W&N materials used
Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour
About Melanie Phillips
"My name is Melanie Phillips and I am a professional animal artist, painting dogs, cats and horses in oils on canvas.
Following on from A-level art and a years foundation course I studied Natural History Illustration at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. This gave me a wonderful grounding drawing and painting animals, plants and wildlife. I undertook my first pet portrait commission whilst at college and after my finals exhibition in London, set up my own business in Pet Portraiture."
Melanie Phillips's Work
"Having used mainly acrylic paints for my illustration work I began offering these as my preferred medium for my pet portraits. I painted in a more illustrative style on board, but as my confidence grew and methods developed, I moved to painting acrylics on stretched canvas in a larger more painterly style.
This gave my paintings the feel I was looking for, however I was never fully happy with acrylics as they dried very quickly, even combined with various slow drying mediums. I wanted the ability to be able to blend for hours or days if needed.
Oils were the obvious alternative, but I found the odour and mess off putting. So you can imagine my delight some years later to find Winsor and Newton had produced a water soluble version of the traditional oils. There was no odour, no mess, they were easy to use and very simple to clean. Perfect!
I now specialise in Artisan Water Soluble oil paints and have been using them for quite a few years. I wrote and now tutor the Pet Portrait Diploma course for the London Art College distance learning courses, so I have a large amount of students worldwide. Within the course I demonstrate a variety of step by step paintings and explain the various methods involved and the techniques I use. The course is very hands on including brushing up your general drawing skills, painting and drawing animals and tips on starting your own business. It's a very popular course.
I also own a Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum which has been running for just over two years and we have over 400 members all paintings and drawing pets and wildlife, a good percentage of whom also use water soluble oils. It is an invaluable resource and a very friendly and welcoming place to be."
Melanie Phillips uses Winsor & Newton because
Oils were the obvious alternative, but I found the odour and mess off putting. So you can imagine my delight some years later to find Winsor and Newton had produced a water soluble version of the traditional oils. There was no odour, no mess, they were easy to use and very simple to clean. Perfect!
For further information on Melanie Phillips visit:
http://www.pet-portraitartist.com