Discover the new collection at the Lucy Pittaway Art Gallery

"My complete and utter love of dogs. I grew up with dogs in our family, we had four at one point along with other animals; cats, chickens, guinea pigs. Dogs have always been part of my life and it feels very relaxing and natural to be around them. I’ve had so many different breeds across the years and they give you so much joy and companionship; it’s a special connection we have with our pets.

I also get a lot of feedback from people who would like to see my artistic style incorporated into a collection like this, so it’s been on the cards for a while, it was just a case of finding the right time. My hope for this collection is that it’s another body of work that brings people joy and they smile when they see the humour in the pieces. All dogs have such different personalities and character traits and I hope I get these across in my pieces.

It helps that my team are also dog crazy, we have 51 staff members and over 45 dogs between them!

I follow my love of dogs through into our stores with all our galleries being dog friendly. They always get such a fuss made of them whenever someone brings them in to a gallery."

Have you enjoyed creating the collection?

"It’s been a real rollercoaster this one. I’ve loved every minute of it, but it hasn’t always been easy, some pieces have been incredibly challenging. No matter how much I love dogs, the reality of painting them was out of my comfort zone. As a subject, dogs are quite different to sheep, and it took me a while to fully understand this and be able to represent the expressions and personalities of each one. This was particularly difficult on the pieces that included multiple dogs because I was trying to accurately reflect the breed and facial expressions based on the context of the piece whilst also keeping it light-hearted and quirky.

What was your favourite piece to paint?

I enjoyed painting ‘Duvet Day’ and ‘The Naughty Step’, I kept catching myself smiling as I was working on these pieces. ‘The Naughty Step’ is such a fun piece and I really wanted to capture the guilty look in the dog’s face and felt that I got it across just right.

But my overall favourite piece in the collection is ‘Duvet Day’. It’s just so different to the other pieces, and I was really pleased with the outcome. The look of the puppy in the middle is just as I visualised, slightly squished and so happy and content."

What made this the right time to launch this collection?

"2023 has already been a year of immense change for our business and I wanted to follow that through into my artwork. I’m psyched up and ready, and now is the perfect opportunity to do it whilst we were already geared up for change. There are even more changes to come this year and I’m ready to showcase new and different artwork themes."

Did Someone Say Cake Sketch (Image: Lucy Pittaway Art Gallery)

About Lucy Pittaway  

As the ‘UK’s Most Popular Published Artist’*, Lucy is a multi-award-winning artist, proudly running a family-owned business with beautiful art galleries and a successful e-commerce website serving customers around the world. Offering stunning original works of art, Giclee prints and striking canvases as well as ceramics, textiles, and stationery; making beautiful gifts or additions to any home. Lucy’s full body of work can be viewed online at lucypittaway.co.uk or in one of her galleries located across the North East, North West and Yorkshire.  

*Awarded by the Fine Art Trade Guide since 2018.