About Me  click on the image to visit my photo albums My name is Karie-Ann Cooper and I am a part time pet portraits and wildlife artist living in the beautiful Royal Forest of Dean and within the county of Herefordshire. I am also a full time civil servant with a wonderful outdoors job allowing me to take my dog to work with me each day. I am a self taught artist and my love of animals and all things creative has allowed me to begin my own small portraits business. I enjoy being able to bring a photograph to life and creating wonderful tributes to beloved pets that are still a big part of the family or have long since departed and my portraits provide a link to happy memories of the past I am: A Virgo A 70s child Animal rescuer war film, Dirty Harry and Inspector Morse mad dedicated radio listener "You made my son's Christmas. He couldn't put it down all day..."   read more testimonials from satisfied customers My Art and Mediums  click on the image to read about my techniques When producing my portraits I use both graphite and colour pencils as they allow me to create highly detailed and accurate pieces. Although they are labour intensive, pencils are ideal for my type of art and I love being able to put so much detail into each portrait to capture the charactor of each animal exactly. Read my techniques page to find out more information. I use a variety of supports which allow different different techniques to be used and allow me to create different styles, traditional paper allows for intense blending and layering whereas drafting film dictates exact colour matching due to the lack of layering but each pencil stroke is dominant, allowing life-like fur and feathers to be painted in detail. I use: Derwent Artists, Derwent Coloursoft, Stabilo Aquarelle and Prismacolor pencils Fabrino Paper Polydraw Drafting Film Exhibitions and studio click on the image for the latest studio news I regularly exhibited with the West Gloucestershire Art Society throughout 2008 and 2009 at various locations in the Royal Forest of Dean and Gloucestershire winning prizes for the best painting in show on several occasions. I am undertaking my first solo show in February 2010 so check back for pictures and information nearer the time. I hope to increase the number of exhibitions I take part in this year and as they are organised I will add details here.  I use:  Nikon D40x camera Compaq PC Acer Laptop HP printer scanner Meet the family click on the image to meet my pets You will soon tell as you browse through my website and blog that I am a bit animal and pet mad. We have a large and ever growing population of chickens, pheasants, ducks and geese plus 'a few' rabbits and guinea pigs to keep me busy. I have: 3 dogs, 1 terrier, 1 springer spaniel, 1 german shepherd 1 part-time cat! 16 geese 7 toulouse dewlap, 9 embden 150 chickens 50 ornamental pheasants 40 ducks 5 rabbits 3 guinea pigs 2 fish tanks to name but a few! My Home and Local Area click on the image to visit my home and area I live in the beautiful county of Herefordshire. An image of fields and green farmland will spring to mind and it is as stunning as you can imagine. Our garden is just inside the boundary of The Royal Forest of Dean which is an amazing area.  Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings was based on Puzzlewood, a local tourist attraction after Tolkien visited in his younger years. Well known tourist places include: Symonds Yat Rock  - where peregrine falcons nest and raise young Clearwell Caves  - you can visit these ancient cave systems Ross-on-Wye - a well known old fashioned market town which is a very popular tourist location Puzzlewood The Severn Bore - early each year a tide forces itself upstream and surfers attempt to ride it without falling in The Dean Heritage Museum - details the history of the Royal Forest of Dean Bluebells and Daffodil walks - People travel from far and wide to see the wonderful display of these flowers the woods show each year.   See more portrait art to see how it is created step by step by visiting my blog Read how to make pet portraits and wildlife art commissions Find out prices, sizes and mediums available for wildlife art and pet paintings Buy a gift certificate for pet portraits and wildlife paintings