. Granted, my poodle image didn't have such tight curls, but I took a deep breath, played around with strokes, found the formula and came out with a half way decent poodle painting. I was pretty proud of it actually. If your anything like me, sometimes tackling the unfamiliar yields positive results. Just play around a bit with the strokes. With your experience, you should be able to pull it off. You had better post the finishe product!!!


----------



## Kayty

I'll post if I like it  Nah I'll put it up and do the progress shots too. I wouldn't be stressing out if I had longer to do it, but I only have what, 10 days, until Chrismas? Working every day and I have 2 work parties, a family do and my fella is taking me out one nigth as well. EEK! No time! 

*All is I want for Chrismas is MORE time BEFORE chrismas*


----------



## Kayty

All finished!! Great timing, finished by christmas eve! Gave it to the lady today at work and she was very happy with it. Considering most of it was done after a few drinks last night up till 1am, I'm fairly happy. but have come to the conclusion that fluffy dogs are my nemisis haha. Terrible! And now I have 2 more of the little horrors to draw.
I'll put the photo up of the finished piece when I get home from work tonight.


----------



## mom2pride

Kayty said:


> I'm not so happy with this one, I think it's just my lack of experience with black animals, particuarly cats, hopefully after a few more I'll have it up to scratch. Feel like I've lost a bit of ability in the last two drawings, I'm not totally happy with them.
> 
> Haha I'm glad you liked my dog, that's certainly one of my favourites!
> 
> If you're still interested next year, just send me a PM and we'll go from there.


You're much better at pastels than I ever could be (I mainly do pencil or ink...) anyway, I think what is making max look 'off' to you is his ear is offset slightly, and his eyes are unequal by just enough to make a difference. I guess that's why I love working mainly with lead, because you can go back and change things a bit easier, than say, pastel, or ink! Lol!Although with the layering you can do with pastels, can you go back and revamp things? Or is it a once it's done, it's done kind of thing? And I know what you mean by being extremely 'picky'...Lol! I'll toss sketches that other people are like "oh my gosh, that's gorgeous..."


----------



## Kayty

Yeah, I found the photo difficult to work with as alot of the detail was hidden in shadow and I was unable to retrieve the details by editing on the computer. I rushed it as well, the owner is happy but I am not. Ah well, at the end of the day i get my money and if i have a happy client then thats fine. 
You can go back over things to an extent with pastel, but every layer you add it gets harder to re-work and eventually you'll end up with a big blurred mess.


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## Kayty

Looking back over the drawing, I think the issue is that the right hand side of his face (our left) is very awkwardly proportioned. I really struggled with that and as I'm not so familiar with cats i was unable to 'make it up' I guess. The cats face blended in with the background and as I am terrible at editing photo's on the computer, I wasn't able to find where the face ended and shadow started.


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## mom2pride

Yeah, I don't do cats much either...as they are very difficult to do...I always hats off and thumbs up to those who can really capture a cat on print really well!


----------



## Kayty

Here's the horrible little fluff ball dog I've just finished. Sorry I've compressed it too small so it's lost detail!


----------



## toadflax

You did a fantastic job, I knew you would pull it off!!


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## mom2pride

Awww...the ball of fluff is cute


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## Equusketch

I think you really did that little dog justice!!! So excited to see the finished piece!!!


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## Kayty

Next commission. 
3 beagles in one piece. VERY happy to have 3 very good photo's to draw from, and short coated woohoo! 
I'm doing them in graphite, which could be interesting as I havent done a dog in graphite for about 3 years.


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## Kayty

I've drawn most of the first dog now. Just doing their heads, portrait, A3. 
I'm quite happy with it, other than his right eye, I tried to experiment a little with ad libbing to get rid of the camera flash but it looks a little bulky now. The other eye I'm happy with though. 
Will post a photo when I'm not at work!


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## Kayty

So far:

Bit of a botch job of the eye on this one unfortunately  Havent done graphite, let alone a dog in graphite for ages, so this one is a bit of a warmup. 









Second dog, bit happier with this one, not 100% satisfied so I'll keep fiddling once I've done the third dog, but reasonably happy for not having worked in this medium on a dog for so long.


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## Kayty

About 1/4 of the way through the last dog (the darkest one). I'm REALLY happy with it, definately my favourite of the 3... the 3 dogs looks a bit like a progression of my skills as they come back to me after a long break!! They still look ok, but the last one has so much more expression in it's eyes and much better tonal work through it.


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## AnnaLover

Wow they are looking great! Can't wait to see the last one!


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## wild_spot

Oh I love your work... I might have to save up and commission you to do one of each of my dogs... But you will hate me as one of them is the fluffiest dog you ever saw :] The other is short haired though so might make up for it!


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## Kayty

haha oh dear another fluffy dog! I'll have to phsyc myself up for it  I've got another 3 little fluff balls ready to go, so I might gradually start to put up with them without *too* much complaint!! 

Won't be posting the photo of the last beagle yet, his pretty much done, but I'm going away on a houseboat for a week as of tomorrow so won't be around to finish/post it


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## oceanbluee1313

can i post a picture? are u charging? you are amazingly talented!


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## Kayty

I do charge for my work. All of these drawings are commissions, I spend too much time and effort on them to do freebies.


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## apc11196

AMAZING WORK! wow!


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## Kayty

The last dog of the series










Sorry, my scanner cut half some of the bottom off because the paper was too big for it. I got a bit slack finishing his left ear which I feel a bit guilty about, but overall pretty happy


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## Kayty

Current waiting list (I'm making progress finally, have dropped the list a fair bit)

- A4 graphite horse head/neck study

- A3 pastel horse head/neck study

- A4 pastel horse head/neck study

- 3 x A5 graphite horse head/neck studies of different angles

- 2 x A4 pastel horse head/neck study

- Multiple pastels of dog, horse, cat, bird, fish...


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## wildhorses018

You do some amazing work!! It makes me want to get back into drawing!


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## toadflax

Lovely soft expression, you captured it really well.


----------



## Flintlock

Very interesting, thanks for showing the progress as you go! Great work.


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## Kayty

This one is the latest, horse in graphite for a fellow forumite. I still have a few bits to alter, as it's not detailed enough as yet, but it's a start. Will have to get a clearer photo, my scanner is not happy with me at the moment so the image is blurred slightly.


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## irydehorses4lyfe

I love love love this last one you did! =)

I have a quick question for you. =) I've been experimenting around with using charcoal for drawings for a while now, and how do you get such fine detailing with it? I can't get fine details to save my life. I love drawing in charcoal, I just have an awful time with the finer details. I use both charcoal sticks and pencils without any luck, even with a sharp tip and light hand. You can see my latest works in my art thread to see what I mean. =/


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## Kayty

The above drawing is in graphite pencil not charcoal, so I can get finer detil in that medium. However in the two drawings I posted of the 2 horses, and the dog, they were in charcoal. I use Derwent charcoal pencils which come in soft, medium and hard so you can get varying degrees of detail using that. Then for the larger/smoother areas, I like to use charcoal sticks. The ones that I use are Coates Willow Charcoal 5-8mm. So they are tiny sticks but quite hardly and go onto the paper beautifully, as well as being able to get a reasonable degree of detail with them.


----------



## Kayty

The latest drawing subject. A3 head study in pastel.


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## Kayty

Last two days progress. I'm getting faster! Have advertised in a vet surgery and within a week I've picked up 7 expressions on interest.


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## Gidget

YOU ARE AMAZING!

I love the very first photo. I wish I had your talent.


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## midwestgirl89

Holy cow Kayty~that two days work?! You're definitely getting faster. And that's a great idea about the vet surgery...may borrow that idea =)
Looks amazing, as per usual!


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## Kayty

Finished. VERY fussy client :S I've done a dog for her and she made me change it about 6 times, but she's come back for a horse so obviously I can't be THAT bad.


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## Equusketch

Brilliant!!!! This makes me want to do more soft pastel drawings. I just hate how tricky they are to handle and ship. 

Oh btw, you were so right on the fixative thing. Not that I didn't believe you, but I had that practice piece that I just wanted to experiment with and the fixative didn't just warp the colors a little. It DRAMATICALLY killed the colors and completey faded the white (and this was a white horse). The reaction was immediate. It was almost like it removed a bunch of layers. I guess I am one of those "seeing is believing" type people. just wanted to see for myself what a fixative would do. I would NEVER have tried it on a commission or gift. It did however do a pretty good job of preventing smearing. But yeah, just my little experiment...lol.


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## Kayty

Yep they certainly are tricky to ship. I've shipped a couple of dozen and I think I've changed my method every time. 

haha glad you tried the fixative, see what I mean?  You have to weigh up whether its worth risking it getting smudged with people touching it or surfaces rubbing, or if you want to take away to likely hood of it smudging, but risking the quality of the portrait. Personally I'd rather risk it smudging and just be extremely careful with the packaging process, and I always send an info sheet with my pastel works to tell the owner how to avoid smudging and how best to frame the piece. 
You can put it in between layers while you're working, I have used it on occasion in the first few layers of a pice to give it that extra bit of hold, but found it quite difficult to work over.

By the way, I expect to see more pastel pieces by you in the near future!


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## Kayty

Annnnd sure enough. She's not happy with it. F*$&!!!!! This is the very irritating down side of doing commission work. Plus she has already paid for the piece so I HAVE to get it right. Not happy, VERY not happy. Will have to play but I don't know how much I can change around. And most definitely not doing it again, I am way too busy.


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## Equusketch

ugh, that sucks...if it's any consolation, I had my first rejection recently...the person pretty much told me her horse looked like a retarded mule....literally...can't please them all...lol.


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## Kayty

Oh shoot thats pretty harsh :S 

Yeah this lady I did a dog for and she made me go back and alter the stupidest things about 6 times. 
With this horse, her problem is that there are 'too many lines above her eye' (I've actually taken a lot of them out!) and can I please 'make the base of her neck thinner as she only has muscle there as she wind sucks'. Would have been nice to know that before I put about 10 layers of pastel on!


----------



## Equusketch

hmmm, well I don't know if you already do this, but I typically e-mail the rough sketch to the client before I begin the shading process (havent done that for the Buffy fund special because I wanted to get the drawings done ASAP) so they can request any modifications to the shape or orientation of the drawing before I put all that hard work into it. 

I learned that the hard way when I completed a big 16 x 20, only to find out the owner had sent me the full body shot she wanted, but the wrong head shot and didn't want what I drew. It was frustrating, but she eventually sent me the head shot she wanted and I wound up redoing the entire drawing. It was my bad in a sense that I just "assumed" that was the head shot she wanted (which was essentially a blurred pic of the horse running in his pasture, so very hard to see the details) and didn't bother to confirm that via rough sketch. So, not sure if you did that with this client, but she may have been able to tell you to make the neck more narrow if she had seen a rough sketch first. She sounds very picky anyway and I wouldn't doubt if she saw a rough sketch, approved it, and then decided it wasn't what she wanted afterall...lol.


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## Kayty

Yep I do the rough sketch first as well. Which is why I'm so annoyed with this client! Mine also aren't really rough, the final step for me before I start with the pastel is to mark the shapes in solid charcoal lines, so it's almost like a colouring in book picture. That way they can clearly see the shapes. And she approved it! 
I also send at least 3 work in progress pictures and ask if they can let me know what they're htinking, if they want things changed etc. And the whole way along she was saying 'yep yep yep'. *sigh* you can never please some people


----------



## Kayty

Here is the re-jigged version of the above drawing. I have brought the eye up more to make it slightly more almond shape and added a slight dish. I think just those slight alterations have made all the difference, she's gone from a handsome looking horse to a cute pony look. Hopefully the owner will approve this one so I can move it on. I currently have a whopping 13 drawings on my waiting list, at the increased rate :O Busy busy busy, and uni starts back next week so I'm going to be run off my feet! time to tone down the advertising push a little so I can catch up. The work is nice, and I need the money as I'm only working on saturday's now during uni, but it is stressfull and takes a lot of my time up


----------



## Kayty

Here's the one I'm currently working on. An A4 pastel. I don't enjoy bay horses so much, it is difficult to get the right shades as i hate just using plain brown straight onto the paper. So working out the underlying colours poses quite a challenge to me. And being a foal, it will be interesting. Foals front on are tricky, they have quite broad foreheads and their eyes look slightly disproportioned, making life difficult for the person trying to draw it! 












Since I have so many to knock off, I am trying to work on 2 drawings at a time. This next one is a riding school pony commissioned by a student, just an A4 graphite. Ugliest pony ever haha! But I guess she's cute in her own way and is little miss attitude. her name is marmite  
Going to be fun working on a grey appy in graphite! I'm curious to know how it will turn out.


----------



## dantexeventer

Marmite! Awww. 
That foal is cute - they're always a fun(ish) challenge! Doing my first full-body yearling was the worst; it was right in the awkward stage and I reeeeally wanted to fix it haha!


----------



## Kayty

I don't mind doing them in graphite or charcoal, but pastel just annoys me with foals, it doesn't seem right! I'll post my progress soon.


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## Equusketch

Oh now you tell me Kayty...lol. My very first soft pastel drawing was a front view of a bay foal...remember that one? lol.


----------



## Kayty

hahaha yep I do liz, and i remember cringing when i saw you were attempting it lol! But you did a fantastic job, they're not easy by any means and for your first pastel work you did an outstanding job of it!!


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## Kayty

Marmite










Photo is horrendous!! In real life the contrast is 100x better *vomits*

Stressing out big time, I have so many to pump out that it's hitting production line stage and the I'm starting back with uni lectures on Monday so will be even busier. Plus trying out as many horses as possible within a 2 week time bracket to try and find something to ride at the state dressage champs because I've just been selected to ride on the state dressage squad so HAVE to ride at the champs or risk getting thrown off the squad. BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!


----------



## xAddictionx

KAYTY... you are amazing! 
I can't wait to see when the one of Stella is done


----------



## Kayty

Little miss Stella is about 2/3's of the way done now and in pastel  She's causing me a lot of grief haha, so ready to get it finished so I can relax a bit. 

Next one is a ginger cat, then a grey cat, then a brown/tan kelpie! BUSY!


----------



## ShadowFaxIsMyBaby

You are an absolutely amazing artist.


----------



## Kayty

Thank you ^^^

I'll be slowing down quite a bit now. I've still got a lot of work to get through, but I've also started uni and need to juggle the work load. 
Foal picture will be the next to be posted hopefully in the next week or so.


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## Kayty

Eep :S
Ok so for the foal I thought I'd experiment and use the reverse side of the paper which is more textured than what I usually work on. Bad move doing it on my weak point, bay foals!! 
I'm reasonably happy with it, but struggled terribly trying to get the detail into it. The owner is really happy though so that makes me feel better


----------



## xAddictionx

That looks great Kayty!!! 
I think it looks just like Stella!


----------



## Kayty

Thanks Jordan  Liz seemed really happy with it, so if she's happy I'm happy  I guess you're your own biggest critic and most of my drawings I'm never totally happy with but the owner is thrilled, so maybe I should just stop looking at my work haha!


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## Kayty

Next set of drawings. These are only half of the pets this lady has asked me to do and she would not accept a discount!! Going to keep me very busy for a while but the money is very good ! 





































Tricky photos!!


