My pets... and other portraits
Fiona Scott had a favourite way of waking up in her student digs when she was at college in Dundee, studying to be an artist. Sleepy-eyed, she would turn on the television and watch her big sister Selina. In those days, back in the early 1980s, when Fiona could only dream of becoming a successful painter, Selina was one of the most famous women in Britain. She was anchoring breakfast television, was friends with Princess Diana and was chatted up by Prince Andrew when she presented the Terry Wogan show.
‘It was actually quite embarrassing for me,’ says Fiona today. ‘When I got to class, all the other students would take the mickey out of me for being Selina’s sister. I used to sit up in bed with a cup of tea and watch my sister on BBC Breakfast, chatting away to the biggest stars of the day. It was really quite weird.’
But there is every indication now that Fiona, 10 years Selina’s junior, has at last come out from her sister’s shadow and is becoming a star in her own right. Her paintings now hang in some of the finest homes in the UK. For when the great and the good, celebrities and the aristocracy want their pet’s portrait painted, Fiona is the woman they call.
Her pictures of dogs, cats, horses, highland cattle, geese, goats and even humble rabbits are among the most prized possessions of those who have commissioned her. Davina Sheffield, who is related to Samantha Cameron and was once tipped to marry Prince Charles, has several pictures painted by Fiona of her menagerie of dogs and horses. The Honourable Simon Howard of Castle Howard, the fictional setting for Brideshead Revisited, has not only had his much-loved Labradors painted by Fiona, but also his children Merlin and Octavia. It is quite something for Fiona to have her work hanging beside the finest Old Masters.
It is the same at Knowsley Hall, seat of Lord Derby, whose celebrated ancestor founded the famous horse race. In fact, the late Lord Derby was one of the first to recognise Fiona’s talents nearly 20 years ago and invited her to paint his gun dogs. ‘The way I usually work,’ says Fiona, ‘is to visit the home of the owner’ and take lots of photographs. I then study the photographs from all the different angles and try to capture the subject’s true personality.
Painting animals is extremely difficult as unlike people, you can’t tell them not to jump about. And they really do have to look like the owner’s pet. It is no good just doing a painting of a Labrador. They have got to immediately recognise the dog as their Labrador.’
Sometimes, in the pursuit of the authentic, Fiona has risked life and limb. ‘I once had to trudge through a muddy field to get to some broody mares that I had been asked to paint. I wanted to photograph them. They were in no mood to stand still and they didn’t like the look of me much. So they were kicking and bucking and running away.
‘I thought, “Oh dear, this is going to be difficult.” Then everything just got worse. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a herd of bullocks coming towards me. They wanted to know what all the commotion was about. I honestly thought I would be trampled to death. I was terrified. And to make matters worse, the groom told me not to run when all I wanted to do was get out of there.’
Fiona is talking to me in the big kitchen of her family farmhouse in North Yorkshire, heated by a massive Aga, close to which she has placed a near-dead lamb to warm its little body. Fiona and her husband Mark farm 1,000 acres in the old North Riding.
‘It is mainly arable,’ she tells me, ‘but we also have 1,200 pigs and 250 sheep, so life is never dull.’ Fiona, like her sister Selina, is an attractive blonde. She has four children: Sam, 18, Henry, 14, Ted, 12, and Lily, seven. All, at some time or other, have been painted by her and she submitted a portrait of Ted, mud-splattered and disappointed after a defeat in a school rugby match, for exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Her great influence is David Hockney who lives nearby.
‘I love his colours and his line,’ she says. ‘I have been mad about painting since I could walk. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a sketchbook in my hand. I have got three sisters and a brother and they all had to sit for me.
‘We had lots of pets around the house as well and I was always drawing cats and dogs. And we still have pets today, so I have plenty of inspiration. We have a terrier puppy called Bunny, but also 12 farm cats who travel around in a pack. One of them, Chris, has a trick that would be a worldwide hit if it were on YouTube. He goes on to the trampoline in the garden and loves to dance up and down on his paws as if he were human.’
Fiona is able to capture not only the shape and look of an animal, but also its inner spirit. Birthday and Christmas- card manufacturers beat a path to her door. Medici has commissioned her to produce several different images of ducks, geese, cows and bulls that sell in shops all over the country.
But one of her bestselling cards is an adorable painting of her seven-year-old daughter Lily, sitting on a sledge in the snowy countryside.
There are signs also that Fiona is attracting a commendable international reputation. She has just dispatched to America a full-scale canvas of a highland bull called Donald, ordered by a powerful Washington lobbyist. It will be seen by influential congressmen and senators at the lobbyist’s home on Capitol Hill.
She recently finished a painting of Hugh Gilbert, the Bishop of Aberdeen, sitting in his library in ecclesiastical robes and takes pride in her portraits of sister Selina, which shows the television presenter not in a glamorous pose, but sitting in a relaxed mood in a chair in her kitchen with her sheepdog, Nip, at her feet. This was exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at their galleries in the Mall.
