About ME
JANET BIRDTHE ARTIST – JANET Bird
CAPTURING NATURE ON CANVAS
Born and raised on a farm in Northern Ireland, I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by dogs, cats, horses and other animals so it is no surprise I became a wildlife and pet artist, although I do love to try and capture the occasional beautiful landscape too!
I now live in Deddington, a lovely village in rural Oxfordshire surrounded by wildlife rich countryside, and I became an artist almost by accident – I was trying to encourage my then five-year-old daughter to enter a painting in our fabulous parish show, but she refused to do unless I entered something too…so I borrowed her paint set and set to work.
Needless to say, I didn’t win any prizes that year, but I was hooked.
A lovely local artist who had seen my first attempt at painting basically adopted me and introduced me to soft pastels. I still do work in pastel occasionally, but my preferred medium now is oil paint, although I also work in acrylics and watercolour.
As well as being a wildlife artist, I have been fortunate enough to be asked to paint a number of pet portraits. Seeing people’s faces light up as they unwrap a Janet Bird Art pet portrait of their much loved animal is one of the most rewarding elements of my work.