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.
Well it’s turning into a fairly busy year, exhibition-wise. There are a lot of available art exhibitions to submit work to, very tempting, but I’m trying to build my stocks up in between commissions, so I’ve limited myself to the following events…so far.
The Ludlow Art Society and Association of Animal Artists exhibitions are on at the moment, Ludlow actually closes today and I’m delighted to write that ‘Barb’ sold at that one, yay! The Rose Paterson gallery at Weston Park near Shifnal, UK is the setting for the AAA exhibition and it makes for a grand day out, as the grounds are gorgeous, the work on show is amazing and the café does a great flat white!
In a month or so, my donated 5” x 7” ‘postcard’ will be displayed in Vancouver, alongside many others, in the annual Twitter Art Exhibition – monies raised will benefit the Urban Native Youth Association – so if you’re in that Canadian neighbourhood, don’t miss it.
Then later in the year, I’ll be taking part in H-Arts which is the Herefordshire arts festival here in the UK and I’ll be exhibiting alongside a collective of local artists in our village church… very exciting!
Here are some of my submissions to the various exhibitions.
Exhibitionitis – is that a thing, is there a cure?!
I’ve been doing a few paintings on small 5” x 7” canvasses recently and enjoying scaling down – the longest side is about the length of a standard pencil. A good excuse to dust off my tiny ‘000’ brushes. The new smaller sizes mean I can offer a lower price for commissions and sales, yay! That is, as long as the subject will fit on a postcard size format! Here’s a couple of recent examples…
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
Back in April and during the first lockdown of the Coronavirus Pandemic, an artist called Tom Croft organised a scheme to link up artists and NHS workers in order to have their portrait painted and then gifted to them as a little thank you. I thought this was a brilliant idea and couldn’t wait to participate.
My cousin, Rhonwen, in Liverpool linked me up with a young trainee Nurse, Megan Cavanagh and following a few emails back and forth, we agreed on a powerful photo reference that Megan had had taken at the end of a particularly difficult shift. I was taken aback at Megan’s stories of what she was experiencing on the Covid wards and determined to try and produce a painting to show the physical and emotional toll this horrendous virus was taking on our NHS Heroes.
My portrait titled ‘Meg’ has now been included in a book by Bloomsbury Publishing due to be released on 12 November showing a selection of the participating artists’ work and telling the emotional stories behind the paintings.
Today’s Guardian newspaper has also featured an article highlighting some of the NHS heroes’ portraits and both Meg and I are chuffed to bits that her portrait has been included amongst the selection.
The book’s proceeds will go to the NHS and I hope it raises a fortune for them! 🌈💙
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!
Well it’s been a wee while since my last blog and it’s not as if I haven’t had spare time to write one… thank you Covid 19! So here is something a bit different to my usual animal portraits.
Lanark is a market town close to where I live in Scotland and in the town there is a beautiful old building called the Tolbooth, which is used for various events including art exhibitions.
I am proud to be part of the Tolbooth Artists group and our summer exhibition which closes on 12 September has a theme of Coasts and Rivers. The pieces of work displayed by local artists have been wonderful, giving visitors plenty to enjoy in a Covid-safe environment.
I was delighted to find out that both of my paintings submitted, have been sold. A large acrylic on canvas of the setting sun on Arran (just off the west coast of Scotland) and a small pastel painting of moonlit waves – two coastal scenes but different in size, subject and medium used. Both fun to do and both now in new homes.
Coast to coast!
Setting Sun On Arran
Moonlit Waves
This year’s Twitter Art Exhibition is taking place 3-15 April in Myrtle Beach, California in aid of Horry County Disabilities and Special Needs. I’ve taken part in TAE for the last few years as I think it’s a great way of raising money for the chosen charities. Artists connect with others via Twitter, the charity raises funds and the buyers at the art exhibition buy very affordable mini artworks – it’s a win win situation!
If you live near Myrtle Beach, why not check it out?
Here’s my donation to this year’s exhibition – ‘Leo’ acrylic on card.
Leo – acrylic
I’ve been having a sort out in the studio. This is always dangerous to my bank account, as I clear out brushes that need replacing, dried up tubes of paint that need replacing and creased paper or damaged canvases…that need replacing!
It didn’t stop there, I started looking at paintings that I haven’t got round to framing and decided that one or two, or three would look more presentable if they were. This is always a tricky decision for artists. Should you leave them frameless so that the buyer can choose a suitable frame according to their tastes or interiors. Or do you bite the bullet and invest in a frame to give the artwork a finished feel and ‘ready to hang’ option?
Well, after biting the bullet, here are some before and afters to let you see the difference.
‘King’ is my latest acrylic painting and I think I must be going through a zoo phase. Following on from chimps at Edinburgh Zoo, I recently took a lot of reference photos of animals at the Loro Parque Zoo in Tenerife, during a holiday on the island.
The result is this portrait of a slightly sad looking but still strong animal who seems to be telling us that wherever he is placed, he will always be a King of the jungle.
‘King’ acrylic on canvas
Rosie Mark Artwork 