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Christmas Dog Lovers

Pet Portrait Gift Vouchers are now available to purchase through the website or on Facebook.

What Do I BUY THEM this year? A Pet Portrait Gift Voucher is perfect as a last minute gift or really easy gift to send to friends and family worldwide. The fab way to surprise your friend or family member this Christmas.

This year a lovely bunch of dog lovers across the land have meant sales of my Pet Portrait service has grown rapidly. With so many satisfied customers, this voucher is the reason why the NEW Pet Portrait Gift Voucher has arrived specifically in time for your Christmas 2019.

The amazing dog owners of the UK really do love their pets, and I love creating fantastic artwork of them for you in my charming and funny style.

This is a funny, fantastic commission to include her husband, his amazing MG Roadster red sports car, and their cocker spaniel dog. The driver is zooming down a country lane and bouncing over a hill. The dogs ears are flailing about as his face is very happy. Their are sheep in the field and background and a little Norman church on the horizon.
Pet Portrait | The Great Escape | Birthday Present

Dog owners like you are thoughtful, kind and loving. When it comes to Pet Portraits you love to include their quirky habits and personalities. I will completely personalise an original one of a kind painting, for them of their own beautiful dogs.

Make their Christmas Day really special this year. Purchase your Pet Portrait Gift Voucher NOW.

A beautiful watercolour pet portrait commission of a blue olde english bull dog and a white and tan parsons jack Russell. They are both looking at a blue butterfly as they stand by the side of their lake in their large garden. There are a pair of crocs propped up next to a fishing tackle bag as these represent the customers husband as this was a birthday gift for his 40th birthday. The lake is a calm blue and the green summer trees surround it with reeds in the foreground.
Pet Portrait | Gone Fishing | Birthday Present

With an original you can choose who’s in it, where they are, what they’re doing and more. It’s what makes them unique. I ask my customers for a few photographs then decide which way I might create each Pet Portrait. Some may be in watercolour paints like the two above. Some might be in Oil Pastels, like these below.

Send one Worldwide for a special last minute gift. Purchase your Pet Portrait Gift Voucher NOW.

Set in a black frame in a room with a grey armchair and green cheese plant. This is a beautiful piece of art of a Collie dog created by artist Amanda Reynolds in oil pastels. The Collie dog is viewed in a side profile and is black and white. The Collie dog looks inquisitively at a little pink butterfly which flies over some pink roses and his dog toy sits at his feet. The dog toy is a ball on a rope. .
Pet Portrait | Beautiful Jake
This is an original oil pastel for a customer of artist Amanda Reynolds. The pet portrait is of a deceased black and white staffordshire bull terrier and was commissioned as a beautiful memory of him. He is in a front view of a staffy sitting down. He is situated on a beach with a very big stick in front of him. The staffy also has starfish and a sandcastle and rocks around hi. In the background there is an old ruined castle on the cliffs. A red and white lighthouse and a sailing boat on the horizon.
Pet Portrait | Besides The Seaside
Pet Portrait | Sunbathing Poodles | Mothers Day Gift

Buy a Pet Portrait Gift Voucher.

Pet Portrait | Dude & Mini | Birthday Gift

You can buy an amazing gift with a real difference this Christmas with an Amanda Reynolds Art Pet Portrait Gift Voucher.

I hope you have enjoyed this Sketch Book Article…you can subscribe to receive future articles too.

If you want to have a look at some of my previous work Click Pet Portraits Here

To discover the popular series of ‘Real Friends’ Click Here

Go to Facebook and message directly with any enquiries too or art advice. If I can help I certainly will.

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Whatever The Weather

Real Friends Whatever The Weather is a watercolour print of a characterful, rotund lady who loves dogs. As the wind blows the dogs ears around she tries to hang the washing out. Mavis hangs out the dog toys and her polka dot bloomers. The dogs sit in the wicker washing basket and the tiny mouse is in her apron. She wears an apron with cherries on and blue jeans and grey tshirt. A peg is in her mouth as she fights against the blowing wind.