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## Equusketch

Ooh, I REALLY love the foal drawing!!! Bravo!!! 
I hear ya on the self critique thing. I am often way more hard on myself than I perhaps need to be. I know that when I e-mail the finished drawing to the client and I see they have responded, I literally hold my breath as I open the e-mail, as if I am expecting to see some comment to the effect that it wasn't what they wanted and that they don't want to buy it and then I see that they "love it". I just think we as artists have a more critical eye and all the client is seeing is the soul of their animal captured. I am always looking to improve my technique, but honestly, technique comes second to emotional value and I think the client would agree.


----------



## HorsesAreForever

That foal is amazing! 

Keep up the good work!! I went from page one to now.. And wow im so impressed by your drawings I might have you draw my girl for me!


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## Kayty

Uni is driving me crazy!!! I haven't been able to move forward onto the ginger cat yet because I'm trying to get back into the swing of studying. I've had 3 essays in 2 weeks, 2 tests and have to start on a major biology assignment this week. No time for drawing at the moment, which isn't good as the client has paid me already. She understands but I feel terrible!


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## Equusketch

My 18 x 24 drawing is going at a snail's pace too and I have already been paid for it too (more than what I actually charged too). Luckily it's for a friend and she is in no rush at all, but I still can't help but feel a little bad as well. I feel your pain.


----------



## ponycrazy

Wow! You are an AMAZING artist! I am just starting to get into drawing, and today I attempted to draw a pony which was step by step and it was horrible!!!!! I was so disappointed in myself. I know it was only my first attempt but still..... and advice?

Hopeful to do better,
ponycrazy,
Britt


----------



## ponycrazy

ponycrazy said:


> Wow! You are an AMAZING artist! I am just starting to get into drawing, and today I attempted to draw a pony which was step by step and it was horrible!!!!! I was so disappointed in myself. I know it was only my first attempt but still..... and advice?
> 
> Hopeful to do better,
> ponycrazy,
> Britt



Any advice*** haha sorry meant to say any advice near the end. That typo made me seem very snobby  , haha. sorry about that

ponycrazy


----------



## Kayty

haha no dramas  I didn't take it as snobby  
Replied to your message.

Liz, it's a ****** hey!! I am so keen to get moving on these drawings, this lady has asked me to do a whopping 7 of her pets to start with, so I really need to make a good impression but I'm just so busy at the moment. Plus I've just paid for a heap of new Canson and pastel pencils to work with that should be arriving soon, I will want to leap in and use them but must get my uni work done first!

Speaking of uni, better head off and finish this **** essay. good subject though, "are males really necessary?"  My partner isn't in total agreement on that one lol, but I told him that even if he's not strictly necessary to my survival, I still love him to bits


----------



## ponycrazy

Kayty said:


> haha no dramas  I didn't take it as snobby
> Replied to your message.
> 
> Liz, it's a ****** hey!! I am so keen to get moving on these drawings, this lady has asked me to do a whopping 7 of her pets to start with, so I really need to make a good impression but I'm just so busy at the moment. Plus I've just paid for a heap of new Canson and pastel pencils to work with that should be arriving soon, I will want to leap in and use them but must get my uni work done first!
> 
> Speaking of uni, better head off and finish this **** essay. good subject though, "are males really necessary?"  My partner isn't in total agreement on that one lol, but I told him that even if he's not strictly necessary to my survival, I still love him to bits





haha, okay , I am glad that you didnt take it that way. And okay, I replied again.

thanks again,
ponycrazy
b.c


----------



## DustyDiamond

I love art journals they are so pretty and I love to see how peoples art is coming along


----------



## Kayty

*bangs head on wall* I'm just so busy I can't stand it!!!! Have been flat tack doing Uni assignments, already had mid semester exams coming up and just got a new horse. Haven't had any time to draw. Got a call yesterday from one client wondering how drawing is coming along, and email from another client asking how its going. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I need more time!!!!!


----------



## toadflax

wait till you have a husband and three kids as well....


----------



## Kayty

Not looking forward to that toadflax haha! My poor partner get shoved out of the room when I study and draw, and lately he's been banished to the other end of the house. Poor thing!


----------



## toadflax

A sensible approach if I ever heard one.


----------



## Kayty

Latest kitty cat drawing. Phew one down, too many to go. Just started uni holidays but have 5 assignments to get through plus studying for mid semester exams.


----------



## Kayty

Current commission.

Ref. photo









WIP


----------



## toadflax

sweet little guy, flash eyes and all....
life shifting into hyper-drive?


----------



## Kayty

Latest installment. This one is taking a very long time to finish, in between Uni horses and life in general I'm not getting much time. Spent most of the day on this one to try and knock a big chunk of it out.


----------



## Kayty

And finished. Pretty much... I'm contemplating adding a simple background to draw him off the paper.










If anyone is interested in how much colour I used in this one, save the photo and run it through photoshop with the saturation on high. It'll be bright blue in the whites and bright red and yellow through the body. Those are the main colours used throughout this drawing, there is actually very little brown used.


----------



## EmilyTrailridder

all of those are amazing


----------



## Kayty

And totally finished. Added a small 'background'. Owner is very pleased with it, frame has been organised and it's being collected this week  - computer has done something strange with the colours. I still haven't mastered taking reasonable photo's of my drawings yet and it's amazing the difference in quality between the real thing and the photo, so definitely have to work on that one!


----------



## Kayty

Reference photo for the next project.


----------



## Equusketch

I totally hear you on the computer image thing, especially with color drawings. I just e-mailed an updated drawing to the owner and the poor dog looked more purple than the actual drawing. Funny thing is that I didn't use any purple, mostly navy blue and burnt sienna with a lot of gray tones. When you figure out how to take accurate pictures/scans, let me know and I will do the same.


----------



## Kayty

I'm finding that taking them without a flash in a really well lit room, or even outside, around mid day is shaping up to be the best way for me. I've got a WIP to post soon (when I can be bothered putting them on my laptop) which I have photographed that way, so we'll see how they look on the screen, fingers crossed!


----------



## EmilyTrailridder

how much does a drawing cost?


----------



## Kayty

My website is Horse & Hound Artistry - Home if you're interested. Prices are standard, they may go up or down depending on the drawing.


----------



## Kayty

Changed reference photo, owner sent me a better one 









And current WIP









And yet again Liz... photography hasn't worked. Back to the drawing board (no pun intended!) at trying to photograph my work. This one looks so washed out it's lost all the depth and detail. ******!


----------



## Kayty

A couple more attempts at getting an accurate photo. A little better than above, but still pretty average :/ I think it's the colour of the paper that doesn't like being photographed!

Without light









With light


----------



## SouthernComfort

Wow! You're amazing!


----------



## Kayty

Thanks SouthernComfort (is your username any relation to the drink? If so, yum! ) 

And finished, just not signed yet. Really unhappy with the quality of the photo's coming out on this though  I have lost so much detail and depth, it's making the drawing look terribly washed out and blurred. I'm really happy with this drawing too, so it's a bit disapointing.


----------



## ridingismylife2

WOW :shock:
You are so freaking good!


----------



## Kayty

Haha thank you *blushes* There is still so much for me to improve on though, the more I draw the better it will get so all I want to do is draw at the moment, but uni exams coming up are getting in the way of that haha


----------



## Kayty

****** I COMPLETELY forgot his whiskers! I've also altered the eyes a little, I wasn't happy with them as I struggled to get the pupils accurate. Hopefully this one is a little better


----------



## Equusketch

I always meant to ask you...Do you also use pastel pencils? I have a soft pastel set, but they are rather bulky. I was considering getting a set of pastel pencils for the fine details and touch ups. Do you have any brand recommendations?


----------



## midwestgirl89

Haha I do that all the time with cats! I get the whole thing done, ready to sign off on it, then realize I forgot the whiskers. 
Looks great!


----------



## Kayty

Liz, I mainly work in soft pastels, but also use a select few pastel pencils too, I'd like to get more into the pencils though. I am finding it difficult to get the detail I want to get, using just soft pastels. They're great for coverage and fur but the fine bits are tricky. 
I've just ordered a set of 36 Derwent Pastel Pencils which I have had recommended to me, so hopefully they're good. I am also on the hunt for some more hard pastels.

But my basis of pastels is Rembrandt soft pastels in the landscape selection for the bulk of my work, Stabilo (Carb Othello - I wouldn't recommend them, I hate them :S) pencils for some of the smaller bits around the eyes, a few Francheville soft-medium sticks, Coates willow charcoal for some darker areas and occasionally a touch of graphite. 
I'll let you know how the Derwents go, they're quite a good price. 
I'm also keen to start working on velour paper, but haven't been able to find a reasonable supply in Australia, my usual art supply online shop does supply it, but in large sheets with a 10 sheet minimum because of postage, that's getting expensive if I don't like it!


----------



## ToHotToTrot

wowowowow I love these!!!


----------



## Kayty

Latest WIP, another cat for the same owner









And where I'm up to now. This one has been done mainly in Derwent Pastel Pencils with a bit of Rembrandt soft pastels in the under tones. I'm not including the front paw that is in the reference photo. Giving it a break at the moment as I'm not entirely sure what colour to do the background, so don't want to add more detail until I make up my mind and put the background in.


----------



## Kayty

I have two WIP's going at once so this may get a little confusing haha!
This one is my friends lovely little dog who sadly is no longer with us. Long black fur is a bit daunting I must admit! We'll see how I go anyhow.


----------



## Bluezepher94

Omg, these are amazing. @[email protected]
You're an incredible artist 

I'm very, er, artistically challenged. ]:
I stick to stick-figures. xD


----------



## Kayty

Thank you bluezepher, appreciate it  

Well I can't actually draw stick figures, go figure that one out haha I can't for the life of me get them looking in proportion, my partner draws better stick figures than me :S


----------



## Kayty

And the dog finished. This one only took me 2 days, definitely a record!


----------



## Kayty

****, my camera must be male, it just does not want to work for me!! The original is a much 'deeper' piece, the photo makes it look very washed out


----------



## Bluezepher94

Kayty said:


> Thank you bluezepher, appreciate it
> 
> Well I can't actually draw stick figures, go figure that one out haha I can't for the life of me get them looking in proportion, my partner draws better stick figures than me :S


You're very welcome. 

Haha, that's strange! xP


----------



## Kayty

I now have a facebook page for my business, and have updated my website.

Offering free postage on any commission piece taken through facebook if you become a fan of my page from 30th June 2010 to 31st July 2010. 
Very good savings for overseas clients in particular!! 
Christmas is coming up in 6 months, so to be on the safe side get orders in asap


----------



## Equusketch

Do you have a link to your facebook profile? 

I have a personal facebook profile, but I am thinking about also adding a page specifically for my artwork. My current web site is not updated at all and it won't let me download most images, so I rely on facebook at the moment to showcase my art.


----------



## Kayty

~Horse & Hound Artistry~ | Facebook

I am finding the facebook page useful Liz, and for free advertising you can't go wrong! Every time you update something your 'fans' get notified of it, where as with a website they have to go out of their way to check if you have any updates. 
I know the feeling with the website, I've had to go back to my old freewebs page, the one I paid for started going crappy on me, I couldn't update anything, they changed my settings so my photo's would not upload to the same size etc. Freewebs has worked out quite well other than the unfortunate website address having to start with freewebs.com!!


----------



## Kayty

Annnnnnd ~Horse & Hound Artistry~ will be featured in the September and December issues of HorseWyse Magazine, and will be sponsoring a prize in the December issue!


----------



## midwestgirl89

Kayty said:


> Annnnnnd ~Horse & Hound Artistry~ will be featured in the September and December issues of HorseWyse Magazine, and will be sponsoring a prize in the December issue!


Kayty that's awesome! What a wonderful accomplishment for you-congratulations.


----------



## Kayty

Thank you  Bit exciting, they've also asked if they can run a story on me in the december issue, just about my horses/riding and how I got into art. Good bit of exposure for me thats for sure!


----------



## stonehorsedesigns

That dog is quite a handsome boy and I can't wait to see the finished product. Keep us posted!


----------



## Kayty

Next WIP... yep I've got a few going at once here, I've just had another batch of commissions come in all at once so I'm being run off my feet at the moment! Oh well, it's a good thing that my work is in demand I guess *tries to think positively!!*

Finally getting a few horses again after a multitude of dogs and cats 
Reference photo









And current WIP (the forelock and neck will go in last  I haven't forgotten them it's just how I work!)


----------



## Kayty

Annnnd I seem to have failed with my photo taking skills yet again... the original is darker than this... this is without a flash too, *sigh* back to the drawing board (no pun intended) yet again


----------



## Kayty

Finished the horse!









AND the cat... not happy with the cat, but happy with the horse and they're for the same client so hoping to redeem myself via the horse :S









Glad I don't have any more rotten kitty cats for a while now I'm hoping, all horses and pooches


----------



## Kayty

And I have finally gotten around to registering my website - put too much effort into this one and advertising to go to a different domain!
Address is now : Home - Horse & Hound Artistry, however the old, freewebs, URL still connects


----------



## Kayty

I have just added a testimonials page to my website. Anyone who has commissioned a portrait from me, or would just like to comment on my work, I would hugely appreciate it if you could direct your comments to my testimonials page for prospective clients to read.

Link: Horse & Hound Artistry


----------



## Kayty

I have on offer a fantastic opportunity to purchase a commission portrait for almost half it's normal value! Portrait will be A4 in size, pastel and a head study. Check out the link for more details!

Horse & Hound Artistry - A4 pastel portrait


----------



## Kayty

Latest WIP. I haven't used graphite for a long time, I forgot how fiddly it is :O

Reference is a standardbred mare, for a paying client. 









WIP









Obviously I still need to deepen some tones and get more detail into it, but I'm quite happy at the moment, especially since I've had to improvise her eye! I've also altered the forelock a little, but haven't gone into depth with that as yet.


----------



## 3neighs

That's coming along great! I struggle so much with horse eyes, yours is so realistic.


----------



## Kayty

As always, I have struggled immensely to get a suitable photograph of my work. I am very lucky in that my client for this piece was local, so was able to view it in person and was thrilled with the result  But at least the photo proves that I finished it 









Between finishing the graphite piece, and starting my next commission, I have started to have a little play at some work for my own records. The forum's own "Olgait" has very kindly given me permission to use her photographs as references for my work.
So here is my current piece 'on the easel', in soft pastels on Canson Mi Teintes. Only in the baby stages so far, laying down my basic tones, getting the shapes where I want them etc. It will have another 5-10 layers of pastel applied depending on the area that I am working on. 










And finally, my next commission. I will be working on this in conjunction with the piece above, as I have just started back at uni and need to get a rattle on with my commissions. Thankfully I only have these two little fellows, "Caramel" and "Cappacino" (kids pets ), and a siamese fighting fish from the same client, to go on my list before my advertising campaign hits the printers for September and the Christmas rush!


----------



## brighteyes08

your work is phenomenal. I'm an artist as well but do strictly pencil work. Now and then I think about trying out pastels and graphite but haven't gotten around to it yet. It boggles my mind how you start off with blues and other colors for a dog that ends up to be brown. You should post some video clips.


----------



## Kayty

Latest work on the guinea pigs. Just to give you an idea of the layout, I've drawing the patchy guinea pig on the bottom left of the page, and the caramel coloured piggy slightly right and above the patchy one. 
I'm really struggling with the colour of the patchy guinea, the camera flash has washed it out so I'm not entirely sure if it has a red base, or a blue base. So lots of experimenting with colours has been called for. I'm fairly happy with the colour I have used, and the owner have approved it.


