True to her usual style, she has painted brightly coloured sweets and toys. Her realistic pictures lead people to believe her pictures are photographs or some photoshop creation when of course they are from her own brush!

‘Lollipop Carousel’ by Sarah Graham
(Limited edition box canvas)

Her unique style is amazing & the attention to detail makes you believe how real they look; Sarah is indeed an extremely talented artist.

I especially love the vibrant colours and the way she has shown the light reflecting in all the creases of the sweet wrappers.

‘Found My Marbles’ by Sarah Graham
(Limited edition box canvas)

Wow. This is a very difficult subject to paint because there is so much light refraction in the glass, distorting the colourful swirls inside. However, Sarah has once again painted this picture so realistically, it could be a photograph! She has even painted every single light reflection, making this a dramatic, colourful yet light piece. I think it was a great idea to place them on a reflecting surface, so that the focus on the marbles is increased even more.

‘Pick n Mix’ by Sarah Graham
(Limited edition box canvas)

This one has to be my favourite! And not because I loved pick n mix as a child! This piece is yet another work by Sarah Graham that is so realistic, you feel like you could take a sweet from the picture and eat it! She has managed to reproduce perfectly the colours and even the varying textures of all the different sweets! Even the sweet bag has been reproduced with super realism; it must be very difficult to paint straight lines on a crinkled bag!

The way she blurs the background enhances the photographic feel of her piece and draws the eye to the places she wants the viewer to look.

Links:

Last ever bag of Woolworths pick n mix sells for £14500!!!
The History Of Marbles

(’Truffle’ by Steven Townsend)

“This is Steven’s latest print called Truffle. Truffle is the first bitch that Steven has ever painted, she is 10 years old and a real character but more importantly she looks like everyone’s idea of a black Labrador.

Truffle lives with her owner Karen Powell in Gosforth in the beautiful Lake District, UK. In her younger days Truffle was a working dog but now is a pet and the only dog to live in Karen’s home.

The dog is pictured on it owns backdoor, the beautiful banks of Wast Water. It is quite a while since Steven painted a dog in a landscape and it is proving to be another ‘Master Of The Hills’ (another of Steve’s classic dog paintings) as far as Steven’s collectors are concerned.”

(’Masters Of The Hills’ by Steven Townsend)

thank you

James

Useful links:

Lake District
Gosforth, Lake District
Wast Water, Lake District

(’Waiting For Stan’)

‘Waiting For Stan’ has become one of Steven Townsend’s best selling limited editions of recent years. There is something about this image that has captured the imagination of Dog lover’s.

The idyllic setting, walking your dog through the surf, with the cool refreshing wind on your face and the salty smell of the sea in your nose, I’m sure triggers memories for a lot of people; however it is the way he has captured the collie in the painting that ’sells’ this picture. So many people have commented to me that the collie ‘is their dog’ and that Steven has captured him or her perfectly. As I’m sure you’ll agree it is an absolute classic image.

(Photo of the beautiful Bamburgh Castle)

Here is the original Press Release from Steven Townsend: “We are pleased to announce the publication in print of the latest dog painting by Steven Townsend.

It is titled ‘Waiting For Stan’ and features a beautiful collie by the name of Ollie on Bamburgh Sands, which is one of Steven’s favourite places. He spotted Ollie, waiting for his owner to catch up, on one of his very early morning walks.

As in all of Steven’s dogs these new prints are already being eagerly awaited and it promises to be another top seller.”

thank you

James

Useful links:
Beaches of Bamburgh Sands
Bamburgh and the Farne Islands

(Limited edition print: ‘Tribute To Moses’)

“This is the new dog from Steven Townsend called ‘Tribute To Moses.’ I am sure no one is going to argue about how handsome a dog Moses is and therefore I do not need to say much more about this really beautiful, friendly natured Black Labrador.

He is four years old, born 26th May 2004 and is the half brother to Monty.(also featured in his own limited print called ‘Monty.’) Both have the same mother, Bif a Field Trial Champion, owned and trained by Jim Swindlehurst.

That is why the 2 pictures Monty & Tribute To Moses go so well together, they really complement each other. Both Monty & Moses are working dogs and are owned and trained by the same owner, David Lloyd, although he does admit that they are also family pets.

Why Tribute to Moses? Well he was named after the owners father Moses, who passed away some 16 years ago. He had a real love for dogs and through out his life had many working dogs including Labradors so it seems a fitting title.”

(Limited edition print: ‘Monty’)

I hope you receive lots of pleasure from Steven latest labrador piece, once again please remember these are limited editions taken from a painting, not a photo! Steven paints in a photo realistic style!

thanks

Russell

Links:
http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/
http://www.thelabradorretrieverclub.com/

(Limited edition print: ‘Tommy’)

“Tommy was named after our 2nd grandson who was the first baby in the UK to be born on Remembrance Day 2008. He is called Tommy in honour of the First World War Veterans. Steven finished the painting on the same day and so it seemed fitting to call it Tommy.

Tommy is in fact Victor, a 1 year old Collie that is already showing great potential in the trialing world but what is more important to Steven is the fact that the dog is very photogenic hence it is one of the very few dogs that Steven has painted twice.”

(Limited edition print: ‘Victor’)

Victor was of course the same dog from the very successful limited edition print of the same name, released May 2008 and featured a head and shoulder study. Steven also tells us that the dog has a lovely temperament and he hopes this comes through in the painting.

As always we have to point out that the 2 pictures here are in fact paintings and not photographs, Steven’s amazing talent allows him to produce near photorealistic paintings!

Thank you

James

(’Victor’ by Steven Townsend)

Steven tells me that ‘Victor is a young dog with a great temperament and a good working dog’ and obviously Steven saw a sparkle in Victor’s eye and decided to put him onto canvas.

Victor is owned by the same local sheep farmer who raised Bill, you may remember that Bill appeared in two other paintings of Stevens: ‘Bill’ and ‘Bill And Ben’, now very valuable Limited Edition prints.

(’Bill & Ben’ by Steven Townsend)

Although Victor was only 1 years old in January 2008, he already one 12 cards for trailing and is showing huge promise for the future. Steven tells me he had great fun spending time with Victor and the dog was very playful and gentle, with a good nature. I feel Steven has really captured this in the limited edition print.

Steven refers to him as a ‘Pretty Type’ Collie, as opposed to Bill, who he thought of as a ‘fighter’

(’Bill’ by Steven Townsend)

Let me know what you think of ‘Victor’

thank you

Russell

Useful links:

What is dog Trailing?:
http://www.sardawales.org.uk/trailing.htm

Discussion On border collie Trailing:
http://www.k9community.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=48697
http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=86569

The detail on this picture has to be seen to be believed: the water and the reflection of the dog, the reflection of the foreground in the water is truly mind blowing, I guess that’s why many people mistake his work to be photographs.

Once again it appears the many hours Steven has put into his art work has paid off. It will be interesting to hear people’s comments on this picture, from artists and customers alike. I think this is easily the best painting I’ve seen of his of a Springer Spaniel.

thank you

Russell