For the fourth year, I skipped Valentine’s, at least in the traditional or commercial sense. What emerged this February instead, was a thing (or a dream,) finally realised and consisting of a portfolio of dogs painted by my own hand in oils on paper.
Beautiful to imagine that you can sometimes combine two or more of your passions to create your greatest one; art in my case. Like many, I am a dog owner and borderline obsessed with canines of every breed and type. For years, I have enjoyed and studied the works of other artists, in particular portraiture and still life painters in the U.K. and worldwide. For years too, I hid away the gift my parents had encouraged me to pursue in order to protect it. I would take kinder to criticism about anything else; art however was too personal and so I threw myself into other jobs and ones that did not entail the skills I took to most naturally.
Now approaching my mid-forties and following a string of circumstances resulting in multiple bruising to the heart and later acceptance, through stillness and gratitude, I am peeling off the thickest layer of skin that had previously shielded me from the forces of critical opinion including my own!
So, I begun again in October 2025 and the gallery in my small studio is growing. I would like to thank a certain group of dog owners, some with social media influence for lifting this project so far. They have, each of them, lent me the tools to manoeuvre an incredible path. With theirs and my parent’s encouragement, I am wintering in my home studio for a few hours every couple days, sketching and producing pieces I couldn’t have imagined this time last year.
I paint dogs as I see them. Each one has a personality and glow about them which I like to capture immediately in the drawing stages. Oils is my chosen medium so it’s too bad I’m not great at cleaning my brushes! These portraits occupy a small space of an A5 paper yet, the dog when it appears, either jumps out or stands quite still with its head straight or tilted. He or she is the main character after all!
On a separate Instagram account @artistjuliaperry where I showcase my works as they are created, I have received the kindest comments, one of which I will share here thanks to a dear friend..
“Jules you’ve captured him beautifully, thank you for your artistry, so grateful.” - Anne
“