This article is a little look into how I develop a piece of artwork. From a simple sketch to a finished piece. I guess it all starts with an image in my head, or an idea from something someone might say and ‘Real Friends Whatever The Weather’ was an idea I had about our friends standing by us, whatever the situation.

  • Real Friends Whatever The Weather is a watercolour print of a characterful, rotund lady who loves dogs. As the wind blows the dogs ears around she tries to hang the washing out. Mavis hangs out the dog toys and her polka dot bloomers. The dogs sit in the wicker washing basket and the tiny mouse is in her apron. She wears an apron with cherries on and blue jeans and grey tshirt. A peg is in her mouth as she fights against the blowing wind.
    Real Friends Whatever The Weather
  • Pencil sketches of the character Mavis for my Real Friends Whatever The Weather print. Mavis goes from simple shapes to a figure with detail hanging out the washing. The little mouse which appears sectretly in all her imagery sits in the apron front.
    Mavis goes from a simple form to detailed character

In the two pencil sketches above you can see the first form is me trying to decide what Mavis’ body might move like when she is stretching to hang out the washing. I particularly like her rounded bottom cheeks, they just tickled me when I sketched them out. But without knowing what is underneath your clothing it is hard to make the clothing look like it fits.

The pencil sketch on the right hand side is the form developed in much more detail, down to the little mouse I always draw in every Mavis piece of artwork so the viewer can search it out. This is my small ode to ‘The Mouseman of Kilburn’. An amazing British furniture maker who always added a mouse to his work. I remember growing up in a little village in Yorkshire, called Aberford. And the church gates had a little mouse on them. I used to be fascinated by it and as I got older and wiser, became aware of its history and significance.

Anyway back to our Mavis…

  • Early pencil sketch of Mavis hanging the washing out with a peg between her teeth. Her bloomers are being pegged with an old dolly peg as they blow around in the wind.
    Mavis sketch

Once the sketch is finished on my thin layout paper, I then transfer the image onto watercolour paper using a lightbox. Lightboxes are awesome and soooo simple. Its just a box that illuminates and you lay your layout paper over the top of it, and then place your watercolour paper over that to draw things through. That way you don’t waste expensive watercolour paper rubbing out a thousand times. That’s a tip I got from one of my illustrator heroes Sir Quentin Blake, from a little video he did on the web, not from when I was having afternoon tea with him or anything….which would be very awesome indeed!

Real Friends Whatever The Weather is a watercolour print of a characterful, rotund lady who loves dogs. As the wind blows the dogs ears around she tries to hang the washing out. Mavis hangs out the dog toys and her polka dot bloomers. The dogs sit in the wicker washing basket and the tiny mouse is in her apron. She wears an apron with cherries on and blue jeans and grey tshirt. A peg is in her mouth as she fights against the blowing wind.
Mavis in watercolours

Finally I build up the colours. With Mavis I have tried to stick to a similar colour palette for every piece. This is so they tie together visually and may encourage a customer to buy the pictures as a pair or a set of matching four. This was a tip from a lovely lady called Lesley I work with in Pomfret Art Gallery. Lesley is very clever and a talented seamstress.

Real Friends Whatever The Weather is a watercolour print of a characterful, rotund lady who loves dogs. As the wind blows the dogs ears around she tries to hang the washing out. Mavis hangs out the dog toys and her polka dot bloomers. The dogs sit in the wicker washing basket and the tiny mouse is in her apron. She wears an apron with cherries on and blue jeans and grey tshirt. A peg is in her mouth as she fights against the blowing wind.
Colour Wheel and colour palette notes for Mavis

I now make sure I write down the colour palettes for work I create as a collection as I can guarantee you will not remember them after one sleep. That’s a tip I learnt from me, after I slept and forgot! Doh!

