A series of illustrations for JJ Murphy & Co

In addition to the pet portraits, every now and again other quite big commercial projects come along. The featured illustration is part of a series of twenty commercial illustrations for Murphy's Irish Stout. The illustrations re created and in some cases re invented a complete poster campaign for Murphy's Irish Stout. Spanning from the turn of the twentieth century up to the nineteen seventies. Different media such as watercolour, gouache and ink were used for the posters in order to reproduce the techniques and styles of the past.

Commissioned by Whitbread Pub Partnership in order to create brand awareness and a visually decorative element to their Irish pubs internationally.

All of the posters were aged with creases and tears and in some cases a little dab of cold tea before being sealed in decorative frames.

A fantastic project from start to finish and I would very much like to work on another like this in the future!

Watercolour Pet Portrait

A watercolour painting of my mum and dad's German Shepherd called Penny. Right from a puppy, just a few weeks old she always had one ear up and the other down.

I took many photos of her for reference and in almost all she has her characteristic mischevious look and her tongue hanging out.

I really enjoyed painting her using artist's watercolours on a heavy weight white watercolour paper. The painting is 12" x 16" framed in an antique silver frame and looks great hanging on my mum's living room wall.

Penny also featured as part of an exhibition of my pet portraits and other paintings at the local heritage centre. A superb venue with a large upstairs art gallery featuring the work of local artists and a separate gallery room that can be hired by individual artists to display their work.