The start of a new commission

My tiger drawing has been set to one side for a while as i have a new commission to undertake and time is a little short as the drawing is wanted for a birthday.The subjects of this drawing will be a very handsome pair of german pointers full of character that i hope to get across in the finished piece.It has taken a couple of days to get the dogs sketched out to a nice size and having stretched the paper ive made a start on one of the dogs.regular readers of my blog will know that i build up my images using many layers of graphite applied with a full range of pencils,starting with the harder grades and gradually working my way through the softer grades in turn.here you can see my outline that ive transposed from the rough 'working out' paper onto stretched HP watercolour paper and my initial layers of graphite that have been applied.ive applied two layers of H grade pencil over most of the face as a starting point and now i'm working up the details by layering from H thru to 2B grades so far on the left hand side of the dogs face.the ear is pretty much complete and im busy layering and blending over the rest of the face until shape,form and tone is correct and then i can add fur details etc.there is a good deal of careful blending to be carried out as the dog has a lovely shiny coat that i want to stand out.at this stage i'm blending using just the pencil and variable pressures to acheive the required result.

New Greetings cards to order

Winter Barn Owl 8"x4"

Red Squirrel 6"x6"

Lion 6"x6"

Black Leopard 6"x6"

Bengal Tiger Cub 6"x6"

African Elephant and calf 7"x5"

As well as over 50 limited edition prints available from my website i now have a brand new range of fine art greetings cards available to order.There are six designs in my current range with another six new designs to follow shortly.Each card is made from 300gsm white card and includes an envelope,clear polypropylene sleeve and labelled 'blank inside' and features one of my award winning images.The cards are available to order direct from me by emailing your order to clivemeredith@hotmail.com whereupon i will advise you of payment options.Cards are priced at £2.50 each including p&p for UK orders,for overseas orders please email for a price.

quick update-Tiger progress

The Tiger is progressing nicely now with lots of layers of tone layed down on the front leg and extensive fur detailing added.Its a slow process very much akin to building up an oil or acrylic painting and so once the underlying tones are correct then layers of fur texture are added on top,which ,in turn,can be overlayed with more graphite in areas,just like glazing with oils.Once the second limb is completed it will throw the nearer limb forward nicely and look a good deal less flat.

Tiger drawing update-working on fur texture

Progress on the tiger so far has been a little slow as i'm still spread a little thin with two shows running at the moment and preparation work underway for a new commissioned piece as well as preparing for my upcoming workshop in october.

since my last post i have been working up the tone on the cat with layers of graphite working up from H grade thru to B grade with rather loose directional fur strokes added with a loose wrist so as to keep it varied in length and shape and not appear to mechanical.The stripes are worked up by layering once again with all grades of pencil used from H thru to 3B.Periodically i'm having to add more tone to the background to help the cat stand out and of course it will be given a complete overhaul at the end of the drawing.I aim to complete the body of the cat before moving onto the face to ensure the wispy fur details and whiskers stand out nicely.

a warm welcome to all

you could have knocked me down with a feather this morning when i signed into blogger! i thought there must have been an error on my dashboard to see so many new followers appear overnight.i dont know what happened but i'm absolutely delighted that so many of you liked the blog enough to follow it.thankyou all so much and particular thanks for your warm comments on my work,as an artist working alone in my studio it is so nice to get some feedback and realise that the work is appreciated.i hope that you'll continue to find the work here worthy of your presence and look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.

Sumatran Tiger drawing-background toning complete

The background toning on this piece is finally complete..for now.There are numerous layers of graphite here and frankly i was getting bored and so i'm going to move onto the tiger at the earliest opportunity.Progress will be slow here as i'm going to be working on some commissioned work at the same time but on the plus side if i get bored again i can swap between pieces.

Sumatran Tiger drawing

After a little while away from big cat art it's time to get back into the swing of things with a portrait of a stalking sumatran tiger.this is quite a large image for me at 16"x10" and so will take a while to complete.i now have two drawing boards in my enlarged studio and i will be working on a commissioned piece on my second board,alternating between the two to keep things fresh.so far on this tiger piece i have been working on the background toning having already layered the piece twice with H grade pencil ive now moved onto HB and B grades.this is a time consuming process and will take several days to tone the background.

barn Owl-final version

The final,slightly tweaked version of my latest Barn Owl drawing.

Barn owl completed

i finished this one up last night and left it on the board until this morning so that i could look at it with fresh eyes.there are a few minor tweaks required here and there but for all intents and purposes it's finished.

Barn owl progress

sometimes time just flys by when your'e busy running around organising shows and event participation and before you know it youv'e been away from the studio for what seems like forever.the tail end of last month and beginnings of this month have been just like that and it is with immense relief that i finally get time to relax at the drawing board and continue working on this barn owl image,particularly as ive already entered it in a show!.this is progress as of yesterday evening and as you can see the bird is virtually completed and i'm now going to make a start on its perch which is going to be a snow-covered celtic cross or at least a portion of one.