I hope you have enjoyed this Sketch Book Article…you can subscribe to receive future articles too.

To buy Mavis and her Real Friends Whatever The Weather please visit here

To discover Mavis and her ‘Real Friends’ Click Here

If you want to have a look at some of my previous work Click Pet Portraits Here

Go to Facebook and message directly with any enquiries too or art advice. If I can help I certainly will.

Real Friends Whatever The Weather is a watercolour print of a characterful, rotund lady who loves dogs. As the wind blows the dogs ears around she tries to hang the washing out. Mavis hangs out the dog toys and her polka dot bloomers. The dogs sit in the wicker washing basket and the tiny mouse is in her apron. She wears an apron with cherries on and blue jeans and grey tshirt. A peg is in her mouth as she fights against the blowing wind.
Real Friends Whatever The Weather | Limited Edition Print

To buy Mavis and her Real Friends Whatever The Weather please visit here

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Hugging Strangers!

This is an original oil pastel for a customer of artist Amanda Reynolds. The pet portrait is of a deceased black and white staffordshire bull terrier and was commissioned as a beautiful memory of him. He is in a front view of a staffy sitting down. He is situated on a beach with a very big stick in front of him. The staffy also has starfish and a sandcastle and rocks around hi. In the background there is an old ruined castle on the cliffs. A red and white lighthouse and a sailing boat on the horizon.

Welcome to my Sketchbook Articles.

Let’s get started, with the latest Pet Portrait just finished and handed over.

My lovely customer (who I’d never met before) came to my house last night to collect the Pet Portrait I had created for her…she got a bit teary, she shared her beautiful story, we celebrated her tender relationship with her Staffy who has now passed away and she hugged me. You can view her Staffy Beside The Seaside here.

  • This is an original oil pastel for a customer of artist Amanda Reynolds. The pet portrait is of a deceased black and white staffordshire bull terrier and was commissioned as a beautiful memory of him. He is in a front view of a staffy sitting down. He is situated on a beach with a very big stick in front of him. The staffy also has starfish and a sandcastle and rocks around hi. In the background there is an old ruined castle on the cliffs. A red and white lighthouse and a sailing boat on the horizon.
  • This is an original oil pastel for a customer of artist Amanda Reynolds. The pet portrait is of a deceased black and white staffordshire bull terrier and was commissioned as a beautiful memory of him. He is in a front view of a staffy sitting down. He is situated on a beach with a very big stick in front of him. The staffy also has starfish and a sandcastle and rocks around hi. In the background there is an old ruined castle on the cliffs. A red and white lighthouse and a sailing boat on the horizon.
    Beside The Seaside

It’s OK, I’m good with hugging strangers, it tends to happen a lot. Which made me think about the Pet Portraits I create a little bit more. You can see more Pet Portraits Here

Drawing dogs is great fun, when you’re a dog person you cannot walk past a dog without falling in love immediately. You know the feeling. (Love at first sight). It’s their friendly, jolly nature, which spills over and grabs a dog persons heart, which balloons with love. It’s those eyes, the soft chutchy wutchy faces and wet noses. You can see more Dogs here. This is what I enjoy celebrating with you all. That love and friendship we have with our pets can be found in the Pet Portrait service.

Pet Portraits are personal, it takes time for me to create one; lot’s of sketching and asking questions. Photos and messages zip through the internet as I get to know your pets. Finding out what their favourite toys are, what their personality’s like, working hard so it works for you. It can be a real honour to give a gift that will make someone cry (in a good way) as they celebrate their friendship and love for family through art too.

It’s important your experience is cheery, easy, friendly and makes you smile for years and years to come, just like your Artwork. Which is Art Gallery quality…view a collection here.

To start your Pet Portrait Experience email amanda@amandareynolds.co.uk

Go to Facebook and message directly

Or Discover the funny ‘Real Friends’ Collection here…

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