Dedicated to Mr T.
Monday musings from the bottom of the garden…. Flash back to Summer 2022…
I would love to say I’d been flat out painting, creating and making beautiful art. I wasn’t
I had totally lost my mojo, completely vanished. I could barely look at a brush, I hated everything I tried to draw.
I tried all the motivational Podcasts, scrolled Instagram for inspiration and just ended up feeling defeated by the crazy amount of talent out there…. step away from the socials…
I did paint a Tiger….
I did enter a wildlife art painting competition. Look out for the Tiger Blog coming soon. Find out why and how I decided to paint a HUGE tiger. Why I used acrylic instead of watercolour, and how my Mum & husband had to convince me to submit the finished painting!
The standard or wildlife art was incredible. I didn’t get selected for the final stage, but that’s ok, there is always next time. It has motivated me to paint, paint, and then paint some more to develop my wildlife painting skills!
One of the reasons for lack of painting, was the time given to caring for our beautiful Spaniels Toby & Lola. On Thursday 16th June 2022, Toby took his wings, going over the Rainbow Bridge. He was the craziest, daftest, most loving Spaniel. In his latter senior years he needed a lot of care and he was my focus every day, ensuring he was loved and cherished, felt safe. Loosing him was and still is hard. We miss him, but he lived every minute of his 12.5 years to the max.
Letting him go has also made me realise just how precious having portrait paintings of him is. Most days I say good morning to his pet portrait hanging in my studio. I believe the ones we love never truly leave us. The blazing sunshine, the cool refreshing rain, heck in Toby’s case the wild storm that arrived the day after he left us…. Is natures way of keeping them close.
Lola is going strong, now 13.5 years old, & has acquired the “Diva” nickname - is happily sunning herself in the garden whilst I paint again. Just scrolling through the 1000’s of photos of Lola - she is such a happy Spaniel - Read more about her adventures in forthcoming blogs!
My paintings have brought good memories and I hope that everyone who has trusted me with painting their pets takes some comfort from their portraits. I care deeply that my work captures the very essence and soul of your pet. So please feel free to chat about commissioning your own special pet portrait commission.
We have literally 1000’s of photos of Toby Dog, and I have painted him a few times. I am trying to pluck the courage to do one more, but I’m not quite there yet!!
So for now, this is for you Mr T… our goon xx
