A lovely part of my work as an animal portrait painter is when a client gets in touch regarding a memorial portrait. It’s such an honour to be asked to produce an artwork of an owner’s much missed pet and this latest portrait is of a beautiful Border Collie called Jack, whose eyes just melted my heart.
I’m pleased to say that Jack’s owner and family were very happy with his portrait and hopefully it will bring a bit of comfort to them.
I like the idea of this event.. a chance to say Hi, show a few samples of what you do and thank your supporters… so interesting to look at what other creatives are producing too!
In Liverpool, where I grew up, this is a phrase used to mean ‘on with the next thing’ often quoted by the late, great Paul O’Grady. Well the next ‘cab’, or exhibition, for me is a first… I’m taking part in the very popular Herefordshire Arts Week (H.Arts) 2-10 September and it’s quite exciting!
In our little village of Leintwardine, the historic grade 1-listed 12th century St Mary Magdalene church will be playing host to a collective of 16 creatives who will be showcasing their work from art, ceramics, woodwork, bronzes, millinery plus more. Most work will be for sale too.
Here’s a small selection of my animal paintings that will be available.
Come and visit – there are two venues in Leintwardine – venue 119 which is Lou Lothian’s beautiful pottery and venue 120 the above mentioned collective group in the village church.
Details of all venues and locations around Herefordshire, can be found on the H.Arts web site – just click this link… http://www.h-art.org.uk
See you there!
This old English nursery rhyme mentions several churches dotted around London, so it’s probably fitting that my two paintings ‘Oranges’ and ‘Lemons’ will be taking part in a Summer Exhibition run by Ludlow Art Society and it will be held in….. St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow, Shropshire.
Running from Saturday 19th to Monday 28th August in the middle of this beautiful market town, there will be lots of wonderful artworks on display so hopefully we will have lots of lovely visitors popping in to have a mooch.
You never know, you may hear the peal (or peel!) of the church’s bells too!
This small 8″ x 8″ painting has been chopped and changed a few times and I eventually ended up with a portrait of a young black bull, a steer if you will, which has proved quite popular. He’s just sold through my Artfinder store within a few days of adding him and I was sort of sorry to package him up and send him off to his new home. You never know how your work is going to be received – one person’s meat is another person’s poison!
I can’t believe it’s been almost 12 months since I last posted on my blog, but it has been a busy period! Since last December, we have sold our home in Scotland and moved 200 miles south to our new home in Herefordshire. Moving during a pandemic has been… well, challenging shall we say, but we are now settled in a lovely village with a friendly community.
Although I miss my pals up north, it has meant that we are now closer to family and will see more of them.
Fresh fields mean new opportunities and I’ve now got my studio set up and cracking on with commissions and other work, meeting new people and getting involved in art societies as well as village life.
I’ll be posting much more regularly than in the past year, so watch this space!
In the meantime, here are a few recent works which have been produced in my new space.
The Tolbooth in Lanark, Scotland is an amazing venue used for various events by the local community including a Christmas Shop by the Tolbooth Artists group.
This year we had a bit of a hiccup with a lockdown brought into force a few days after the start of the Christmas Shop but we are now about to re open on Friday 11 December at 10am – yay!
Here are a couple of my paintings for sale at the Christmas Shop – these were 2 Swaledale rams at the Highland Show in Edinburgh last year who knew how to strike a pose! I really missed visiting the Highland Show this year, but hopefully it will be on again in 2021.
Anyway – I’ll finish by wishing you all a Happy Christmas and much improved New Year – stay safe xx
I think this young Border Collie has become something of a muse – I have painted this lovely face several times, because of the expression and those wonderful orange eyes. The reference photo came out nice and sharp and the colours were bright – always a bonus.
‘Good Lass’ was painted with a neutral pale brown/dark sand colour to complement her eyes and it was also a good background for a black and white coat.
Hot off the easel and straight into my Artfinder store!
This was a recent commission for a client in Germany who contacted me via a friend. They had recently had to say goodbye to their beautiful golden retriever and I was honoured to be asked to create a portrait of her with one of her favourite toys. Hopefully the painting will give a little comfort to the family at a very sad time. RIP Tessa.
We visited the Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition last week and wow what a fantastic selection of artwork there is. It was very well attended at the preview and there was a great buzz at the venue. The ex-supermarket location was spacious and well lit with plenty of room to manoeuvre around the viewers.
I was delighted to spot my little pug, sharing wall space with other small paintings by artists I greatly admire. I hope he enjoys his time at this exhibition and maybe, just maybe, he might be lucky enough to find a new home.
Rosie Mark Artwork 