Guest Artist - Lisa Cumming
Lisa is our newest Guest Artist. She sent this painting for consideration and I thought “WOW! How gorgeous!” So, I wanted to share it with everyone right away. Lisa writes:
“Lesley has been an inspiration to me since I bought her book quite by accident some years ago. I had never been aware that it was even possible to create such purity and realism with pastels and I found her paintings quite staggering. I still do!
I did Art at school and did a year’s basic course at college afterwards. Then I went into the RAF and didn’t pick up so much as a pencil for years. After my first child was born, I did a bit of painting but it wasn’t until I joined a group of artists (most of them in their 60s and 70s - I was 30!) to get together and paint on a weekly basis, that I really started to feel I had a genuine ability. Three more children followed and so I have been very busy with them, and as they get older they are more work, not less, with homework, classes after school…
I painted my first dog portrait about ten years ago and can probably count the number I have done overall on the fingers of both hands. I only ventured into pastel properly at the beginning of this year. Although I have had Lesley’s book for quite some time, I had never had the courage to try the exercises, still finding it hard to believe that the effects that Lesley achieves in her paintings are actually real! My New Year’s resolution this year was to finally commit to my painting - specifically of animals, and with at last, the courage to try out the pastel. Lesley has been my support - when I get disheartened, I get out the book (in fact, it generally lies open on my desk).
I don’t have a website or blog - it’s one of the things I’m working towards. I simply don’t have enough examples to fill a page yet! I am loving what I am doing though, and am hoping that this might be a resolution that I manage to stick to!
This painting of Lex is the pinnacle of my achievements so far - you can probably tell I haven’t got my head around backgrounds yet! I have called this painting ‘Sight Hound’ to try to describe the way this type of dog (Scottish Deerhound) is constantly scanning the horizon for rabbits to chase. He often does chase them, but they can usually outwit him!”
Image: “Sight Hound” - Pastel Painting by Lisa Cumming
Published by admin on February 19th, 2010 Tagged Dogs and Cats, Guest Artists
February 19th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Lisa… your painting is wonderful. I am also new to this great sport of pastel painting, and totally understand what you’re going through. It’s like magic to see a painting start to come to life… and your painting of Lex is magical. I’m looking forward to seeing more!
February 19th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
All I can say is WOW! As soon as he came up on my screen I oooooed out loud. Love it!! Great fur too. I hope you find time to do lots more. Thanks for sharing.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:14 am
What a great painting! I can almost pet him. I would love to see more!
As for the backgrounds, I’ve struggled with them too. What helpen me a lot was painting landscapes from photo’s but also from live. I started with a few graphite and charcoal sketches, but they turnd out in larger landscapes in pastel and acrylic. This made it easier for me to paint backgrounds in my petportraits and wildlife art.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:26 pm
What a beautiful dog portrait! It’s great. Simply breathtaking. Really! I’m speechless about it. So silky fur and kind eyes, I wish I could hug it.
Just keep up your beautiful works and I would also like to see more from you!
Kind regards,
Dori
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:51 am
Lisa,
this is a very lovely artwork!
And backgrounds will come later, when you are ready for it
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 am
Oh I’m so proud I am almost in tears! Thank you so much Erin, thank you so much those who have commented! I can hardly believe I’m seeing my own work on Lesley’s blog! I need to go and lie down in a dark room - then go and do some more painting
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:42 am
Oh, Lisa…. Your work is outstanding!! I can tell that your referencing of Lesley’s book has really paid off. The fur is wonderful and to give you some encouragement…I have been trying to learn the background thing myself. They never seem to look as good as Lesley’s. I am very partial to animal portraits and this is amazing work!
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:53 pm
This is beautiful, the fur is outstanding, fur never grows in one direction and it is always challenging, this is a great example of how it should be done.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
P.s Did you take ‘step by step’ photographs? I would love to see how you built up the layers.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Thank you Ian. I did take step by step photos - they are quite hilarious actually - I’ll send them through to Erin and she can decide whether to give you all a laugh or not. You know how beautifully Lesley’s layers build up? Well it wasn’t like that at all!!! I was thrilled and astonished when it finally came together
Lisa:
Bring ‘em on! I’m sure that people would love to see them!
February 25th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
YEP - we will love it!!!
February 25th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Yes please, that’s part of the challenge, venturing into the unknown, if this was a ‘happy accident’ what a result!
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Lovely piece.
I don’t use pastels but my pieces often go through some very ugly stages, lol…nothing to worry too much about. Everyone works differently.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Lisa
This is really well rendered and studied. I still struggle with backgrounds. Keep at it, practice will definitely push your comfort zones too. Beautiful painting
Pat
March 5th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Thank you Pat, and everyone else. I have been following the links through to some of your websites and feel a bit humbled by the company I am in here. It’s a real booster though to receive your comments and I am away with the next one already - a cat this time…
March 8th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Wow, I love how you did the fur on this one! I, too, am rather intimidated when it comes to starting pastels as I’ve hardly used them. But you’ve motivated me to actually set a time to work with them, so thanks! Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing more from you.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Lisa, this is beautiful. You have really captured the gentle expression that so many deerhounds have and wonderfully realistic fur. I am off to see if I can find Lesley’s book!