‘Life from life'

Artwork created from real-life subjects brings more depth than that created from photos alone, though it is not for the faint of heart. Martha Terry finds out why the extra effort is worth it to create sensational results

- Martha Terry

NEVER work with children or animals, so the saying goes – advice largely ignored by the readers of this magazine. It’s particularly apt when trying to immortalise an animal at its most delightful in a portrait. Whereas a camera affords infinite attempts to nail the perfect shot, capturing one representation of a horse in oil paints or bronze ramps up the challenge.

The internet is rife with picture-perfect pet portraits in crayons and coloured pencils: email a photo of your pet’s head, job done. It looks exactly like the “sitter”, but perhaps a trifle too perfect, just a photo in another form. The great Stubbs and Munnings were creating their masterpieces before the camera was in common use, but would they have used photos if they lived in this era? Would their paintings have danced with life, colour and light in the same way?

Photography has of course revolutionised the way artists can work, but there are some who persist in starting out with the real, living, breathing – and kicking – subject in an attempt to imbue the two-dimensional portrait with a heartbeat.

UP-and-coming talent Madeleine Bunbury (pictured with her muse, ex-racer Ernest) models herself “100% on George Stubbs”, as is evident from her series of large canvases with rich, shiny coated horses set against muted khaki backgrounds à la Whistlejacket. Madeleine tries to paint exclusively from life.