Elizabeth de Broise United Kingdom

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Informed by a fascination with the human/dog relationship and a lifelong love of drawing, I work mostly in colour pencil with a portfolio consisting of over 200 pet portrait commissions alongside project work exploring the dog's role in society.

My practice is inspired by a fascination with the human/dog relationship and a lifelong love of both dogs and drawing. My work is meticulous and detailed, often meditative in practice, and plays to my perfectionist tendencies. Informed by an admiration for realism and figurative art and the satisfaction of recreating subjects on paper, I aim to capture characters, relationships and moments from life, true to life, and work mostly with colour pencil to achieve this.

I believe the process of creating is as important as the final outcome, and often set myself challenges to test different methods. I usually render my drawings in square sections rather than layering, enabling me to give equal attention to every detail, and exploring the relationship between abstract and representational art.

My portfolio consists of over 200 pet portraits commissioned by owners looking for a lasting memory of their beloved companion, alongside project work driven by a desire to celebrate the many ways that dogs help, protect and enrich people’s lives. I am particularly intrigued by the unique nature of our relationship with dogs, that they have become so ingrained in our daily lives and how we have utilised their capacity for learning and distinctive characteristics to fulfil various roles in society that we as humans cannot.

My work has recently made a shift from formal portraits to depictions of detailed scenes on a larger scale, incorporating a narrative element and portraying moments of interaction between owner and pet, an unspoken connection that I feel lends itself to representation through visual art.