Artist Elsa Truman- Rickett started experimenting in art from an early age ‘messing about with paint-points’ following in the footsteps of her artist mother. Studying at Newark College after school she worked her way up to receiving a Fine Art and History of Art degree at Oxford Brookes University. Followed by a Museums, Heritage and Galleries postgraduate degree at Nottingham Trent University. She initially started work at Newark College with bright Pop art style paintings and Elsa’s work currently follows an illustrative and eye-catching graphic style with watercolour and bold markers. Despite doing some illustration work in the past, Elsa has never assigned herself to this art form, Illustration is a style she has always admired and has given her the ability to grow her paintings into a ‘story tale’.

Dogs are the main theme of Elsa’'s work as she explains getting to know the faces of her sitters so well allows her to capture their personality and energy into the paintings. Her love for her subjects runs through the work with playful characteristics present in the style such as tuxedos in ‘Frenchie Suit’ and steampunk accessories in ‘Steampunk Lab’ (seen below). The process of her work starts with sketching from photos for the perfect pose, then using washed out acrylics to create a coloured base and finally applying ink to define the detailed features. Ultimately coming together in paintings that demonstrate the vibrant depiction of her love for dogs.

Inspirations for Elsa’s work starts with the simple things such as a simple as a walk, absorbing everything around her. Since become a mother to a her now one year old son, his illustrated children’s books have sparked her imagination. The beautiful depictions of fairy-tale scene such as Beatrix Potter’s works, allow her to gain inspiration from a new and endless source.

While illustration is fairly new to Elsa, she won an exhibition in ‘Le Loovre’ space following our recent Street Art exhibition. The piece that won was ‘French Bulldog’ (see below). She explains she was surprised by winning a prize, as it was the first exhibition she has submitted in since having Oscar (her son), and so was scared to put her work back out there. Despite this initial fear, it is clear that Elsa’s work was a hit, her dog portraits were a great representation of characters that saw everyone fascinated in her art.

Currently, Elsa is looking forward to her upcoming exhibition in Le Loovre, and after taken a much deserved rest she aims to expand her collection of works. By creating a wider variety of anthropomorphic animals she was be able to capture even more unique characters and explore her illustrative work further.

If you want to see more of Elsa’s art visit her new Etsy shop ‘PawsFourArt’, and see her latest work!