Style and lots of it

Scottish artist, Angela Davidson, is well known amongst Scotland’s dog and horse circles for her unusual animal portraits. She talks to Jane Pruden and explains why size is everything.

For a long time cute pastel portraits of pets have been Angela Davidson’s stock-in-trade but for a really different and contemporary memento, she focuses on the up close and personal aspect of an animal’s personality and magnifies it. A section of a horse’s face or the eye of a dog certainly makes a striking picture.

Angela, 38, grew up in rural Scotland in the village of Aberlour, Speyside. As a schoolgirl she was drawn between pursuing her love of sport; regularly running and playing hockey for her school and county or art. But thanks to a supportive art teacher, who spotted her talents, she was encouraged to put together an impressive portfolio that was to win her a place at art college in Aberdeen.

The only course available was retail display; learning how to dress shop windows and produce marketing material. “I would have liked to have done the graphics course,” explains Angela. “I wanted to learn all about the different aspects of design but it did help me to get some good jobs and I did complete a special design course at the end of my three years. But I knew that the only thing I really wanted to do was to draw animals.”

A merchandising career followed in Littlewoods before starting up a business with a girlfriend from work calling themselves Creations Display Specialists. The work was plentiful and success was achieved, but the aching feeling to branch out and draw animals proved too much and after about four years she took the plunge to pursue her dream. “I took a part-time job as a post lady in the small Aberdeenshire village of Alford and when I wasn’t delivering mail, I was concentrating on my real passion, drawing and painting animals. The inspiration in the countryside is all around you. Farmyard animals, horses, cows, stunning views, everything an artist could wish for,” she added.

Commissions were building up for the dog and horse portraits and her presence at local craft fairs and pony club events brought in even more work. But the real break; to make a career out of her artistic ability came when she met and married her husband, Sandy Paton. He believed she had the potential to turn her creativity into a business. “He is my biggest inspiration. He encourages me to push myself and to go for it,” she points out. As a helicopter engineer, he couldn’t have been further removed from the art scene but his intuition proved to be right and with the confidence that he was able to instill into Angela came a new, far more positive approach to her work. Her previously untapped ability to express the feelings and true characteristics of animals in such a vibrant and powerful manner was finally allowed to flourish and some amazing results were being produced.

From an old mill in their garden, that has been part-converted into a huge, airy studio, Angela started experimenting with large box canvasses and oil paints. One metre high by 30 centimetre paintings of sections of horses or dogs faces make the most memorable impact. Using a palette knife, the expression and detail in an eye or the positioning of a star or blaze down a horses face is captured without compromise. “All sorts of people are buying them,” says Angela, “even people who have no real interest in any particular animal. I think they just like them for what they are. I suppose it must be because they are a bit different.”

The new work has proved to be hugely popular and the commercial nature of Sandy’s involvement helped launch the print business. Much of Angela’s work is printed in limited editions to sell at trade fairs. She is also exhibiting at The Royal Highland Show and The CLA Game Fair for the fourth consecutive year and the commissions continue to flood in.

With a three-year-old little boy, Lawrie and more work than can barely be fitted into an already hectic schedule, Angela is not surprisingly booked up until the beginning of 2008. In addition to the animals, she has an extensive portfolio of other contemporary work including huge sections of flowers and still life’s. She appears to have touched on a style that has captured people’s imaginations and as dog and horse portraits go, they are certainly spectacular. www.angeladavidson.com

 
 
 

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