Capturing personality with a paintbrush

Where to start? The art books recommend observing the animal in its natural habitat paying attention to movements, facial expressions and behaviour. Looking for personal traits such as playful, shy or curious. They also highlight the importance of choosing the right medium to paint in, use of colours to emphasis excitement or calmness.

I personally focus on the eyes. Making sure there is light shining in the eyes will bring an animal portrait to life. Without the light the animal looks flat and uninteresting. Body positioning and composition also plays a big part for me as I often portray my animals as if in a story having interactions with other animals from the same species or hanging out with an unexpected companion from the animal kingdom.

Taking my own photographic references for my art has a big effect on the finished work as I already have an emotional connection with the animal which somehow comes through in my work. I tend to prefer watercolours for fine detail work and oils for texture and movement of animal.

Check out ‘Shaun the Sheep’ who I met in Oberon whilst horse riding. He wasn’t very impressed with me taking his photo but wasn’t going to run away.