I work from my studio in Kilcock. It is a small room with shelves all around to put my finished and unfinished work onto. I like to give each work a few days to 'rest' before I completely finalise them and email my clients their portrait scans. On this page, you will find more information on how I work together with some progress photos and videos of my process. I discuss the materials I use and how I go about completing each piece of work. Because I work from photographs, I like to share them here too for comparison. You can subscribe to the blog and receive updates 3 to 4 times a month.
This acrylic portrait is of a man called Frank. It was commissioned by his brother-in-law as a gift for his wife and family earlier this year. I had two reference photographs of Frank and used one for his likeness and the other to correctly capture his skin tone. I previously…
I created this drawing earlier this month. It was commissioned by the couple’s daughter and features her parents together with their local church in the background, which is a special place for them. The portrait is a gift for the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. The client wanted to give her…
I have recently worked on two very small drawings. They were each just 20 x 15 cm in size which is the smallest size I work in. I used graphite pencils by Staedtler and Faber-Castell all with some charcoal content to reduce the shine. I truly enjoy working with these…
This is the largest family portrait I have worked on to date. It includes a family of thirteen. The drawing was commissioned as a gift for the grandparents pictured in the drawing with all their children and grandchildren. The drawing is 30 x 50 cm in size drawn with graphite…
This pencil sketch was commissioned as a birthday gift for the lady in the photo. Her husband sadly passed away and her daughter decided to gift her a pencil drawing of the two of them. The drawing was based on one very good photograph taken at a special occasion. The…
I completed these drawings last summer for a return client. She commissioned two small drawings, both as gifts to her brothers. Both brothers are pictured with their partners and the drawings are the smallest size I work in at 20 x 15 cm. I had one photograph for each portrait.…
This drawing was completed last year in June. It was commissioned as a retirement gift and is from the retiree’s (Cyril) favourite photo of his father at work. It was commissioned by his work colleagues at the School of Natural Sciences at the National University of Ireland Galway. Cyril’s father…
This drawing was the last Christmas commission this year. It was commissioned by a return client whom I completed a pet painting in the past. He asked me to draw a portrait of his girlfriend holding her gorgeous godson, a very special moment in time. I had one photograph to…
This pencil drawing was commissioned as a gift to the grandfather in the image sharing a very special moment with his granddaughter. I worked from one photographs, a selfie the dad took. The drawing is 45 x 35 cm in size, so it is a little on the bigger size…
This is a painting of Lily, the cute tan corgi cross dog. She is lying on a stairs landing in her owners house. The painting was commissioned from a client in the UK, but it was gifted to a lady in Dublin. I worked on her portrait this time last…