----------



## lilruffian

See thats why i dont do pastel! lol How do you do that!!??? It's blue! Gee you're good


----------



## Kayty

hahahaha oh dear! I don't know, I find that I can just look at a photo and pick out a base colour. If I don't have a base colour down to work from, then I really struggle to work. I guess it's just a matter of building up and up until suddenly you've got the right colour and can start adding your details.


----------



## lilruffian

Still don't understand how you get brown from blue... that's what i like about paint; what you see is what you get lol! Can't wait to see these guys finished


----------



## Kayty

Just about finished, needs a bit of a tidy up around the edges


----------



## PumpkinzMyBaby22

lilruffian said:


> Still don't understand how you get brown from blue... that's what i like about paint; what you see is what you get lol! Can't wait to see these guys finished


Haha I'm the same, though I don't paint very much. 

Love your artworks!! They are goreous


----------



## Kayty

A client just got two of the portraits I did for her a couple of months ago framed


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## midwestgirl89

The drawings look fantastic framed!


----------



## tseluyu dylan

this is tremendous! keep updating your work I am excited to see the finished product!


----------



## Kayty

Second little piggy









WIP


----------



## 3neighs

> it boggles my mind how you start off with blues and other colors for a dog that ends up to be brown.



I agree! So neat to see them transform! The guinea pigs are coming along great and the frames enhance your work beautifully!
​


----------



## Kayty

I've put the guinea pigs down for a while as the coat colour is driving me crazy!!
So in the meantime, I am working two commissions at once. The first is the winner of the auction I was offering, the second is a friends dressage/show horse. 









































This has taken me around 4 hours to reach this point - greys are a tricky business! 









































And this has taken approximately 8 hours - blacks are also a tricky business!! Why??? Because black and white are two colours that make changes in tonal value when working in pastel very difficult to do, you can add too much colour and completely change the look of the subject, or not add enough colour and run the risk of presenting your client with a very 'flat' looking drawing. Hence why greys and blacks take me so long to finish. I am forced to work section by section, and applying up to 15 layers of pastel before I feel that I have enough depth to my work.


----------



## Kayty

And yet again, my 'faithful' old camera has picked up all the yellow undertones in the grey, the original has a slightly more blue hue to it.
And the black, it has reflected off the pastel making it look brown/grey and with gaps in the pastel strokes. 
Hell, am I EVER going to find the key to taking a good photo!!?


----------



## kayhmk

^I think both of them are looking really nice. I like how the grey one looks soft but not too blurry/smudgy. All in all, they are coming along very nicely!

A bit of a stupid question, what kind (and brands possibly) of pastels are you working with? I thought you were using pure dry pastels but some of your wips look eerily oilish... (In a good way!) Like half-pastels or something.


----------



## lilruffian

Ooo, i can't wait to see how HowClever's horse turns out!  It looks great to far!


----------



## Kayty

At the moment I haven't gone into much detail on either of them, I'm really just laying down my base coats at the moments and roughly filling in where I want the deep areas and highlights to be. Then I'll start going over and filling more fur detail in 

Kayhmk, no oils for me!! I think it may just be a combination of the camera photographing badly, and the very rough way I have of 'slapping' down those couple of base colours that gives an oils look. I work mainly in soft pastels (Rembrandt and Franchville), and pastel pencils (Derwent) for the detailed work


----------



## HowClever

Oh oh oh! That's my boy! I'm loving it so far Kayty!


----------



## kayhmk

Ah, it might be just the way the photographs come out as I haven't (sadly) found that oily feel with my sets: I have Rembredt's soft halfs and I really like them. Well, I have W&N's similar set too and like them as well, YES, I _am_ a pastel maniac... *sigh* (I have like 15 different sets of pastels and that's not counting oil pastels of which I have probably at least as much.)

Derwent's pastel pencils I find tricky, though. I never seem to get that nice build-up with them, instead, they tend to just scrape off the previous layers. Well, more practice and/or better sharpening is called for! Or better paper... (I'm into Canson's Mi-Teintes right now.) In your hands they seem to work really well. 

... well yes. /pointlessmaterialdiscussion


----------



## Kayty

I work on Canson Mi-Teintes as well, and find the Derwents on that feel quite nice to apply. I was using CarbOthello's for a while, but hated them, far too waxy for my liking!


----------



## midwestgirl89

After reading the last couple posts you've got even more commendation comin' from me 
Soft pastels?! I thought they were oil! 
...for some strange reason I find that really cool :lol:


----------



## Kayty

Haha yes I love my soft pastels! Far too scared to try oils, but it means I have to apply so many coats of pastel to get a similar effect as the oils as far as coverage of the paper goes. I *should* gives oils a try one day, but at the moment I'm busy with commissions so have no time to try them.


----------



## Kayty

Latest update on HowClever's lovely boy. Still going through adding base layers, but very happy with how it's progressing. I'm keen to start adding detail but have to get the base done first!


----------



## HowClever

It's looking fantastic Kayty! I'm so excited!


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Kayty




----------



## HowClever

Looking incredible Kayty! I hope you don't mind that I am saving these WIP photos so I can look at how its coming along all the time! haha


----------



## Kayty

Thanks mate, it's getting there slowly! Problem with greys is that using so much white pastel, the dust starts to cover the blacks and make them fade, so once I've 'finished' I'll have to go back over and darken all the black bits again.
No problem with you saving the WIP's  
I think you'll be surprised at the difference between the photo's and the real thing once you get it, the photo's dull the drawing and take away a lot of the detail!


----------



## HowClever

Eek, that was what I was worried about asking you to do Rexy! I can only imagine how difficult drawing a grey would be! 

It looks amazing in the photos, so I am definitely excited to see the finished product!


----------



## Kayty

Haha thats ok, the more I get pushed out of my comfort zone, the better it is for me! I've got a black on the go at the moment too, the two hardest colours to draw


----------



## HowClever

Braver than me! haha


----------



## midwestgirl89

It looks awesome! And the couple pics of the black earlier are really amazing too. With the gray, the blue background nails it. They look awesome together. And the tack is really detailed too. 
I always love keeping up with you wip's. Shows how much effort really goes into it!


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Kayty

His eyes a bit average at the moment, so will be going back to have a play and fix it up in the morning, too tired at the moment it's nearly midnight and I was up till 2am this morning studying! Probably best not to so anymore and risk ruining it :S


----------



## lilruffian

Your work is seriously making me consider giving pastel a try, the only thing is that i would have NO idea where to start! Seriously! I can honestly say i havent even _touched _a piece of pastel in my life! ha ha


----------



## Kayty

Do it!!! Honestly, it's a fantastic medium to work in and you've got such amazing talent with all the other mediums you've posted here.
I'm happy to give you pointers to get you going in the right direction, its just a case of getting a feel for being able to pick colours out of a photo to use as a base, and then just add layers until you're happy


----------



## lilruffian

LOl you're awesome! I'll have to look around my little town to see if i can find pastels first! Maybe Wal-Mart... ha ha! Did that sound as ******* to you as it did to me?
What brand do you like?
What kind of paper do you use?
lol so many questions!
We wont even get started on technique yet!


----------



## All4Crystal

Very nice work! I'm impressed. I have never tried pastels. 
My mother is really good with them. 
I don't work with colors at all, they distract me for some reason.


----------



## Kayty

Haha don't worry, try the cheaper ones first I reckon, they don't give as nice a feel, but you'll waste a lot of pastel when you first start learning to layer, and the decent ones are bloody expensive!!

I work in Rembrandt soft pastels (land scape selection), Franchville medium/hard pastel squares, Omega (assorted greys), CarbOthello pastel pencils, and Derwent pastel pencils. I'm also eyeing off a set of Fabercastelle pit pencils, which are apparently beautiful to use.

As for paper, I feel safest working on Canson Me-Tientes, which is probably one of the cheaper varieties out there, but I enjoy working on it as it has a fantastic tooth which can take many layers (essential for my method of working, building up to about 20 layers in some places!) and is easy to clean up after for packaging, as it holds onto the pastel quite well. I've had a go on velour... HARD, it doesn't hold the pastel well at all and it takes a special kind of person to be able to get details onto it - I'm definitely not special enough haha! 
Pastelmat is also a good choice, it's similar to the Me-Tientes


----------



## lilruffian

Oh gosh thats alot to remember! lol Thanks though im definitely going to look into it one of these days (may have to make a trip to the city to a proper art store though, by the sounds of it!)


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## Kayty

Just waiting on approval, then it will be sent off


----------



## lilruffian

LOVE IT!! lol


----------



## HowClever

It still stuns me everytime I look at, it really is my boy!


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## Kayty

I'm extremely pleased to hear that you like it!! As I said in my email to you earlier, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the improvement in quality of the real thing compared to the photo


----------



## Kayty

Now back to Alfie


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Kayty

Done


----------



## HowClever

If I win lotto, I'll want drawings of all my horses by you. Just warning you. Haha


----------



## Kayty

*fingers crossed you win lotto* hahaha! Glad to hear you like my work though!! You should have your lovely boy by early next week at the latest


----------



## saint3meg3rlfc

Wow, your work is very impressive! I still don't understand how you get black from blue. But it looks fantastic. I've always wanted to learn pastels. But I'll stick with paint for now.


----------



## Kayty

And finally finished the guinea pigs. I'm not very happy with this one, but the client IS happy, so I've signed it, packaged it and never want to look at it again :S
However I did promise to put all my work up here, good, bad and ugly... so here you go *runs and hides*


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## All4Crystal

Oh don't run and hide. I think they look great. The only thing I would have done differently, I would not make a space between them. I'd put the dark one
right by the white one, with the ear overlaping.


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## Kayty

I wanted to do that! But the owner asked for them to be separate, unfortunately you have to go with what you're client wants


----------



## dedebird

those guiena pigs are so freaking cute >3< i wish you could draw my babies but i have to many i have like 8 guinea pigs xD


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## Kayty

Latest - not quite finished, I still have to add a lot more depth... but just to prove that I'm still busy working on commissions not slacking off 

This is the first, and ONLY fish I will ever do as a commission haha! It is giving no end of grief, the reference photo was terrible so I had to make it up as I went along.


----------



## lilruffian

It's still very pretty though


----------



## Kayty

All done. Client was a local so dropped the fish and guinea pigs in to her today, she was very happy, phew!


----------



## All4Crystal

I love the fish! Good job!


----------



## VelvetsAB

_Wow Kayty! You do an amazing job. And bravo for doing commissions, uni and work all at the same time!_


----------



## Kayty

I have started advertising and selling on ebay. Here's my latest listing, bidding starts at Au$115m $30 less than normal value.


----------



## darrenvale

Could you please do one for me? x


----------



## Kayty

Hi Darrenvale, unfortunately I cannot do portraits for free, I am too busy with paid commissions. If you are interested in having a commissioned portrait done, please PM me on the forum, or email me at [email protected]


----------



## Kayty

Oops I just realised that I didn't attach my ebay link

A4 custom pet portrait head study in soft pastel - eBay, Portraits, Paintings, Art. (end time 12-Sep-10 18:11:24 AEST)


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## All4Crystal

Very cool! Good luck.  
Hope ebay works for you. Let us know how it goes.


----------



## Kayty

Latest commission. I am getting very tempted to find a professional photographer that can take photo's of art work. Because I just cannot, for the life of me, get an accurate photograph! The original is no where near this green, and the horse actually has detail in it, This is driving me crazy!


----------



## Kayty

Latest WIP. This one is headed to the US, another international commission woohoo!

Reference - best reference photo I've been given by a mile!


----------



## rraylutz210

Kayty. First off you do incredible work. I fell in love with every piece I saw! I found myself scrolling through your entire thread going ooo ahhh. haha.
Im wondering if you could find a spare moment to give me some advise. Im an art student in the US and I am trying to work up a portfolio good enough to bring myself away from the norm. Being I am only a freshman and I have had no formal art classes as of yet, I have to ask... how did you get started? 
here is a drawing done by myself, it was my first drawing and of course I had to pick the hardest subject, a front facing Frisian. lol


----------



## Kayty

Thankyou for the compliment rraylutz210  

That is an amazing piece of art for your first attempt :O 
Hmmm I didn't have a clear 'start' to my art, I just practiced my backside off, would draw as much as I could, and was very fussy on getting proportions exact before worrying about colours/shading. Try working in a variety of mediums to find one that really suits you, and make sure you get a good understanding of light and dark tones. Drawings that are just middle of the range in toning look flat and boring. It's the ones that have a deep black in some sections, and white in others to highlight, that stand out from the crowd. 

As for how I got into commission work, I just started by putting my work up on local horse forums. A lady asked me if I'd draw her stud colt, I charged her very little for it, and it just went from there. I made myself a website, and started advertising on horse forums/classifieds. Then I got some business cards made up, handed them around, etc. 

It's not easy to get into, it took me years to get a constant stream of work, but at the moment I am working flat out with commission after commission, it makes all the hard work setting yourself up worthwhile


----------



## rraylutz210

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep it in mind! 
As far as doing commission work I am not quite sure yet.. seems like alot of stress. I give you props for putting up with it. 
Well best of luck in all your work and again thank you =)


----------



## Kayty

haha yes there's a lot of stress involved, getting them done on time and when they don't go according to plan, but it gets evened out when you do the really good ones


----------



## midwestgirl89

You're right Kayty-that reference photo is awesome. I'm still awestruck at what you do with pastels. 
Can't wait to see more of the progress. Maybe it'll be an incentive for me to get drawing again. Haven't had time for quite a few weeks!


----------



## lilruffian

That IS an awesome reference photo! Half the time what happens with me is they send a couple pics & i have to redraw the horses lol oh well... cant wait to see how it progresses! Looking great already


----------



## iloverascal777

Your pictures look so realistic!! I really wish I was on the same level of talent as you!!


----------



## Kayty

Latest installment. Haven't had much time lately with Uni and horses, will hopefully get the second dog done a lot quicker!


----------



## lilruffian

It looks wicked!  Love the detail in the fur.


----------



## Kayty

Latest


----------



## PintoTess

amazing!!!!!


----------



## Kayty

Latest


----------



## Kayty

Another commission done and dusted! Only 2 more to do before Christmas, what a push!


----------



## JessXxX

WOOOOW I just looked through all 27 pages and I'm amazed I just wish I could draw like that! unfortunatly I can't draw to save my life >.< haha


----------



## Katesrider011

Ergh I'm jealous, I wish I could draw...


----------



## lacyloo

...Amazing


----------



## lilruffian

LOVE that last one! Incredible!


----------



## Kayty

One down, one to go! This one was a difficult photo to work from, the horse is no longer with us and my client was dead set she wanted the drawing from one particular photograph. Unfortunately the photograph was very pixilated, with the horse in deep shadow and so little detail that I could not even edit/zoom up on the photo to find the detail I needed. So I worked this one a little differently to my usual portraits and drew it so that it needed to be viewed from a distance, if you look at it from over 2m away, it looks to be very detailed, but close up it is really quite simply drawn. Hence it does not photograph well, but you get the idea anyway.


----------



## Frankiee

omg there all amazing !!!!!! I'm so jelous of you I can't for the life of me draw in color lol it's only black and white for moi.


