TigerTime – Save the Tiger

The Premier of China, Wen Jiabao has publicly stated that he is committed to saving the wild tiger. However, his government is allowing trade in tiger skins from tiger farms and skins taken before poaching was outlawed. This trade is acting as a smokescreen for skins taken by killing wild tigers. If China does not stop this trade, the wild tiger is doomed.

We are getting ever closer to 40,000 signatures for PLEASE sign the petition.

During Black Cat Awareness Day, on October the 27th, Cats Protection are asking  cat lovers to share photos of their black cats on their flickr site, facebook page or their flickr page or tweet mentioning @CatsProtection and #CPBlackCats . They will select some of their favourite photos and create a gallery of them.

The Prize

I am going to select a winner from the gallery and paint a 10×8 inch portrait of the winning cat! :-)

So if you fancy a portrait of your beautiful black puss upload your photo to http://www.facebook.com/catsprotection and tell people how wonderful our black cats are and maybe you could win a painting of your cat.

Why

Black Cat Awareness Day from Cats Protection aims to help around 1,300 unwanted black cats who are being overlooked by potential owners. Black cats make up one fifth of the total number of cats being looked after by Cats Protection, and each black cat is waiting a week longer to find a home compared to the average cat.

To adopt a black cat, please log on to www.cats.org.uk for details of your local Cats Protection branch or centre.

To see some of my paintings of black cats including my rescue boy Harry take a look at the Fascinating Felines Gallery.

On Thursday 27 October, Cats Protection will be holding a Black Cat Awareness Day. They say….

It seems that black cats get over looked when people are choosing cats! How sad is that? Cats Protection say that around 20 per cent of cats in their care are black cats and, for whatever reason, often take longer to find new homes while their would-be adopters plump for torties, tabbies and gingers.

Cats Protection  will be running a social media campaign on that day, but need our help to make it a success. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter – to keep in touch with what they’re doing.

I certainly will, our most recent cat is a black cat and a rescue. The fabulous Harry. Huge, soppy and a great cuddle. I can highly recommend black cats! :-)

The annual Exhibition for The Society of Feline Artists is now on at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in London (opposite The Old Vic, Waterloo). The show runs until the 16th of September.

And here are my paintings…

Photos of the hang and of the private view can seen on the SOFA blog. There’s a slideshow with plenty of photos so you can get a good look around the show. Almost as good as being there.

It was a very busy week last week at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park. It was so lovely to meet so many people at the show and thank you to all of you who came on the private view evening as all your ticket price went to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home! And of course to everyone who bought paintings as well.

The show was opened by Catherine Tate who is a long time supporter of Battersea. Here she is on our stand with some of the work behind her, some of mine and some of Sarah Cleggs.

And here she is with Lola.

We had a very successful week and raised a lot of money for Battersea. So thanks to everyone who came and helped raise funds for Battersea.

All proceeds from the tickets for the charity private view on the 9th of March will go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the chosen charity for the fair in March. So come along to the Affordable Art Fair at Battersea Park in London and be the first to see some wonderful art from over 120 British and International galleries.

The painting of Lola, a 20×16 inch oil on canvas, will be on sale on the Battersea stand with 100% of the price going to Battersea Dogs Home.

And finally, I will be there on the private view evening at the Battersea stand to chat about animals and art. So please do come along and support Battersea Dogs and Cats Home at the Affordable Art Fair on March the 9th. It would be lovely to see you there.

Charity Private View
09 March 2011
5.30pm – 9.30pm
Battersea Evolution,
Battersea Park,
London SW11 4NJ
(Google map)

Book your ticket now.

Come to the Charity Private View of the Affordable Art Fair at Battersea Park on the 9th of March.

The ticket proceeds from the charity private view go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the chosen charity for this event. Tickets cost £25 and if you book them in advance all money raised will be used to support the lost, abandoned and forgotten animals that come in to the Home this year.

Battersea is one of the most famous and longest-serving charities in the UK, re-homing and caring for over three million lost and abandoned animals since the Home’s establishment in 1860.

Buy a ticket, enjoy an evening of art and help Battersea to help dogs and cats in need!

This is one of two pieces I’ve donated to The Battersea Dog and Cats Home to help raise funds. It’s their 150th anniversary this year and there’s a ball on the 25th of November. I hope Thrill Of The Chase will raise a bit of cash for them. Especially as the home has so many Staffordshire Bull Terriers needing a good home! I thought this 20×16 inch painting of a staffy chasing seagulls on the beach would be the right painting to donate.

This is one of the largest prints I’ve done. Its a 20×16 inch print of In The Pink in a 24×30 inch frame. This is the second piece I’ve donated to Battersea for their fund raising.

It was quite an adventure taking them over there in the high winds we had. For a couple of sticky moments I thought I might get blown across London, arriving by air instead of road! :-)

This  is a 20×16 inch painting on board of the famous and handsome dog Brahmin, standing in front of the Boston Lighthouse.

This is a very special painting. It’s going to be auctioned at the American Bullmastiff Association Art Auction, in Boston, on the 24th of September. The proceeds will go to the ABA to help with the work they do with bullmastiffs. All animals charities are struggling in these difficult times, so I hope this painting will help raise much needed funds for ABA and bullmastiffs.

It’s taken me a few days but I’ve finally got the photos from Bromley sorted out and up op on flickr!  Here they are….

Or view the slide show.

Cats, Dogs and Other Animals is on at The Ripley Arts Centre until the 28th of August.

View Full Album

Our annual open studio event is underway in Lingfield. As usual it’s been very busy, lots of people have been to visit us. This year as well as Lois and myself we have a jeweller, Helen Morris-Clarke, who has her beautiful jewellery on show in the gallery alongside the paintings. Follow the link to take a look at this years show, as well as photos of the animals who had plenty of visitors themselves.

On Saturday we had a Pimms afternoon. It was a lovely sunny day and we had some wonderful food to go with our Pimms. People came all through the afternoon and into the evening to look at the gallery, have a Pimms and enjoy chatting in the sunshine in the garden.

We are open again this week until Sunday.

The SOFA show is on now at the Llewellyn Alexander gallery in Waterloo. The private view was on Tuesday and I’ve put photos up on flickr of the show.

view the slide show