Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

Wow the weeks are whizzing by, we are definitely in the ‘business end’ of the year! I did actually manage to get my things together and enter some of my work in a show last weekend. This was only the fourth show I have entered and clearly I didn’t learn from the previous experiences of farming at the last minute as I was matting and framing until 2.00am on the morning they were to be delivered!

I am very pleased to say that I did quite well, one first and two seconds – and I have to be a proud mum and brag that my 12 year old was awarded a first for her graphite drawing of a marguay and first and second awards for her two sculptured dragons in modelling clay.

My oil painting of a Ringtail lemur “Midnight in Madagascar” was awarded first place in the ‘Animals and Birds – any medium category’:

My charcoal painting of German Shepherd Dog “Noble” was awarded second place in the

‘Drawing – Any Subject category’.

“Noble” is also for sale as part of the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws exhibition. To view a better image and purchasing information please visit the blog post for this German Shepherd Dog painting. Part proceeds from the sale of “Noble” will be donated to the Animal Protection Society.

My pastel portrait of the pomeranian “Peaches and Cream” was awarded second place in the

‘Pastel – Any Subject’ category

(the painting on the right of the dog chasing the hose water was the first place winner).

“Peaches and Cream” is for sale as part of the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws Exhibition. Click to view a better image and purchase information of this Pomeranian painting, part proceeds of the sale of this art will be donated to K9 Rescue, Mandurah.

Thanks for looking at my art, and please don’t forget to vote for your favorite artwork in the Canine Art Guild’s Helping Paws exhibition – the animal rescue group supported by the artist who is voted Peoples Choice at the end of the exhibition will receive a cash donation from the Canine Art Guild!

Michelle

I finally have had time to post an update of Tara’s pet portrait painting.

The first two photos are close-up views of the eyes and fur base colours.

Left eye:

Right eye: This shot also shows some of the brown tones that have been used in the base of the tabby fur.

In this next photo I have added the cream markings on her mouth and I am beginning to model the shape of her face under the white fur. Although grey colours are often used to depict white fur, using other shadow colours of the right value such as pinks, violet and lilac can add depth into the white fur without making it look dirty (which is easy to do on drafting film).

I think I forgot to mention this previously, but I intensified the strength of the whiskers in white pencil earlier on to avoid loosing them in the fur. At the end I will go back and redefine them and put shadows in where needed.

The next update will include the final version of Tara’s Pet Portrait.

I nearly forgot to post an update with the final of my lion, so here he is, Part II of “We Three Kings”, 8″x8″, artist colour pencil on drafting film.

I’m not surprised that more and more colour pencil artists are starting to use drafting film for their work. I am now absolutely convinced that drafting film is the perfect support for use with colour pencils, at least with my style and technique. It is definitely not easy to use initially, and it handles totally different to any other support that I have worked with (it dosn’t take as many layers so you really have to make each mark count!), but the results as definitely worth it, so I will be doing a lot more work on film in the future!

Cards and prints featuring this artwork can be purchased at