Animal Portraits by Jane Maher
Portraits that capture the character of your horse, dog or cat
Welcome to the first catalogue of my art.
I hope you will be inspired browsing through it. I have chosen a variety of subjects, from small hairy dogs to magnificent competition horses. I have also been persuaded to do human portraits, and even a study of a beautiful Italian villa! I particularly love painting all animals, and to me the challenge is to capture that element of their character that is unique and memorable. I usually paint in watercolour, sometimes with added gouache. On occasion i have used pen and wash or pencil, and there are examples of both included here.
I work from photographs which if possible, I would rather take myself. This allows me to meet the subject concerned which helps portray him better in the final painting. Of course this is not always possible, in which case I can work from good clear photographs provided by you.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss my work or if you would like to commission a portrait. Thank you for looking Jane janemaher@live.co.uk t. 07787 505518
‘Mac’ A magnificent warmblood who competed at Blenheim 3* eventing, and now has a successful showing career as a veteran
‘Tor’ Tor starred in ‘Black Beauty’ in his youth. He is now retired in the lap of luxury – and looks as good as ever
‘Lucky’ A beautiful dressage horse with a kind eye The watercolour head portrait is framed by two pen and wash studies of him in action I visited Lucky and took photographs of his head for the portrait, and used competition photographs for the action pictures
‘Nobby’ Winner of the South Oxfordshire Riding Club portrait prize at the Open Show 2010, Nobby is a stunning horse who has successfully competed in all disciplines
‘Tully’ Tully was a talented irish horse with stunning paces and jump. He evented successfully with his owner and is dreadfully missed: he died of colic aged 11
‘Three Fells’ These three fillies were not impressed at having their photographs taken, and had to be handled one at a time Their characters made them a pleasure to paint though
‘Jake and Max’ Two stunning and well behaved show cobs who were a delight to paint
‘Edward’ ‘Howden Edward’ is a multi-talented New Forest pony who won the portrait prize at the SORC Open Show in 2012
‘Puppies’ These inseparable puppies were six months old at the time of painting
‘Billy’ A delightful sheepdog who despite being desperate to run about, posed beautifully for his photograph to be taken
‘Carrie’ A faithful and law-abiding labrador
‘Barney, Sadie and Pebbles’ Family pets - two Jack Russells and a Collie
‘Bertie’ A rather woolly terrier – painted in watercolour with gouache
‘Simba’ A typical lurcher, loyal and loving with a mind of his own
‘Jade and Amber’ Two colourful and composed Springer spaniels
‘Ruskin and Higgins’
‘Tess’
Two very aristocratic Red Setters
A serene black Labrador (one of many I have painted!)
‘Harvey and Jambo’ Brothers, I believe. Two elegant and self contained pointers – very dignified
‘Cats!’ Cats can be challenging to photograph, but make interesting subjects and I enjoy painting them Please note I own the Copyright of the pictures I have painted so please do not reproduce any images without my permission