As soon as I could hold a pencil, my love of animals inspired me to draw them. My earliest recollections of this passion are of endless hours spent copying from picture books, or following our cats around the house and garden, armed with a sketchbook.

When I was 18, a friend asked me to draw her dogs for her, and I have officially been an "Animal Portrait Artist" ever since, for more than twenty years.

Then, at the age of 35, I did something I had always longed to do -- I went to Art College! Six years and a degree in Fine Art and a PGCE in adult education later, and I have once again returned to my first love -- Animal Portraiture! It seems that, although I now teach various kinds of art, and have dabbled in many different mediums and styles, the thing I still get most fulfillment from is drawing and painting animals, and seeing the pleasure I can give to other people by doing so.

I work in a little studio (tiny spare bedroom!) in the country home I share with my partner, Phil, dogs Phoebe and Cassy, and cats Harvey-Nicholas, Cloe, three-legged Elfie, and the baby (and boss!) of the family, a very loud siamese cross kitten, Maisie, in a cottage on top of a hill, with vast panoramic views of the far north of Cumbria, as it meets the far south of the borders of Scotland.