Category: Dog Art

http://www.fineartblog.co.uk/?p=711

Steven Townsend is famous in the UK & overseas for his artwork and his limited edition paintings of Border Collie sheep dogs. Many that follow his work & his photo realistic style, know his art is often mistaken for photography & ‘Ready To Start’ is no exception

‘Ready To Start’ limited edition print by Steven Townsend
Available on paper or canvas edition

For the first time in 3 years, in fact almost exactly 3 years, Steven has released a brand new border collie limited edition called ‘Ready To Start’ & the dog Victor is pictured in between some very famous landmarks in the Lake District in the UK. Just how many landmarks and tourist areas Victor was standing in between, was a surprise…

We caught up with Steven Townsend and he talks us through the Lake District backdrop in ‘Ready To Start’:

“This is one of my favourite collies to paint & it features the dog ‘Victor’ the same dog who is in the paintings ‘Victor’ and ‘Tommy’ (‘Tommy’ features Victor but I choose the name Tommy for the painting!) & the dog is about 4-5 years old

This is a very popular walker’s area in the Lake District, the area is called ‘Deepdale Hause.’ Victor is actually on the cross roads & you can access this spot from so many different areas.

‘Tommy’ limited edition print by Steven Townsend
Available on paper or canvas edition

Original post on: ‘Tommy’ & ‘Victor’
http://www.fineartblog.co.uk/?p=215

At the back we you can see ‘Grisedale Tarn’ (‘tarn’ is a mountain lake or pool) & just off at the left of the picture, behind the first mountain you can see ‘Seat Sandle’ behind it, another very famous landmark.

Now looks at Victor’s mouth and directly where the pink part of his mouth points, can you see the small mountain path? that is ‘Falcon Crag.’

Victor himself is looking towards the ‘Grisedale Valley.’ (not pictured)

Above Victor’s ears in the far distance (and quite greyed out) is ‘Buttemere Range’, or ‘Scarfell Range’ an absolutely massive area (‘Scafell Pike’ is the highest mountain in England)

Lastly, the hill to the left of the picture, showing in shadow, if you go up that it leads to Fairfield.

Geologically this painting is spot on, rock for rock. (i.e. its 100% accurate) I thoroughly enjoyed photographing Victor for this new painting and it was a pleasure to be in ‘Deepdale Hause.’ (Steven goes out and takes 100s of photographs, then comes back to his studio and paints from them) There are lots of sheep up there all around (not pictured) and as it moves into the evening, you can look out and see scores of white eyes all around in the fields, as the sheep sit down and move around.” (Steve chuckles)

We hope you enjoyed this & below is our largest ever set of links from Fine Art Blog to the areas Steven Townsend mentioned:

Thank you

James

Useful links:
Grisedale Tarn from Deepdale Hause
http://www.lakedistrictwalks.com/gritfdp.html

Lake District
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/

Grisedale Tarn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisedale_Tarn

Seat Sandal
http://www.stridingedge.net/wainwright%20fells/M-Z/Seat%20Sandal.htm

Falcon Crag
http://www.braithwaite-cottage.co.uk/falcon.htm

Grisedale Valley
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crayzy_ray/4942601298/

Buttermere Range/Lake
http://www.visitcumbria.com/cm/buttermere-lake.htm

Scafell Pike
http://english-lake-district.info/scafell-pike/scafell-pike.html

Fairfield
http://www.walkingenglishman.com/lakes2.htm

Better late than never again, we now have a quick press release about Steven Townsend latest painting, yes it is a limited edition print from a painting and not a photo!

(‘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