----------



## Kayty

PHEW!! *wipes brow* that's me done for xmas, just in time  A week off and then back into it


----------



## MissH

AWESOME thread. Just posting to keep updated - I love the fact we have such talented artists here!!!


----------



## Kayty

A quick 10 minute charcoal sketch, trying to get a chance to do a few in charcoal to loosen up with my work again. It's nice to have a short break between commissions after the Christmas onslaught!


----------



## lilruffian

LOVE the detail you put in the fur, especially the dog! Awesome


----------



## tinyliny

Kayty,

I am equally as impressed with your work as the hundreds who've posted before me. Do you always work from a photograph or do you sometimes draw from you imagination?
Might I be so rude as to ask about how much the average pastel drawing commision goes for?

One last thing. I heard from a friend that it was either colored chalk or colored pastels that have been found to have carcinogenic properties. Have you ever heard anthing like that? I think it was chalk, now that I think about it, and she said her friend had to wear a good dust mask to protect herself. Hm m m. ..
Is that a bunch of bull?


----------



## Kayty

Tinyliny, I usually work from a photograph as I am generally working on a commission piece, however I will occasionally go from imagination. If I go on holiday I will take my sketch book and a few pencils with me and just 'scribble' whatever pops into my head at the time!

As far as I know I am the most affordable pastel artist in Australia as far as what I have seen advertised and heard about. For the most common commission I get, an A4 (11 x 8 inches) head study, I charge AU$155 plus postage. My most expensive piece is the A3 full body in pastel which is AU$230. 

As for pastel, yes the dust is not so good for you. The pastels I use are called chalk pastels, or soft pastes (essentially the same thing, but the soft pastels are not quite so dusty) and I am careful to work in a well ventilated area. When I was working in primarily pastel sticks which get VERY dusty, I would usually wear a mask and open windows, plus never blow the excess dust off the paper, tapping instead, so that I don't spread the dust into the air. Now I try to work more in pastel pencils, which aren't so dusty and I don't have to wear a mask, but still work in a ventilated area.


----------



## lilruffian

I've been meaning to ask you.. how do you package pastel drawings to be mailed? I figure you must do alot of that so you'd probably know the best ways.


----------



## Kayty

I have a couple of methods of postage. If I'm sending to overseas or a large portrait, I roll them (VERY CAREFULLY!!! and tape the ends so they don't move around, then post them in a cardboard postage tube that is a tight fit, so that the paper won't move around in transit. 
If I'm doing a smaller portrait within Australia, I tape down the corners of the portrait onto a piece of flexible cardboard. I wrap a second piece of cardboard in greaseproof paper, and lay this on top of the portrait, then wrap strips of tape around the two sheets of cardboard to secure them. I then mount this onto a piece of stiffer cardboard, stick my business card and care instructions on the front, and post in a padded postage bag. 
I am yet to have a client report that a portrait has been damaged in transit


----------



## Kayty

Latest commission. A3 full body pastel portrait of a golden retriever pup


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW !!!!! these are absoloutly amazing!!!!  i can't get over how good they are!!


----------



## equiniphile

Those are spectacular, Kayty!


----------



## tinyliny

Kayty, 
I love the color choice of red on the blue background, I think you are kind of suggesting a carpet? It's a totally charming piece. Nothing makes you feel better than looking at a cute puppy. May I ask, what is A3? It's a paper size, I know , but what is the measurement in cm's or inches?


----------



## Kayty

Tiny, the background that he was on in the original photo was red dirt in outback Australia, I didn't want to draw in red sand in detail, but he looked 'lost' with no sense of ground without something other than blue, so I just threw a few colours into the background 

As for sizing, well I go by 'A3/A4 etc.' just to make it easier to word, but have the exact measurements on my website. Basically in an advertised 'A3', the portrait itself will measure 15x12 inches, or 37x30cm.

I am currently working on my next commission, which is an A2 graphite piece of a horse's head and partial body. Will be keeping me busy for a while I think!


----------



## Kayty

Latest commission on the go... it's HUGO!! So far i've spent a good 7 hours on it and you can barely tell I've done anything... in this for the long haul!


----------



## tinyliny

Man. that is exactly the eye! I find the eye very hard to get, I mean really hard. sometimes I catch the essences and other times, it just doesn't look right. That one has depth and feel. Wow!


----------



## Kayty

haha thankyou tinyliny, I enjoy doing eye's and always do them first, as I think if the eye isn't right then you can get the rest of the subject perfect, but it will never look like the client's horse if the eye is not right. I spent months only drawing eyes and I'm still not 100% happy with them, but I'm slowing getting better


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Marlea Warlea

Kayty said:


> Finished. VERY fussy client :S I've done a dog for her and she made me change it about 6 times, but she's come back for a horse so obviously I can't be THAT bad.


 hey, im like posotive i've seen that in a horsewyse magazine, theres that and a dog?


----------



## lilruffian

I truly admire your patience in detail! I never seem to be able to put that much time into fur! I always get impatient & smudge it all together! lol!


----------



## Kayty

Yep MW, I have advertised in horsewyse a couple of times and ran a competition in there in the last edition.


----------



## Kayty

lilruffian said:


> I truly admire your patience in detail! I never seem to be able to put that much time into fur! I always get impatient & smudge it all together! lol!


Hahaha it's tempting to smudge it all together thats for sure, especially with such a huge piece!!! In all the 'dark' areas of fur, there are a minimum of 9 layers of graphite. I've spent over 20 hours on it now *sigh* think I'm going to get RSI by the time I finish it!!


----------



## Cinder

Wow! I really admire your artwork. Makes me wish I could draw!

Oh..about your photos. Sounds to me like you need a better camera. Some cameras just don't work as well as they should. Or fool around with the different setting if it has them. You'd be surprised at how well something as off-base as "Flowers" (actual setting on my camera) can work. I also think it would be a good investment, as your clients will be able to have a more accurate feel on how their commision is going. 

Sorry for the rambling/random discussion about your camera :lol:


----------



## Kayty

Cinder, I'll be investing in a new camera when I can afford it, but I am currently about as broke as you can get having 3 horses and having no work due to just coming out of full time tertiary study... so a new camera is unfortunately going to have to wait for a while yet 
I'll fiddle with settings again though, there might be one that I've missed


----------



## PintoTess

Wow they all look amazing! I wish to be as good as you one day


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Kayty

Finished


----------



## equiniphile

That is spectacular, your work is truly amazing!


----------



## All4Crystal

Beautiful!


----------



## tinyliny

That is fantastic! Kayty, any chance you could photograph it with better light?
I can't see the detail as well as I'd like to .
What was the total hours for this one? so , you get $2 per hour?

I love the far away look in the Paint's eyes.


----------



## Kayty

I'll get a better photo once it's light again tiny, it's pouring with rain at the moment so natural light is pretty limited and I hate looking at drawings under artificial light! 
Haha yes, I don't like to think about it as pay per hour it it's depressing!! I charged $265 for this one, and spent at least 20-25 hours on it, I lose count after 10 :S


----------



## lilruffian

Looks MARVELOUS!!


----------



## Creampuff

I have to agree with everyone here... this is _spectacular! _I don't recall ever seeing so much fine detail in a portrait...


----------



## Kayty

Thank you lilruffian and creampuff


----------



## Marlea Warlea

hey wait a minute... your adds are in horsewyse magazine aren't they!!??


----------



## Marlea Warlea

oops soz, wrote it twice  wat comp was it? i think i might of entered


----------



## Kayty

Haha yes they were, I'm currently just finishing up the prize portrait 

It was the comp where you had to draw a horse and send it in, and the best drawing won an A4 commission pastel portrait by me.


----------



## Marlea Warlea

wow thats sweet 
im addicted to the hw mag and enter every comp!!
i won the carlos comp about compasionate training


----------



## Kayty

Sorry mate I'm not hugely familiar with the ins and outs of the magazine - bit out of the loop now haha! But I was a huge fan as a young teenager when the magazine first started. It's a great magazine


----------



## Marlea Warlea

ya i love it  im entering the drawing comp how u have to draw a horse breed, i'm going to do an arab.
I've got it worked out kinda, and also a clydie.
The square head is arkward


----------



## Kayty

Promotional advertising prize aka a freebie!!
A4 pastel head study. 
Not terribly happy with this one, found it very difficult to work with, but I had to force myself to sign it and put it down as if I fiddle too much I'll completely ruin it!


----------



## Kayty

And I just realised how blurred the photo is :S Sorry, I will try and get one in the daylight tomorrow. It's almost 11pm here and it was taken in semi dark with a flash! Looked ok on the tiny camera screen


----------



## Akuinnen24

Wow, that looks amazing! I love the deep blues you used for the background and the incredible amount of detail with drawing every hair.


----------



## Marlea Warlea

u are them ost amazing artist eva!!


----------



## Kayty

haha thankyou for the compliment MW!

Another commission, finished tonight


----------



## Kayty

Annnnd another... on a roll at the moment! This is what being currently unemployed does, lots of time for drawing!!


----------



## midwestgirl89

i love the last one...a lot. 
love love love it :lol:


----------



## Kayty

Thank you


----------



## Kayty

Well, I did promise at the start of this thread that I'd post everything, the good the bad and the downright ugly. So here goes. I must admit, once again, I just could not for the life of me get a photo of it that looked close to what it does in real life. However, I'm still far from happy with it anyway. The reference photo wasn't brilliant, taken from a mobile phone, but I'm pretty disapointed in myself for having it look so flat


----------



## tinyliny

Kayty,

My experience is that doing a portrait of a horse from a straigt on front view is very hard to do, and doens't really show the horse to its best advantage either.

The horse's left eye is not a good match to his right. I have had almost exactly the same problem in several pictures I did in this view.

Thanks for showing us the not so good, too.


----------



## Kayty

The eyes are really out of whack in the photo, which is where I've gotten very stuck with them. His eyes in the photo look like his head is slightly tilted, with the left eye being slightly smaller and angular than the right. It has certainly driven me crazy!!
At least this was only a freebie, just a promotional 'prize' in return for a months free advertising in a magazine. 
Oh well, the next one I'm hoping will be a good one. The reference photo is lovely and taken by a photographer. Fingers crossed I can get my 'mojo' back and make it good!


----------



## tinyliny

I haven't picked up a paintbrush in almost two weeks and worry that I will have forgotten how. 
Sometimes horses really ARE crooked in the face. We certainly are!


----------



## Tamzart

Your portraits are beautiful, Kayty. And you seem to be having more success with the Mi-Tientes paper than I have enjoyed. If the honeycomb texture ever gives you problems, I wonder if you might want to try some drafting/tracing vellum? I don't know what's available in Australia, but the type I have, (which, unfortunately is not acid-free), responds very well to pastel/pastel pencils. I understand at least some of the vellum made today is basically plasticized cotton, hence very much archival. (If you would like to see an example of the results I have gotten with this type of paper, I will post them in another thread.)


----------



## glitterhorse

kayty said:


> finished


love it!!! So so so much


----------



## Marlea Warlea

Kayty said:


> Well, I did promise at the start of this thread that I'd post everything, the good the bad and the downright ugly. So here goes. I must admit, once again, I just could not for the life of me get a photo of it that looked close to what it does in real life. However, I'm still far from happy with it anyway. The reference photo wasn't brilliant, taken from a mobile phone, but I'm pretty disapointed in myself for having it look so flat


 im amazed yyou can say thats bad!! i would kill to be as good a drawer as that


----------



## Kayty

Tamzart said:


> Your portraits are beautiful, Kayty. And you seem to be having more success with the Mi-Tientes paper than I have enjoyed. If the honeycomb texture ever gives you problems, I wonder if you might want to try some drafting/tracing vellum? I don't know what's available in Australia, but the type I have, (which, unfortunately is not acid-free), responds very well to pastel/pastel pencils. I understand at least some of the vellum made today is basically plasticized cotton, hence very much archival. (If you would like to see an example of the results I have gotten with this type of paper, I will post them in another thread.)


Thankyou for the suggestions Tamzart. I don't mind the Mi-Tientes, but often 'chop and change' between the roughly textured side and the smoother side. The last one was on a rough side, and I really struggled with it. So my current portrait I am working on the smoother side and so far I'm very happy with it. 
I've also got a few sheets of velour waiting to be used, but I don't want to attempt them with a commission in case it all goes bad! 

We don't have the greatest range of paper produce available here, really it's just pastel matt and mi-tientes that are the most widely used. My online supplier had to source the velour overseas for me. I have looked into buying from overseas, but so far all I have found is far too expensive to ship.


----------



## Kayty

I was very stoked to have been asked to draw this horse. He is a locally bred warmblood gelding, who is currently competing at medium/advanced level dressage with both a Grand Prix rider, and a young Para-Olympic rider. He has been long listed as a possible horse to attend the London Olympics in 2012 in the Australian Para-Olympic team in the dressage there. His young rider is a very hard working, and talented girl who has gone through a lot in her life with her illness on top of that, and has still managed to be not only one of our states top para riders, but one of the top riders in general. A very talented girl, and I am very proud to call her friend.


----------



## Kayty

Current project. 3 dogs in graphite


----------



## fuadteagan

How much do these costs? Maybe, I could convince my mom to let me get one?


----------



## Kayty

I am offering 20% off all portrait at the moment, it is advertised until 30th April but I may extend that to mid March if enough interest. 
My website is Home - Horse & Hound Artistry. It gives all prices in Australian Dollars. If you are interested in one, let me know via PM or email, and I'll take the 20% off and convert to USD. I have sent enough of my work overseas to have learnt how to cut postage costs considerably. For an average A4 sized pastel portrait, you're looking at AU$15 give or take a little. Less for graphite work.


----------



## 101horse101

Aw! I love the first one!


----------



## Kayty

Finished


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

I absoloutly LOVE it!!! my favourite is the dog on the right


----------



## tinyliny

Love your graphite work!!!!!!


----------



## PintoTess

I need to see more!! lol


----------



## Kayty

Thank you 
PintoTess - I'm almost done with another pastel, should be up in about a week


----------



## lilruffian

I love your dogs & all the detail you put into them!


----------



## Kayty

Caitlinpalomino said:


> I absoloutly LOVE it!!! my favourite is the dog on the right


Sorry didn't see this - the dog on the right is our current dog, 'Cobber'. The other 2 are our old dogs, and I did not have a good reference photo for either of them unfortunately. The husky we had when I was only about 2 years old, so all the photo's we had were overexposed film photos rather than digital which made life a bit hard! The border collie on the left was also very difficult, we have lots of photos of him, but none really suitable for a drawing from, so I had to chop and change between bits of 6 different photos. It was a job and a half thats for sure!


----------



## PintoTess

Ok cool  can't wait to see it!


----------



## Kayty

WIP


----------



## Phantomstallion

These are amazing....

You and lilruffian are officialy the reason I started drawing. I want to be half as good one day....

I dream on...


----------



## Kayty

Thank you phantom, I've gone red now! 

My 3 dogs graphite got framed this week


----------



## Phantomstallion

Kayty said:


> Thank you phantom, I've gone red now!
> 
> My 3 dogs graphite got framed this week


No point running away from the truth. Is there?


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

Looks even better framed


----------



## Kayty

Latest commission finished


----------



## Phantomstallion

Great!


