Julia Heath Pet Portraits

Julia Heath Pet Portraits - Pet Portraitist in Ruthin, Denbighshire

 I live in the countryside of North Wales, and have always had a passion for dogs and drawing. I have studied different techniques and styles of drawing, using my own animals, and those of family and friends as subjects.

I take commissions worldwide and have had some of my artwork published in art magazines In the UK and USA. I am a collector of dog art and have antique dog paintings for sale together with some of my own original artwork.

My Medium
I work in pastels and coloured pencils and find that both techniques adapt well to animals. I first learned to draw in pastels and found them to be very suitable for pet portraits in particular. A mixture of hard and soft pastels and pastel pencils are used to achieve different fur textures.

Coloured pencils can provide a smooth satin finish but take longer to draw because many layers of colour are slowly added to build up depth and richness of colour. Finer levels of detail can be achieved with this technique.

My Inspiration
My studio assistant is Diesel the Doberman. As an animal lover myself I am inspired by art depicting animals, especially dogs.  I also like to draw birds of prey and wildlife, and hope to capture the character of every animal I draw, whether it be a dog, cat, horse, bird or wildlife.

I feel that the character of any animal comes from the eyes, and consider it to be the most important part of any drawing. The eyes are often the first thing I draw in a portrait, giving me an immediate connection with my subject.

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