Artist: Deborah Sheehy

Medium: Acrylic on card

Dimensions: 4.5” x 5.5”

Year: 2013

This little badger is the first painting I completed where I realised that being an artist was not only something that I wanted to be, but something that I am. I’m not sure why it was this little guy that brought about the pivotal change in my relationship with making art.

Maybe it was the first painting that I was truly happy with.

Or maybe it’s that this creature represented what I really loved to paint – the creatures of the earth, but not as purely representational art or traditional animal portraits.

Rather it is painting creatures and conveying the sense of wonder that I have in my enjoyment of the wild world. The look in a n animal’s eye that communicates that it is a living, breathing character with feelings, needs and its own particular beauty.

I have kept the original of this painting in my private collection as a reminder of the moment which marked the beginning of my journey as a professional artist.