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

Kayty said:


> Sorry didn't see this - the dog on the right is our current dog, 'Cobber'. The other 2 are our old dogs, and I did not have a good reference photo for either of them unfortunately. The husky we had when I was only about 2 years old, so all the photo's we had were overexposed film photos rather than digital which made life a bit hard! The border collie on the left was also very difficult, we have lots of photos of him, but none really suitable for a drawing from, so I had to chop and change between bits of 6 different photos. It was a job and a half thats for sure!


 
Well i am amazed at how you can get that drawing down from some bad photos!! I would also like to thankyou for sharing all your artwork with us but my mum wouldnt because I always spend to much time on here looking at them haha LOL:lol:


----------



## tinyliny

kayty, Love your work. If you are allowed to post the reference photo, please do.


----------



## Kayty

I'll post it shortly tiny - just have to wait for the client to get it as it's for a present and just in case anyone recognises him I don't want the ref up just yet 

Currently working on something VERY out of my comfort zone - a man doing a wheelie on his motorbike. So far going quite well, doing it in pastel. I'll post a WIP soon


----------



## tinyliny

OH Goodie! I especially love your pastel work. Motorcycles . . . hm m m. I would find that overwhelming. all that chrome!


----------



## Kayty

Lots of chrome and SO many little details everywhere, I'm going crazy just doing the outline for it :/


----------



## Phantomstallion

Good Luck!:lol: This might be the pastel of yours I see!


----------



## fuadteagan

I am saving up for one of your great graphite works I think. I am not even close but I am hoping to order it in the summer. I am not really working right now so I am not really getting any money


----------



## Kayty

No worries fuadteagan, no rush. I also take payment by instalments if required, that way I can start a drawing and just hang onto it until it's paid off. If you're interested in doing that, just shoot me a PM


----------



## Kayty

Reference for the bike I'm drawing at the moment


----------



## chanda95

Kayty said:


> Reference for the bike I'm drawing at the moment


You are brave to attempt that! I know it will turn out as beautiful as the rest of your work though! Can't wait to see it done.


----------



## Kayty

All finished - thank god!!!


----------



## Phantomstallion

Well Good! That is better than my bro-even tho he is not that good.:twisted::twisted:

LOL


----------



## Kayty

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd another one!! I'm rolling these off like a production line at the moment! This is only part one of two, it's a double head study so there'll be another sheperd to the right of him shortly.


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

Wow they are amazing!!! I dont know how you managed to do that bike but that looks AWESOME


----------



## Phantomstallion

Love the shepherd.


----------



## Kayty

Finished


----------



## fuadteagan

good job with the bikes. That is really blurry. And, I like the dogs


----------



## Kayty

Next one in line, a car!! Starting to get a few more of these since I did the bike so I'm certainly keen to do a good job as it will broaden my commission targets. This one doesn't look as complicated as the bike, but since I'm still very unfamiliar with all things mechanical it'll be slow going until I can get into the swing of things. 

Then I've got a couple more dogs to have done for a birthday in July. Once they're finished I'm hoping to start working on some of my own horses for a while and develop more work for my portfolio. I am really keen to start playing with some velour paper, I only brought one sheet as it's quiet pricey so I'll just have a fiddle and see what kind of work I can do on it. Will post updates for anyone here who is interested in working with pastels and might be keen to have a play on velour too. 

Another few projects on the drawing board for me, I've got the Royal Adelaide Show coming up in August so I'll need to start working on my entries for that, and I would also like to try my hand at doing some work on scapperboard for something very different! Phew, busy!!


----------



## Kayty

I've put the car on hold for the moment as the next two dogs have to be finished by early July.

I decided to have a play and do them on velour. Was quite hesitant initially as I've heard velour is an extremely difficult surface to work with. But getting into it, I absolutely love it! It does soak up the pastel quite a lot so many many layers are required to get the depth of colour required, but once you've got it, the drawing looks so soft. I'll be ordering more velour now and cutting right back on my Mi-Teintes. 

So here's the work in progress of the first dog on velour


----------



## lilruffian

Ooo Loving it!


----------



## tinyliny

Kayty,

How do find the time?????


----------



## Kayty

Tiny - I just try to do a bit every day, whenever I get a spare minute I add a bit more. I'm struggling to find permanent work at the moment so just working here there and everywhere, so trying to get through as many commissions as I can before I go back to full time.


----------



## Equusketch

I am still amazed at how you find the perfect undertones to create such realistic effects, somthing I still struggle with when I am working with colored drawings or paintings. This dog looks just lovely so far. Bravo!


----------



## Kayty

Haha don't be amazed Liz, it's just a matter of throwing a bunch of colours down and fiddling until the right tones come up!


----------



## TralissaAndalusians

That is amazing Kayty!


----------



## Kayty

First dog finished, now to start the second


----------



## tinyliny

Shazammmmm! That came out nicely. How long?


----------



## Kayty

Haha thanks Tiny! 
This one was fairly quick actually, I didn't count exact hours this time but I've spent an average of 2 hours a day on it, so probably around 10-15 hours. 
I am madly in love with the velour surface though. It is absolutely fantastic!!! It soaks the pastel up like a sponge, but once you block in all your colours with the pastel sticks, it's so quick to just run a few pencils over it to put the detail in. Plus it gives such a lovely soft look compared to the Mi-Teintes. I'll definitely be putting in a big order for it now and start cutting back on the other paper.


----------



## Fiinx

I am in awe personally! The dog is amazing!!!!! Awesome job!


----------



## Kayty

Making a start on the second dog now...




















I'm starting a new job as of next Monday and will be working 6 days a week, making it about a 45 hour/week job. So drawing progress will be slowing a little I would say. Though my interstate coach has just asked if I'd draw 2 of his stallions, so it'll be nice to try and get some work through him. 

Still absolutely loving working on velour, it holds the pastel so nicely, they just flow over the surface so beautifully, and once I've laid down the blocks of colour in pastel sticks, it doesn't take too long at all to go over with a few layers of pencil to create the fur details. The most time consuming areas have certainly been the eyes and mouth!


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

beautiful just beautiful kayty!! I love it


----------



## Kayty

Finished


----------



## atreyu917

Looks fantastic. Great job


----------



## Kayty

Dogs framed









And a better photo of them: 










A new commission finished, not so happy with this one but I'm not comfortable with machinery portraits yet so will just have to keep practicing. Looking forward to getting back to furry things again!


----------



## Kayty

And with burnout smoke..


----------



## Kayty

And.. a quick one of my beautiful gelding, Hugo. Whipped this one off in front of the television with a white wine in hand - good excuse for the man of the house to cook dinner when I tell him it still counts as work - its 'profession development' even though it's my own horse haha!


----------



## DustyDiamond

I love your work is absolutely beautiful!!


----------



## atreyu917

Love the one of your Hugo. I can just tell he's a gorgeous horse from the way you captured him.


----------



## tinyliny

As usual, a nice, honest and appealing portrait. Love it!


----------



## Kayty

Thank you atreyu917. Hugo is a very special horse to me but unfortunately I never got to compete him due to a bone spur in his hock which has left him retired at 8 years old.

Thanks tiny  I'm just loving working on velour, it lets me work so quickly and I can actually 'play' on it which I could never do with Mi-Teintes.


----------



## atreyu917

What a shame  Do you have a link to a thread where you've posted pictures of him?


----------



## Kayty

I'll post some pictures of him in this thread when I get home from work tonight, the old ones would have been over 12 months ago


----------



## Kayty




----------



## Kayty

And another one...


----------



## HowClever

Kayty said:


> And another one...


So lovely, and thank you again. 

Anyone considering commissioning a portrait from Kayty, I highly recommend it. This is the second she has done for me and both have been just beautiful! :thumbsup:


----------



## Kayty

Thank you HC, was a pleasure doing another portrait for you, particularly when they mean so much. I hope your partner is pleased with Trojan's portrait


----------



## Skyseternalangel

I really am thinking about it.. just need to find a good picture!!


----------



## DustyDiamond

Kayty your artistic skills are amazing!

You must always have people asking to buy pictures you paint for them.


----------



## Kayty

Dusty - I don't draw unless they're paid for  
Occasionally I'll do a freebie for a bit of promotion or to update my portfolio, but otherwise all my work is commissioned, where people pay me a deposit to cover my expenses, then pay the remainder once the drawing is completed. 
Working in pastels and especially now that I'm working on velour, it's a very expensive outlay so I would be hugely out of pocket if I didn't charge. 

I love the work though, even though it does take a lot of time and I'm already working 6 days a week on full time hours with my other job, then coming home to do more work with the commissions. But very satisfying when they turn out how I want them to.


----------



## Kayty

Roooooaaaaaar! Have never done a lion, and have done so many horses/dogs that I needed a bit of variation


----------



## atreyu917

That....looks like a freaking picture! GREAT job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Kayty

FOR SALE AU$150

AU$30 from the sale of this portrait will be donated to WSPA


----------



## Kayty

A work in progress - I have been lucky enough for one of my favourite equine photographers to give me permission to reproduce her photography in my artwork, so will have a lot of pieces for sale as I go along as well as the usual commissions

Apologies for the very washed out colour, it is midnight here so was taken in very bad lighting on my bed!


----------



## Kayty

Almost finished adding fur detail, just need to tweak some colours.
Will be adding the bridle shortly and adjusting the background, then all finished


----------



## Kayty

Complete! This one is only approximately 10x10" and is for sale for AU$55 + postage.
Reference photograph by Dutch Horse Photography


----------



## tinyliny

Utterly charming! Love the lion, too. Dumb question, but when you say it's 10 by 10 inches, you mean the image itself or the paper it's done on? It looks much bigger.


----------



## Kayty

The image itself is around 10" - though thats not an exact measurement, I haven't measured it up as it was just done on a piece of left over velour!


----------



## ChristophersCanter

you have amazing talent. i'm so jealous!! you must really enjoy this


----------



## Kayty

Thank you CC - yes I absolutely adore art, I would love to make it a full time career but at the moment I'm still just building up the business and using it as a supplementary income to my already 6 days of full time work per week! I'm currently working on a few 'different' projects, trying to break into the market of selling works that can go into a modern home. So lots of pieces on black velour in sepia tones will be coming up shortly


----------



## Kayty

Playing with my new gold pastels. Unfortunately the colour hasn't come out in the photograph, granted it is late at night taken under a dull yellow light.


----------



## Kayty

"Fuzzy" This lovely gelding belongs to a good friend of mine, he is a lovely old soul that is getting on in years but certainly has 'still got it'.


----------



## Kayty

kayty said:


> playing with my new gold pastels. Unfortunately the colour hasn't come out in the photograph, granted it is late at night taken under a dull yellow light.



sold


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Kayty said:


> Playing with my new gold pastels. Unfortunately the colour hasn't come out in the photograph, granted it is late at night taken under a dull yellow light.


I love how you portrayed the braids!!


----------



## sana

OMG! Your photos are sooo amazingly drawn!! Especially the first..the doggy. It seemed so impossible!! It looked like a photograph!! The last ones are also so amazing!!


----------



## Kayty

Haha thank you sana, yes that first one was a doozy, trying to get a large A3 sized portrait done from a small photo from a mobile phone!


----------



## Kayty

Commission from a VERY dodgy photo!!!


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

I love aall of the dark ones! They look really effective


----------



## Kayty

Haven't been in here for a while, things have been VERY hectic!! But here's another commission, 16x20" in graphite


----------



## midwestgirl89

I LOVE it!


----------



## CindyB

The fur looks so soft, it's amazing!!


----------



## Equusketch

WOW Kayty!!!!! I know you are the queen of pastels, but this cat drawing has got to be my favorite of all your drawings!!! The fur looks so realistic. I feel like I could reach through the computer screen and stroke the kitty's silky soft fur. The expression on it's face is so endearing and reminds me a lot of my parents' cat Chow. Bravo!!!!!


----------



## tinyliny

Great composition! Great fur, great feel to it. I like it almost the best of your many works. but you know me and B/W!


----------



## Kayty

Thank you everyone, I do enjoy working in graphite, but because of how time consuming it is I try to steer away a little. Two more double head studies in pastel to pump out for christmas now... feeling the strain!!!


----------



## PumpkinzMyBaby22

Great work with the cat. The texture of the fur and the expression in the eyes really show through.


----------



## Kayty

A very quick one of my partner playing soccer. I have never attempted people so thought I'd have a little play as I was getting pretty strained from doing all of these animal commissions. - have ALMOST finished my last one, just in time for xmas!!


----------



## Kayty

Commission for a forum member


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

Aww I love this one! ^^
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## tinyliny

I find the use of blue in the mane to be most attractive. I can see you even used some of the background color in the horse's face. Good going! The muzzle is just exquisite!


----------



## CindyB

I love the last one, very well done!


----------



## Kayty

Gift for a friend's 30th. Really struggling to take an accurate photo of this one!


----------



## lilruffian

Loving it all! Envy you your ability with that cat sketch!


----------



## Kayty

Self portrait?


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Beautiful work, Kayty!


----------



## Kayty

And another - enjoying being on holidays!!


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

I am amazed Kayty at how much range you can do! I've seen horses,dogs,cats,fish,motorbike,a car plus a few others and now a tiger! 

I love it 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Kayty

Last drawing before I have to go back to work tomorrow  I certainly enjoyed my week off!
This one is a commission, not terribly happy with it but the client is so I'll live with it.


----------



## paint_girl08

I love love love your work! Can you pm me with your pricing to USA?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Apple

Beautiful work! I envy you.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

You don't like it?! It's amazing Kayty!!! Very handsome horse and very realistic!


----------



## tinyliny

The tiger is magnificent! I love the detail and the color. I would NOT have the patience.

The horse head is lovely too. The only thing I can say in the way of critisism is that the eye looks a little small in relation to the size of head . It may be that way in actuality, as some horses have smaller eyes than average.


----------



## Kayty

Yep Tiny, I should post the ref photo - he has little eyes on quite a big head  I though they looked small too, but I've tripple checked my meaurements and they're dead on with the photo, so I guess I'll have to live with it


----------



## tinyliny

Zulu, the Irish Draft I ride at times, has small, sunken in eyes. He's so ugly he's adorable. I mean his head isn't elegant. Though I am told he looks a lot like War horse Joey.


----------



## Kayty

Wow he does have little eyes doesn't he!
I think he looks like a real sweetie, they don't have to be elegant and refined to be beautiful


----------



## tinyliny

well, they are half closed there, but he does have small eyes, beady and sunk in. He reminds me of a stuffed animal with those dark plastice eyes sewn in. He has an absolutley dreamboat personality for someone like me. There's a lot of common sense, some get up and go and lots of tolerance for error.


----------



## Kayty

Well so much for having a quiet couple of months. 6 commissions lined up already for this year and it's only Jan 7th!!!

Next on the production line -


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

I love it , its so bright and colourful!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Lovely!

I think I'm going to open up another bank account JUST for commissions from talented forum members like yourself! Seriously, so much talent, it's so awesome!!


----------



## barrelracer11

I absolutely love your work! I might have to contact you about getting one done. The first dog picture was absolutely amazing. I love that you take the time to put so muh details into your work. Great job!!!


----------



## Kayty

barrelracer11 said:


> I absolutely love your work! I might have to contact you about getting one done. The first dog picture was absolutely amazing. I love that you take the time to put so muh details into your work. Great job!!!


Thank you


----------



## tinyliny

you must be very happy with that one. It's just exquisite. i love the undertones of pink.