There can be little doubt that in time, Fiona’s work will begin to command considerable fees. The art market has proved to be one of the few hedges against inflation and poor interest rates. And what a beautiful addition to any home her paintings make.
For more about Fiona Scott: www.fionascott.net
‘It was actually quite embarrassing for me,’ says Fiona today. ‘When I got to class, all the other students would take the mickey out of me for being Selina’s sister. I used to sit up in bed with a cup of tea and watch my sister on BBC Breakfast, chatting away to the biggest stars of the day. It was really quite weird.’
But there is every indication now that Fiona, 10 years Selina’s junior, has at last come out from her sister’s shadow and is becoming a star in her own right. Her paintings now hang in some of the finest homes in the UK. For when the great and the good, celebrities and the aristocracy want their pet’s portrait painted, Fiona is the woman they call.
Her pictures of dogs, cats, horses, highland cattle, geese, goats and even humble rabbits are among the most prized possessions of those who have commissioned her. Davina Sheffield, who is related to Samantha Cameron and was once tipped to marry Prince Charles, has several pictures painted by Fiona of her menagerie of dogs and horses. The Honourable Simon Howard of Castle Howard, the fictional setting for Brideshead Revisited, has not only had his much-loved Labradors painted by Fiona, but also his children Merlin and Octavia. It is quite something for Fiona to have her work hanging beside the finest Old Masters.
It is the same at Knowsley Hall, seat of Lord Derby, whose celebrated ancestor founded the famous horse race. In fact, the late Lord Derby was one of the first to recognise Fiona’s talents nearly 20 years ago and invited her to paint his gun dogs. ‘The way I usually work,’ says Fiona, ‘is to visit the home of the owner’ and take lots of photographs. I then study the photographs from all the different angles and try to capture the subject’s true personality.
Painting animals is extremely difficult as unlike people, you can’t tell them not to jump about. And they really do have to look like the owner’s pet. It is no good just doing a painting of a Labrador. They have got to immediately recognise the dog as their Labrador.’
Sometimes, in the pursuit of the authentic, Fiona has risked life and limb. ‘I once had to trudge through a muddy field to get to some broody mares that I had been asked to paint. I wanted to photograph them. They were in no mood to stand still and they didn’t like the look of me much. So they were kicking and bucking and running away.
‘I thought, “Oh dear, this is going to be difficult.” Then everything just got worse. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a herd of bullocks coming towards me. They wanted to know what all the commotion was about. I honestly thought I would be trampled to death. I was terrified. And to make matters worse, the groom told me not to run when all I wanted to do was get out of there.’
Fiona is talking to me in the big kitchen of her family farmhouse in North Yorkshire, heated by a massive Aga, close to which she has placed a near-dead lamb to warm its little body. Fiona and her husband Mark farm 1,000 acres in the old North Riding.
‘It is mainly arable,’ she tells me, ‘but we also have 1,200 pigs and 250 sheep, so life is never dull.’ Fiona, like her sister Selina, is an attractive blonde. She has four children: Sam, 18, Henry, 14, Ted, 12, and Lily, seven. All, at some time or other, have been painted by her and she submitted a portrait of Ted, mud-splattered and disappointed after a defeat in a school rugby match, for exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Her great influence is David Hockney who lives nearby.
‘I love his colours and his line,’ she says. ‘I have been mad about painting since I could walk. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a sketchbook in my hand. I have got three sisters and a brother and they all had to sit for me.
‘We had lots of pets around the house as well and I was always drawing cats and dogs. And we still have pets today, so I have plenty of inspiration. We have a terrier puppy called Bunny, but also 12 farm cats who travel around in a pack. One of them, Chris, has a trick that would be a worldwide hit if it were on YouTube. He goes on to the trampoline in the garden and loves to dance up and down on his paws as if he were human.’
Fiona is able to capture not only the shape and look of an animal, but also its inner spirit. Birthday and Christmas- card manufacturers beat a path to her door. Medici has commissioned her to produce several different images of ducks, geese, cows and bulls that sell in shops all over the country.
But one of her bestselling cards is an adorable painting of her seven-year-old daughter Lily, sitting on a sledge in the snowy countryside.
There are signs also that Fiona is attracting a commendable international reputation. She has just dispatched to America a full-scale canvas of a highland bull called Donald, ordered by a powerful Washington lobbyist. It will be seen by influential congressmen and senators at the lobbyist’s home on Capitol Hill.
She recently finished a painting of Hugh Gilbert, the Bishop of Aberdeen, sitting in his library in ecclesiastical robes and takes pride in her portraits of sister Selina, which shows the television presenter not in a glamorous pose, but sitting in a relaxed mood in a chair in her kitchen with her sheepdog, Nip, at her feet. This was exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at their galleries in the Mall.
There can be little doubt that in time, Fiona’s work will begin to command considerable fees. The art market has proved to be one of the few hedges against inflation and poor interest rates. And what a beautiful addition to any home her paintings make.
For more about Fiona Scott: www.fionascott.net