----------



## Dressage10135

Kayty said:


> Last drawing before I have to go back to work tomorrow  I certainly enjoyed my week off!
> This one is a commission, not terribly happy with it but the client is so I'll live with it.


Wow, this one looks VERY similar to my boy I just sold!


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Kayty said:


> Last drawing before I have to go back to work tomorrow  I certainly enjoyed my week off!
> This one is a commission, not terribly happy with it but the client is so I'll live with it.



I've been peaking on this thread and I must say Kayty, I adore your work. I really really love this horse. Why wasn't you 100% happy with this one? I can't see a thing wrong with it. The colours are fantastic. You really have made me want to go and get some pastels NOW! Please keep posting. I'd love to see more.


----------



## tinyliny

your horses always look so soft. I just want to pet them!


----------



## tinyliny

Kayty, you should do this one of Lacey, for Wallaby.


----------



## Kayty

Thanks very much guys for the vote of confidence in my work 
I guess I am always going to be my own worst enemy in my art in how I am never totally satisfied with what I produce. The drawing above I feel is too cartoon like for what I want, the eyes don't have enough depth to them etc. Though in fairness, the reference wasn't great and was in shadow on a mobile phone so very little detail was visable as it was. 

Tiny, what a beautiful photo 
If I get a break from the commissions I'll give it a go, at the moment I am already bogged down up to my neck in commissions for this month though!


----------



## PhelanVelvel

I've read through every page of this thread so far. :O Very lovely art! I think I have too many favourites to even name. The portrait of the three dogs, the horse in the harness, the lion, the first foal in the thread, there are so many brilliant drawings! That's bravery, drawing that car. It came out great! I would have been like "Nope, sorry, I only draw organics." XD If you're this good now, just think of how good you'll be in a few years' time! And I thought you did a great job with the guinea pigs, especially the one on the left. They're such pudgy, blob-ish creatures, as cute as they are. :K


----------



## Kayty

Latest commission - this one has a long journey through the postal service to New York!


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Very nice Kayty!


----------



## ILOVEHORSE

You r so good


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Kayty said:


> Latest commission - this one has a long journey through the postal service to New York!


Fantastic colouring! Kayty - can I ask you how you send them in the post? I mean - do you send them flat or rolled and how do you package them to protect them from the colour smudging etc? I hope you know what I mean.. also how much do you charge for a picture like this and how big is it? Sorry for the mountain of questions!


----------



## tinyliny

That cat is just about the nicest piece I've seen from you (IMO). It is so, so soft and feels exactly the way a cat stands . OMG it's just "CAT" to the core.


----------



## Kayty

Thanks Tiny, I am really proud of this one. Its for a girl's mum in New York, the cat passed away a few weeks ago at 15 years old. I did their dog a couple of years ago in charcoal as well 

Confuscious - It has been very much a case of trial and error with postage. Mi-Tientes is a much easier surface to post, as it holds the pastel firmly. Now that I am working on velour, which does not hold the pastel too firmly so you need to be extremely gentle with it. The sooner if goes into a frame, the better. 
It is a balance between packaging so firmly that it costs a fortune to post (I was paying over AU$60 just in postage over seas!), or too little packaging so its cheap, but bends.

I have started using core flute plastic to package, and kicking myself that I didn't try it earlier. I send everything flat, you can't roll velour, or if you can, I haven't found a fool proof method of doing so as yet. 

My packing process is as follows:
1. Cut 2 pieces of core flute to 1 inch larger than portrait on all sides, making sure the 'flutes' are cross hatched against each other. (this way it is VERY hard to bend!)

2. Secure portrait to backing piece of core flute, using a thin strip of masking tape on each edge.

3. Stretch a sheet of grease proof (baking) paper, tightly over portrait. You need to secure this very firmly so it does not rub against the pastel. 

4. Add business card and promotional materials in this layer

5. Secure a layer (or 2) of bubble wrap over the portrait. 

6. Secure second sheet of core flute over the top of everything, and use masking tape to very firmly secure everything together. 

So far *touch wood* I have not had any damage in transit to my portraits, and they are about as delicate as you can get being on velour!



This particular portrait is 12x16", and I charge AU$170 (I think the Australian Dollar is buying approx. 1.3 US dollars at the moment). 
For this size and just a head study, I charge AU$130. 
These are pretty **** cheap for art here in Australia, but at the moment my main goal is to build up a solid clientel, and gradually increase my prices to where I want them.


----------



## sana

The cat is...amazing...so stunning and awe inspiring..I have to look up words in the dictionary to describe it and even they are not enough... amazing arts! totally mind blowing!


----------



## Kayty

Thank you very much for the kind words sana, it is much appreciated


----------



## Snizard93

Subbing! Your art is beautiful, makes mine look like a piece of poop!


----------



## tinyliny

But Snizard, there are some modern artists that manipulate poop and make a fortune at it.


----------



## Kayty

Thanks Snizard93, your comments do mean a lot. It's always nice to get good reviews on your work 
And my work doesn't make ANYONE'S work look like a 'piece of poop'. Everyone has a different style and technique, and often it takes years to develop that. I've been doing commissions now for about 7 years, and I am still honing in on my skills, hopefully I will be a lot better in another 7 years


----------



## Snizard93

tinyliny said:


> But Snizard, there are some modern artists that manipulate poop and make a fortune at it.


Hmmm this is true :shock:



Kayty said:


> Thanks Snizard93, your comments do mean a lot. It's always nice to get good reviews on your work
> And my work doesn't make ANYONE'S work look like a 'piece of poop'. Everyone has a different style and technique, and often it takes years to develop that. I've been doing commissions now for about 7 years, and I am still honing in on my skills, hopefully I will be a lot better in another 7 years


I've only just got back into drawing, so I guess I can't really compare. I can only hope that my work turns out to be so much as 1% of the quality of yours!


----------



## Kayty

Well judging by the quality of that eye you whipped up for me in your thread a few days ago - I really don't think you're going to struggle with quality once you get back into regularly drawing!!!


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Well judging by the quality of that eye you whipped up for me in your thread a few days ago - I really don't think you're going to struggle with quality once you get back into regularly drawing!!!


Thank you, I appreciate that!  That's enough about my drawings anyway, this is your thread! And your art! Which is, undoubtedly, amazing!


----------



## Kayty

Haha well, art is art - I am happy to discuss it, whether its my own or someone elses  

Currently working on a gift for my dear friend. Her father recently passed away after a short battle with cancer, and her birthday is coming up, so I am doing a portrait of her and her horse - I have never done a person in pastels so am very nervous, but thankfully she is wearing sunglasses in the photo and it is a profile of her face rather than front on, so I have a liiiiiittle bit of leeway there. Wish me luck!


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Haha well, art is art - I am happy to discuss it, whether its my own or someone elses
> 
> Currently working on a gift for my dear friend. Her father recently passed away after a short battle with cancer, and her birthday is coming up, so I am doing a portrait of her and her horse - I have never done a person in pastels so am very nervous, but thankfully she is wearing sunglasses in the photo and it is a profile of her face rather than front on, so I have a liiiiiittle bit of leeway there. Wish me luck!


I will wish you luck, even though you most certainly don't need it! That's very thoughtful of you, how kind  I am sure she will love that. I can't wait to see it!


----------



## Kayty

Finished









Don't know how many I'll be doing for a little while. My gelding is getting put to sleep this week and I'm a wreck.


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Finished
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know how many I'll be doing for a little while. My gelding is getting put to sleep this week and I'm a wreck.


That is amazing! 

I'm really sorry to hear that Kayty, I'll be thinking of you this week x


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Gorgeous picture Kayty. So sorry to hear the sad news. :-(


----------



## Skyseternalangel

Beautiful work, but sending hugs your way


----------



## Kayty

Thank you all for the kind words. Eventually, when the wound is not so raw, I will try to draw Hugo, but for now I think I'll just be taking it easy for while.


----------



## midwestgirl89

My sympathies about Hugo. I've had to go through losing horses and it's tough. I think drawing him when you feel up to it would be an excellent way to commemorate the bond you two had.


----------



## loveduffy

sorry for your lost


----------



## Skyseternalangel

?!?!? He's.... ???? I thought he was only on stall rest


----------



## Kayty

He was Skyes, but I have had in the back of my mind for many, many months now a niggling thought that maybe it would be best to put him to sleep. He had 32 starts on the track, his legs are very much worn out. Then he did his suspensory, and I thought that maybe with adequate treatment I could get him at least paddock sound. But last night when I went to feed him, I washed his poultice off and found that he had somehow managed to bow his tendon, it was extremely hot, swollen and he was struggling to walk on it, and on palpitation he was very reactive.
So after consulting my vet, we have decided that the kindest thing for everyone, is to have him put to sleep as he is going to have recurring problems with his legs. It would not be fair to keep him on such a limited quality of life, as much as I would like my selfish human emotion of keeping him alive just because it hurts too much to let go of him to prevail, I can't put him through that.


----------



## Skyseternalangel

I'm so sorry Kayty.. that's a devastating thing to go through  I'm glad you have his best interest at heart though.


----------



## HowClever

Oh, wow. What devastating news Kayty. He's a beautiful boy. I am sure he will always be grateful to you for the effort you have put in to trying to make his life pain free. And having the courage to make the decision you are making. I am so sorry.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Equusketch

Oh Kayty, I am so sorry about Hugo. I know you've been struggling for a while trying to keep him sound. Sending lots of cyber hugs your way!


----------



## Can He Star

Kayty said:


> He was Skyes, but I have had in the back of my mind for many, many months now a niggling thought that maybe it would be best to put him to sleep. He had 32 starts on the track, his legs are very much worn out. Then he did his suspensory, and I thought that maybe with adequate treatment I could get him at least paddock sound. But last night when I went to feed him, I washed his poultice off and found that he had somehow managed to bow his tendon, it was extremely hot, swollen and he was struggling to walk on it, and on palpitation he was very reactive.
> So after consulting my vet, we have decided that the kindest thing for everyone, is to have him put to sleep as he is going to have recurring problems with his legs. It would not be fair to keep him on such a limited quality of life, as much as I would like my selfish human emotion of keeping him alive just because it hurts too much to let go of him to prevail, I can't put him through that.


maybe paint a portrait of him??


----------



## Kayty

Eventually I will, but at the moment it's all too raw. 
I had a photographer out tonight to get some photo's of him and Billy for me. Darling girl did it free of charge after hearing from someone how much work I've put into trying to fix him. 
I have also cut a piece of his tail hair and will be sending it off to have made into a sterling silver 'love heart' necklace pendant.


----------



## Equusketch

Kayty said:


> Eventually I will, but at the moment it's all too raw.
> I had a photographer out tonight to get some photo's of him and Billy for me. Darling girl did it free of charge after hearing from someone how much work I've put into trying to fix him.
> I have also cut a piece of his tail hair and will be sending it off to have made into a sterling silver 'love heart' necklace pendant.


I totally understand Kayty. I have yet to do a decent portrait of my old guy Tailor who passed away in 2006. I'd love to have him profssionally done by someone else, but I never really got any portrait worthy pictures of him. Even after all this time I can't bring myself to do a formal portrait of him. It's different when it's your own horse.


----------



## Kayty

It really is Liz, even drawing other people's pets when they have passed away, I get a bit emotional about it, when you draw them you really get to know them, getting their eyes right is the hardest part. I don't think I could focus so intently on Hugo for a long time yet. 
I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest, saying good bye to him this morning before going into work, he stood so quietly for me while I wept into his beautiful silver mane. He was probably annoyed that I got eyeliner all over his white coat!


----------



## PumpkinzMyBaby22

Very nice work!

I'm so sorry to hear about Hugo. I hope things get easier for you quickly. You gave him a great life while he was with you, and I am sure he appreciates every bit of it.


----------



## Kayty

2 more commissions confirmed and deposits paid today, and one enquiry. 
Sheesh, no rest for the wicked! At least between work, and doing these commissions, I'll be kept busy for a little while and none of them are horses, so even better


----------



## Snizard93

What do you do at uni? (if you don't mind me asking)


----------



## Kayty

At the moment I am working at the uni in the international student office, doing their admissions into the university.
I started a bachelor of environmental management, but am going to transfer to a Bachelor of Law and study that part time externally so that I can keep working and living!


----------



## Kayty

Geez talk about artists block. I am getting a backlog of commissions, and really haven't felt like picking up my pastels in a few weeks. I have half finished a client's dog, am really not happy with it, I'm finding the colours really hard to match, the fur is not working.... I just want to tear it up and ditch it!

Then I decided to finally go to the dr the other day and get my wrist looked at, it's been bothering me for a few months now, just getting very achey... it woke me up the other night and I was in so much pain that I finally gave in and took pain killers. Turns out I've got tendonitis in my wrist/lower arm, probably from a combination of so much time spent drawing, and the fact that my 'day job' is spent sitting as a desk on a computer, with my wrist doing repetitive movements. 
Not happy!!!!


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Oh Kayty! That sucks!!! :-( Make sure you get some wrist rest! If you have to delay your commissions for your health, then you must, even for a short while. Customers will understand. If you push it, it could do more harm. Get well soon!

You know the other day I had an achy back and some niggling thought told me it was the drawing. Ive only just got back into it aswell!

Look after yourself! xxx


----------



## mlouati1389

can you incorporate several different animals into one photo? i have a few really important animals in my life.. and id like them all to be together in a portrait. my first question is, can you draw snakes?.. id like my horse to be in the center, with my pitbull and my chihuahua on either side of her sitting next to eachother. and my cat, whom passed away 5 years ago.. on the other side of my horse. and my snake below my animals. sortve like they are standing on grass and my snake is relaxing in it. i understand if that is something you cant do. but i figured it was my only chance at getting them together at the same time. i know it probably sounds complicated. im sorry. i just had to ask. i have a lot of good pictures of them all for reference. except my cat.. i only have 2 photos of her as i lost them all many years ago.. but i am hoping they are good enough to draw.


----------



## mlouati1389

i am in no hurry.. i know you said your wrist hurts. i just wanted to find someone willing to do it.. i cant wait for however long is needed..


----------



## Kayty

mlouati1389,

I will send you a private message about your request, I would certainly be willing to give it a go, though as I said, I am quite busy with a line up of commissions so you would be looking at a couple of months wait on the portrait.


----------



## mlouati1389

ok great. that is perfect. i am in no hurry. i just really want this portrait. so i am willing to wait however long it will take.. i know it is unrealistic that they would all be together in one picture.. lol but i guess i want my own "perfect harmony" kinda thing..


----------



## Kayty

Another one complete. I struggled with this portrait, it had a lot of things going against it. I received 2 reference photographs, the dog has passed away and both photo's were very difficult to work from. The dog's eyes in both were 'flash' eyes, so I had to guess my way around that. The colours were very different in both photographs. My favourite horse was put to sleep just as I was starting this portrait, and then my tendonitis in my drawing arm flared up, which slowed my progress. 
But here it is!


----------



## ElaineLighten

Amazing, I genuinely thought it was a reference picture, I scrolled down to look for your art! :lol:


----------



## midwestgirl89

That's beautiful kayty.


----------



## Snizard93

That's amazing 

Just a quick question, all the Derwent pastel sets I look at, don't seem to have any kind of browns or anything like that. Do you just buy them separately?


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

That is adorable!


----------



## Kayty

Thanks for the lovely comments, I am very happy with how his eyes turned out considering all I had to go by was a couple of umber blobs with green blotches in the centre!

Snizard, I buy the 72 set of pencils, which has a couple of shades of umber, a brown and some ocre colours. 
I don't tend to use much brown as such in my work, it is more reds and blues and I'll just add the umber or relevant colour over the top. The eyes are probably the only 'brown' areas, they were done in terracotta, burnt umber and yellow ocre, with some black and white for the pupil, edges of the eyes and the flash spot.


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Wow Kayty. Absolutely amazing! It looks so real. His fur is just super stroke-able! I love it. I bet that lady was one happy customer.


----------



## tinyliny

Utterly gorgeous! It's one of your best.


----------



## Kayty

Sarah - She was thrilled 
Her email to me - 
"Oh my God – that is brilliant! You have captured him so well – you are a wonderful artist!!"
It is so satisfying to get such a lovely response to my work, particularly when its a piece that I really struggled with. She has already asked me to do another one for her as a gift to a friend.


----------



## sana

When I first glanced at the last portrait you've painted, I thought it was a photograph! Not a painting! Seriously! Amazing, really amazing!


----------



## Kayty

Thank you *going red*


----------



## shandasue

oh my goodness you are amazing!!! i went through all 51 pages, half last night an the rest just now. this will be the only art journal thread i will ever open because i am addicted to this. my boyfriend got so mad at me because i was on my phone for 3 hours straight!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Kayty

shandasue said:


> oh my goodness you are amazing!!! i went through all 51 pages, half last night an the rest just now. this will be the only art journal thread i will ever open because i am addicted to this. my boyfriend got so mad at me because i was on my phone for 3 hours straight!!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Well I am very flattered to read this - but don't get yourself in trouble with the boyfriend over my art :lol: 
I will be putting up a work in progress thread fairly soon, as I've had a couple of requests to do so, so keep an eye out for it


----------



## Kayty

Dressage Royalty - Gribaldi


----------



## Kayty

A commission


----------



## Kayty

I felt like playing with my charcoal last night. I have never actually tried to draw a person before, so tried to keep it fairly rough and quick to get an idea of how everything pieces together. Maybe I'll keep practicing and do a few more


----------



## midwestgirl89

*jaw drops* this is your first official time drawing a person?? well here's another reason to be jealous of you! :wink:
It looks really good! If anything i'd say the left eye (his left) doesn't quite look slanted back enough...if that makes sense.
But my goodness girl, this looks great! 
Good luck on your new adventure. I've been working on people for a few years now, it's a challenge! 
Can't wait to see more!


----------



## Kayty

Yep, have never done one before :S
His left eye was really bugging me, but I didn't bother altering it seeing as I was just having a play, sitting in bed at 1am haha, didn't get the pupil and iris right either!
Much prefer my animals in pastel, but it's good to branch out a bit so I might as well play with it and see what happens from there


----------



## midwestgirl89

I think it's funny how things can bug you to no end on a drawing. But the right eye looks great. The shadow from the eyelid...the highlight in the iris. That one looks spot on. 
For playing around you did a great job!


----------



## Snizard93

Wow that looks great! I've always wanted to try people... but I am way to scared!


----------



## Kayty

Sniz, I've never tried for the same reason! I hate failing so stuck with my safety net of animals. Guess it was high time I tried something new, its certainly a very long way from good enough to make me satisfied with it, but I had some fun doing it so have already started another one. I figure if I can diversify myself as an artist, it can only be a good thing


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Sniz, I've never tried for the same reason! I hate failing so stuck with my safety net of animals. Guess it was high time I tried something new, its certainly a very long way from good enough to make me satisfied with it, but I had some fun doing it so have already started another one. I figure if I can diversify myself as an artist, it can only be a good thing


Very true! Maybe some day I will be brave... :lol:


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

How the hell did you do that in one night??? It took me almost four hours to do Adele's eye! (and I still havent finished her). People portraits make alot more $$$ so yes, I agree about going out of your comfort zone and doing the subjects you are not comfortable on. Awesome picture!! Want to see it in pastel now! :-D


----------



## Kayty

It is only small Sarah, and I just scribbled it out with charcoal, no where near as much detail as you've put into Adele!!
I'm too scared to do it in pastel  Will keep practicing in charcoal and graphite for a while and then see if I can get my confidence up enough to give it a go in pastel


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

That is no way a scribble, Miss Kayty!!!!!!! LOL


----------



## Kayty

If it takes me under 3 hours, it counts as a scribble


----------



## Kayty

And another play, just for the heck of it!


----------



## Snizard93

Is there anything you can't do? :shock:


----------



## Kayty

Paint, watercolour, ink..... they scare me to death, definitely can't do them!!!!


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Paint, watercolour, ink..... they scare me to death, definitely can't do them!!!!


I'd love to see an attempt... I bet you turn out to be amazing with those too!


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Sexy drawing!  Bet that was a nice one to 'play' with!! Hahahahaa


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Actually Kayty.. I've just gone back and had a closer look at that drawing. I hope you don't mind me using my critical eye, but there is something that irritates me about it.....



You've forgotten the bottom half.


----------



## Kayty

ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr said:


> Actually Kayty.. I've just gone back and had a closer look at that drawing. I hope you don't mind me using my critical eye, but there is something that irritates me about it.....
> 
> 
> 
> You've forgotten the bottom half.


:hide: 

(Children don't read further!)


Bottom half wasn't worth drawing.... he was wearing shorts :lol:


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Oh well, I'll let my imagination improvise.


----------



## ElaineLighten

Hey Kayty, maybe you could combine the two... but take out the water...








-swoooooon-


----------



## Kayty

Hey now there's an idea  
Hot, muscly guy on a horse.... no better combination!
Actually there is, I'd prefer to be on the horse, hot muscly guy can be strutting around shirtless carrying bags of feed for me


----------



## lilruffian

Kayty said:


> Another one complete. I struggled with this portrait, it had a lot of things going against it. I received 2 reference photographs, the dog has passed away and both photo's were very difficult to work from. The dog's eyes in both were 'flash' eyes, so I had to guess my way around that. The colours were very different in both photographs. My favourite horse was put to sleep just as I was starting this portrait, and then my tendonitis in my drawing arm flared up, which slowed my progress.
> But here it is!


 That's amazing! i LOVE your dog drawings and the detail in the fur


----------



## Kayty

Another play, this time black and white pastels on sand velour


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

FANTASTIC! Beautiful work! Do you just do random pictures and sell them?? Amazing! *eyes pop out of head*

Also, how long did this take you??


----------



## Kayty

Thanks Sarah, pretty happy with this one, was going to do it in coloured pastel, started blacking in my shadows and decided it looked pretty cool black and white on the sand colour, so kept adding detail to it 
Probably spent about 3 1/2 hours on it. 

I don't do many to sell, only if I see a photo that I like and the photographer gives me permission to use it, then I'll have a play with it and if someone likes it enough to buy it, I sell them pretty cheaply.


----------



## Snizard93

That's so lovely


----------



## ElaineLighten

Beautiful, you have such a wide spectrum of talent!


----------



## Hickory67

I just wanna say - all your work is awesome, but the dog you did at the beginning of this thread blows me away. Really fantastic work.

I've tried some colored pencil in the past but my problem is I can't discern what colors to use as base layers. I've concentrated on graphite so long I don't naturally see the colors anymore. I have a hard time painting for that reason.

Again, fantastic work. I really enjoy looking at your work. There are some really good artists on here.


----------



## Kayty

Today's 'entertainment'
Pastel on black velour


----------



## Caitlinpalomino

That is amazing!


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Oh my!!! Just stunning!


----------



## That One Chick

Love your work! Especially the tiger, and all the horses & dogs. Heck, I love all of them! 
You're so talented - I strive to be half as good as you! I couldn't use pastels if my life depended on it.. I always end up smudging it! I just stick with my pencils & watercolours. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Kayty

A new commission of a palomino arabian warmblood stallion


----------



## Snizard93

Blimey it's been a while! That's great


----------



## Kayty

It certainly has Sniz! I have been crazily busy with everything over the last couple of months, have FINALLY had a bit of time to sit down and start some commissions again, this one took me about 3 weeks as I've only had about 30mins each night to put into it. Doing my head in I tell you! 
I've got another few commissions lined up at the moment so you'll see a few more for a while


----------



## MHFoundation Quarters

Fantastic as always, Kayty!


----------



## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> It certainly has Sniz! I have been crazily busy with everything over the last couple of months, have FINALLY had a bit of time to sit down and start some commissions again, this one took me about 3 weeks as I've only had about 30mins each night to put into it. Doing my head in I tell you!
> I've got another few commissions lined up at the moment so you'll see a few more for a while


Awesome :lol:


----------



## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Nice job, Kayty. I was wondering where you had gone!! Looking forward to seeing more soon!


----------



## BarrelBunny

WOW!! *jaw drops* I love your work, Kayty!!


----------



## Kayty

Bit of faffing around on my part, but I decided that I hated the background on the pally. Don't know what came over me to do that colour *vomits* Looking at photographs of your work really shows up the flaws!
So here is the new and improved version


----------



## Snizard93

I think you made the right choice changing it, looks even better now


----------



## Kayty

Yep Sniz, I thought it was far too 'lolly' coloured for my liking!!! It must have been the crazy few weeks at work that make me go a bit mad in my colour choices


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## Kayty

Getting started on a commissioned portrait of Aussie racehorse "Black Caviar" who just won at the Royal Ascot with 22 wins for 22 starts!


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## Kayty

More detail added to her halter - she's taking me a heck of a long time to finish, it will be a big relief when completed! I have already had 3 confirmed purchases on prints of this portrait, as well as the money for the original. Maybe I need to draw more incredibly famous racehorses


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## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

As always, most awesome Kayty  How big is this one? And... are you doing anything different in this one from all the others??? This one seems to be the best so far out of the whole lot! To me, it just looks like you are doing something different... do tell  It's freaking amazing!


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## Kayty

Thank you Sarah 

This one is a pretty standard 16x12", and nope not doing anything different - I think the fact that the reference photo is a brilliant, professional image really helps. Just goes to show that if you want a good portrait of your animal, give the artist a good photo and you'll get the best results. Most of my other portraits are worked off fairly bad quality images and I have to 'cut and paste' between two or three different photos to create the portrait.


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## Kayty

I just had an enquiry for a VERY big commission come through. A clydie X stallion - the largest size that I generally offer is 50x70cm due to paper size restrictions, however this client is after something even bigger. 
So I am now madly emailing and calling every art store in Australia that may be able to get in some BIIIIIIG velour sheets for me :O Wish me luck!!!!


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## Caitlinpalomino

Omg good luck with that Kayty! Love the one of Black Caviar


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## Kayty

Thank you Caitlin


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## Caitlinpalomino

WOw! I love love love how her neck fades into the page!


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## Kayty

Finished


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## Skyseternalangel

*reaches for screen* That forelock looks sooo soft!

I think that's my favourite horse portrait yet!


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## Caitlinpalomino

OMG!!! I absoloutly adore it! This would have to be your best one yet...."claps"


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## tinyliny

That is just superb! no other word can describe it. you must feel very satisfied.


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## Kayty

Thank you very much ladies, I am very happy with this one. Some of the detail has been lost in the electronic version as it was only taken off a phone - I'll be getting a professional shot taken and have prints made of it. I've already got 4 people confirmed for prints


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## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Simply fantastic Kayty!! Definately one of your best! And way to go about the prints! Woohoo  xx


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## Evansk

Kayty said:


> Finished


 
I read through 57 pages! And this one is in my top three faves! Your artwork is amazing!  I cant wait to see more


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## Kayty

Prints arrived today!! My lovely printer gave me a free poster size print too, I'm tossing up between selling it or using it for advertising at dressage competitions. 
Very very happy with the quality of them, the only difference between the prints and the original was that a little bit of the brightness of the background was lost. Otherwise, nearly identical. I have sold a number of them through facebook, and have just had my first Ebay sale


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## Caitlinpalomino

Wow they look awesome!


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## Kayty

Well I am feeling incredibly flattered right now!
The Black Caviar official facebook page 'shared' the above photograph, and it has received over 600 'likes' in under 24 hours, will multiple beautiful comments on my artwork, and a number of orders for prints and commissions coming in steadily!!! 
Looks like I'll be a very busy lady for a while :O


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## Snizard93

Kayty said:


> Well I am feeling incredibly flattered right now!
> The Black Caviar official facebook page 'shared' the above photograph, and it has received over 600 'likes' in under 24 hours, will multiple beautiful comments on my artwork, and a number of orders for prints and commissions coming in steadily!!!
> Looks like I'll be a very busy lady for a while :O


That's a great achievement! Well done :lol:


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## tinyliny

That is fantastic ! that one is my all time favorite.
what KIND of print is it? glicee? And , about what does it cost you do them, and how big are they? Is it matte finish or does it have a sheen?
If you'd rather pm me, that's cool.

I found quality printing (not laser printing) was so expensive that I couldn't make any real profit on it.


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## Kayty

Thanks Tiny!
Yep Giclee prints, surprisingly not too pricey either. I hunted around, found some really expensive, others better priced but horrible quality. As it works out, the best option is a local printer/photographer. He did a wonderful job of them and didn't charge the earth. 
I paid AU$30.00 for him to create the print image, which he gave me copies of on a CD.
Then AU$30.00 per print, for 12x18" prints with a very low sheen finish. So not photo paper type finish, but not matt either. I am very happy with the result of them as it sets off the velour backing very nicely which is not easy to do. He also gave me a poster sized print just to see what it looked like enlarged. 
I've sold more than enough to make a decent profit on them, and have also had a number of commission requests, some for Black Caviar originals, and some private pets as well. 
I hope to do a few more portraits that will sell as prints  Keep an eye on this space! I've got a lot of photo's lined up, in between commissions!!!


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## tinyliny

Well, if you can get prints to sell, and in larger quantities, you can make some money. So wish you were not a world away so I could handle them and watch you work, and ask questions, and get in your way, and give an unsolicited opinon , and . . . .


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## Kayty

Well you know that you're always welcome to do just that online  Except the actually being there part! 

I am thinking about joining the state's pastel society, just so that I can have a few more people looking over my shoulder and giving me tips. As I am primarily self taught, it'd be nice to have someone giving me some help to bring my work up to that next stage. 
I have just purchased a wonderful book by a US animal pastel artist, and look forward to trying some of her exercises!


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## Kayty

Wow wow wow wow! 
Another 3 prints sold today, and two big commission enquiries!!!!!


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## Caitlinpalomino

Wohoo!


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## Kayty

Drawing the most beautiful old rottie at the moment, such a sweet looking dog who sadly passed away earlier this year. I'm having lots of fun with this one, will post a WIP over the weekend  

Another commission just came through too. *wipes brow* busy busy! Time to give up my office job? I wish!!!


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## Kayty

Another commission. 12"x16" head study, as usual pastel on velour


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## tinyliny

I love that soft green background color. Well done!


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## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Lovely work Kayty. Looking forward to the next.


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## Kayty

This one only took me a few hours this afternoon, I thought I'd have a little play with some colours and made it really quite simple. Put the photo on facebook - 5 minutes later I'd sold it!


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## Kayty

And a quick one of my horse, Spighi, done on black velour


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## Jake and Dai

Kayty...your work is breathtaking! Thank you for sharing!


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## Flintlock

Wow!!!


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## PaintedHeart

Your work is breathtaking


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## Kayty

Thank you, PaintedHeart


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## PintoTess

Oh my gosh that one of Sphigi is amazing!


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## barrelbeginner

:shock: wow


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## Kayty

Great British Olympic Dressage Team
20"x30" Pastel on Velour
This one is for sale


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## PintoTess

Oh my gosh Kayty that one is amazing!


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## lh4e

omg thats amazing!!! :O

can you do my horse Kim?


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## Kayty

lh4e said:


> omg thats amazing!!! :O
> 
> can you do my horse Kim?


Thank you.

I only do paid commissions as I am very busy, if you are interested in purchasing an original commission of your horse I am happy to organise that with you.


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## lh4e

Kayty said:


> Thank you.
> 
> I only do paid commissions as I am very busy, if you are interested in purchasing an original commission of your horse I am happy to organise that with you.


mmm... i will be happy to but i spend way to much 
money latley 

maybe some other time...



(btw sorry if i right words wrong, i'm not that good at english)


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## lh4e

*wright


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## Kayty

Busy busy busy! Trying to get time to draw between full time work and life. I finally got a chance to do something of my own, it took a while but finally got around to finishing. It has already sold!!

African Elephant
12"x16" pastel on velour


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## Muppetgirl

GOOD JOB! I'd have that all smudged up! LOL


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## Caitlinpalomino

That's amazing as usual Kayty!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kayty

Quite a quick piece on black velour that I whipped up in just under 2 hours. Put a photo up on my website and it sold within 4 hours! 
I'm waiting on a new shipment of velour for my Xmas commissions (and getting quite stressed waiting!!!!) and all I had left was black, so I thought I'd have a good play with some bright colours and loose work. 











And a commission of a 'rather' unattractive little pooch, who is adored by his owners


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## ConfusciusWasAGreatTeachr

Awesome Kayty! Always nice to see some colour when all I see all day is black and white and lots of grey!!! Haha! Lovely work! xx


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## tinyliny

me too. I like them all. The horse is really exciting for it's movement and energy, both in the hrose's movement and how you portray it.

the dog looks so soft I could pet it!


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## Kayty

Thanks folks 

Another commission, an lovely old German Shepherd


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## Kayty

Hmmm that photo is very fuzzy, better stop being lazy and get my camera out instead of my phone!


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## autumnheart

Those are lovely!


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## Equusketch

WOW! That elephant is spectacular!!!


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## Piaffe

Your art is absolutely amazing!!! I really enjoyed looking through


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## Kayty

Another one - a lion at our local zoo


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## Piaffe

Stunning as always!


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## jaydee

Lovely work Katey, not too many people work in pastels though my son is really keen on them as he's never really enjoyed working with paint.
Interesting to see how you build up the layers - not sure if I could work from left to right like that as I'm more for building up the whole thing layer on layer - not easy to do with anything that smudges.
Most colleges now insist on students working from real life and not imagination - my son is majoring in animation and they weren't at all interested in seeing portfolios that had anything drawn from imagination in which isnt what you'd expect but the reasoning is sound.
So many talented artists on this forum.


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## Kayty

I hope your son continues with pastels, Jaydee. They are a wonderful medium to work in, tricky, but wonderful. 

I tend to vary how I work depending on the piece I'm doing. I generally work in my base layers until the piece is covered and recognisable, then put in the detail. For fur work, I will usually go left to right to avoid smudging, but sometimes the layout of a subject won't allow for that, so I work in sections. 

Interesting that your son's work is being knocked. I had the opposite problem at school - granted it was a number of tears ago! - my teachers did not like that I worked from reality and enjoyed portraying photo realism rather than imaginative 'arty' work.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

I love his floppy ear and the fur is simply amazing, how perfectly you have captured the feel of it. may I ask how big it is (in inches if you please) and how long it took you?


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## Kayty

It is approx 12x16", and only took me 7 hours
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny

only 7. Oh, I thought it took a long time. (I am being fascetious)


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## jaydee

Kayty said:


> I hope your son continues with pastels, Jaydee. They are a wonderful medium to work in, tricky, but wonderful.
> 
> I tend to vary how I work depending on the piece I'm doing. I generally work in my base layers until the piece is covered and recognisable, then put in the detail. For fur work, I will usually go left to right to avoid smudging, but sometimes the layout of a subject won't allow for that, so I work in sections.
> 
> Interesting that your son's work is being knocked. I had the opposite problem at school - granted it was a number of tears ago! - my teachers did not like that I worked from reality and enjoyed portraying photo realism rather than imaginative 'arty' work.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 Actually him getting knocked back was the best thing that could have happened as it made him step up to the mark and do what his teachers had been telling him for 2 years. By the next portfolio session he attended his work had improved 100% because he was seeing real depth in working from actual subject and not his imagination
He was able to get into one of the top US colleges for animation with a good scholarship - he mostly works in pencil now but the real focus at this stage is in producing CGI images - which of course have to have depth, he now sees that the aim is to turn reality into fantasy - you cant just start with fantasy


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## Rissa

Kayty said:


> Today's 'entertainment'
> Pastel on black velour


This is pretty remarkable. 

This is done from a photograph I took of a stallion my best friend owns. 

How can we get prints of this? How much would they cost? We both like art. That horse is nine years old now, she's had him since he was six months old.

I took the photo in May of 2008.


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## Kayty

Hi Rissa, I am happy to organise prints for you, or I can send you the original for a low price. I'll send you a PM with details shortly 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Rissa

Kayty said:


> Hi Rissa, I am happy to organise prints for you, or I can send you the original for a low price. I'll send you a PM with details shortly
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Awesome. I know I want one, and so does his owner.


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## Kayty

Thank you to the lovely "StellaIW" for the use of the reference photo for this piece


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## Caitlinpalomino

Oh wow Kayty! That is beautiful! I love your background choice!


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## tinyliny

Rich, exciting textures and colors. I love it!


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## Peppy Barrel Racing

Beautiful artwork I've really enjoyed looking at all of it. Makes me want to become a better artist.


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## Kayty

Another lovely reference photo from StellaIW for this one


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## Caitlinpalomino

I absoloutly adore that particular photo of StellaIW's. That is an absoloutly manificant pastel painting of it! So soft and it has so much expression to it. This would have to be my new favourite of yours! Absoloutly wonderful Kayty!!


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## Equusketch

You have just taken your pastel drawings to a whole new level (as if that were even possible). That mare and foal drawing is magnificent!!!!


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## Kayty

Thanks ladies, I'm really proud of this one! 
Now I have to get back to some commissions again, its dangerous when I have too much time on my hands and get let loose with a bunch of beautiful photos!!


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## Peppy Barrel Racing

Beautiful pastel work I love the new picture!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jaydee

I am constantly amazed at the level of fine detail you get 
Do you use some sort of pastel pencils for that?
I'm intrigued
Wonderful work


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## Kayty

Jaydee I occasionally use pastel pencil for some of the finer work, but mostly I work in pastel sticks with a sharp edged medium-hard pastel for the fur and eye detail. 
For the last two portraits, I didn't use pencil at all.


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## jaydee

Kayty said:


> Jaydee I occasionally use pastel pencil for some of the finer work, but mostly I work in pastel sticks with a sharp edged medium-hard pastel for the fur and eye detail.
> For the last two portraits, I didn't use pencil at all.


 Thanks for reply - I'm actually contemplating giving this technique a go if only as a challenge - just need to find the time to do it :lol:


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## Kayty

Well, my first attempt at a human in pastel, with no glasses to cover the tricky eyes!!
A young girl and her beloved pony, ready for her birthday in 2 weeks time


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## lilruffian

Kayty said:


> Another lovely reference photo from StellaIW for this one


 My favorite of your pieces BY FAR!


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## Kayty

I love getting some free time to work on pieces just for my own peace of mind, lilruffian  
The commissions are great to keep a bit of income coming in and I enjoy doing them, but I REALLY love working on my own pieces because it lets me loosen up and have a little bit of artistic license.


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## LyraFreedom

I am so jealous of your guises gift!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a painter and I do some pretty stuff but you guys are undeliverable and amazing! It looks like you guys are using oil pastels? I'm thinking about terning to pastels. You guys influenced me! Do you guys have any tips or secrets that might help me do well? and what will I need? Also that paper you use what is it? Thank you so much! I will continue to look at all of you art on here! WOW


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## Kayty

I use primarily chalk/soft pastels with some pastel pencil for the very fine detail when required. My paper of choice is velour, but I would not recommend it for someone starting out in pastels as it is extremely unforgiving and only holds limited layers. I suggest you try a paper like Canson Mi-Tientes for starters.
My pastels are a range of brands depending on my needs - I use primarily Unison and Rembrandt's for the bulk of my work though. Rembrandt's are pricey but probably the best for starting as as they give good coverage and you can man handle them a bit more than the Unison's and Schminke's. 

As far as tips, well, just experiment. You will need a good toothed paper if you want to work with chalk pastels - the pigment will fall straight off other papers or canvas. 
I work in layers, and my base layers are more often than not very bright colours such as reds/blues/purples/greens depending on the colours in my subject. I then build on those base layers to create a more true to life colour. The base layers give the colour some more depth.


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## lilruffian

Kayty said:


> I love getting some free time to work on pieces just for my own peace of mind, lilruffian
> The commissions are great to keep a bit of income coming in and I enjoy doing them, but I REALLY love working on my own pieces because it lets me loosen up and have a little bit of artistic license.


 I know_ exactly_ what you mean!


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## Kayty

I must say though, I have a couple of commissions coming up that I'm really looking forward too. I have a beautiful looking dog with the most wonderful colouring for a forum member, and a large scale portrait of an Arabian show horse, with 4 separate images of the horse as a foal and being shown in hand. 
Should be fun!!
But to even those out, I've got a couple of real doozies where I am having to mix and match more than 5 photographs that show the horse/dog so far away, at awkward angles, out of focus etc. *gulp*


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## wetrain17

Kayty said:


> I must say though, I have a couple of commissions coming up that I'm really looking forward too. I have a beautiful looking dog with the most wonderful colouring for a forum member, and a large scale portrait of an Arabian show horse, with 4 separate images of the horse as a foal and being shown in hand.
> Should be fun!!
> But to even those out, I've got a couple of real doozies where I am having to mix and match more than 5 photographs that show the horse/dog so far away, at awkward angles, out of focus etc. *gulp*


 
I thought you were kidding when you said people send you out of focus, pixely pictures because I felt a little bad sending you about a dozen pictures.


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## Kayty

Nope not joking in the slightest!!! You should see another dog that I've got... I'm putting it off because I just have no idea how I'm going to do it :S 

A dozen pictures is fantastic, it helps me out immensely and your were all good photo's so I've got some great references to work from. 
The better the photo's, the better the portrait as I can take so much more detail from it


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## Kayty

Well well well! I am on quite a high after an email I received last night. 
An Olympic/WEG/German based Dressage rider has ordered a portrait of her 2008 Olympic mount, and potentially her current top performing GP horse who is also one of the top 'modern ' Dressage studs at this point in time. 

What a brilliant promotional opportunity for me, as well as the honour of being given the chance to draw such well known horses.


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## Kayty

A beautiful dog headed to a forum member in the US - I had fun with this one!


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## tinyliny

This tops them all. It practically breathes!


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## jaydee

That is just amazing - honestly I dont know how you do it. I couldnt believe how difficult using pastels would be - my first effort is screwed up and in the bin and not got the courage to try again yet!!!


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## MHFoundation Quarters

That is amazing Kayty! Looks real enough I want to pet him.


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## Kayty

Jaydee, keep plugging away!! They're not an easy medium but if you can get the knack of them they are absolutely addictive! 
Thank you for the great feedback - I hope his owner gets a kick out if seeing the real thing when it arrives 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kayty

And another, talk about production line lately, I'm being worked off my feet - need to up my prices as I could live off this work flow for a bit longer!!


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## Kayty

And another off the production line! *wipes brow, phew*


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## Kayty

The first of 4 pieces for Hayley Beresford of her previous Olympic mount, Relampago do Retiro (dec), headed off to Germany once I have finished the other pieces. 

All a bit nerve wracking for me, because not only am I drawing for a very well known identity in the Dressage 'world', but I am not huuuugely comfortable with graphite, like I am with pastel!


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## tinyliny

I think it's just lovely! can we see the reference photo?


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## lilruffian

i think it looks marevelous!


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## Cherrij

I am stunned!


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## Kayty

I haven't sought permission to post a reference photo Tiny, but if you google the horse there are hundreds of photo's of him floating around. 

Second of 4:


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## Kayty

3rd of 4! 4th piece is a big head study, so I'll try and squeeze a pastel commission in before I get started on that or I'll get really behind in my client list!!


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## KSchingen

These are fantastic! You inspired me to start drawing again


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## Kayty

Another pastel commission done. A super tricky one, this little doggy has sadly crossed rainbow bridge, and her owner had very few photos of her. Most were at a distance, from a mobile phone in semi darkness. So I had to be a bit inventive putting pieces together from various photos.


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## Muppetgirl

Kayty they are all lovely! I'd sooner work in graphite than pastel......you know I have a smudge-phobia! Graphite for me is a little more forgiving


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## Kayty

Eek graphite makes me panic, I am at much more risk of smudging with graphite than pastel!! At least I can whack a pale background colour over any smudges on the paper if I need to with pastel, graphite I'm not brave enough to try that with yet. Crazy to think that graphite used to be my main technique, now I avoid it like the plague!

Funny, when my commissions are going a bit slow I desperately want more commissions. When I'm flat out with them like I am now, all I want to do is have some quiet time to do some 'different' pieces and try out some bolder, looser work.


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## Muppetgirl

So true! When I get commission work, I'm at it all night every night until its done, I become a recluse! I find it becomes 'work'! My husband said ' don't ever say yes to another commission' haha! 
I'm flattered that people will call upon me to do work for them.....but I find not having too much choice if any on the subject matter drains my enthusiasm! 

I always say, I fall in love with a piece while I'm creating it, and when I'm done I'm ready to divorce it! (And that's usually 200hrs later if you include the hanging hardware and varnishing!)


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## Kayty

Sounds we like work in a similar way!!! I will lock myself in a room to do a commission, and just plug away until it's done. I enjoy doing them, and I love making people happy when they receive them, but hell it is A LOT of work. And now that I'm starting back on full time work doing 40+ hours/week, my time is going to be draining away very quickly. My art does turn into 'work' when I am really busy. I don't rush them to get them done, but I don't enjoy doing them so much as when I can pick up a pastel and add bits and pieces to it as I see fit.


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## ChelseaNoyon

I like your pastel work! I recently started with oil pastels and still need to get the hang of them, they're very different from graphite pencils. Great work


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## Kayty

Last and largest of 4 graphite pieces due to be sent off to Germany. It's been a big relief to finish this project, particularly this last piece which took me well over 60 hours to complete. Not easy when you're training at the police academy 10+ hours each day, with a 1 1/2 hour commute, and 3 horses to keep in work. It'll be a nice break being able to do some of my pastel commissions again as they are so much quicker.


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## tinyliny

Wow! the detail is exquisite!! you know, I love B nW best! Great work, as usual.


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## jaydee

Missed admiring your work. That is just wonderful


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## Kayty

I love graphite Tiny, but hell it takes a veeeeeeeey long time to do, especially a big one like this!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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