© Beverley Courtney
As you can see, I love animals! I studied Fine Art and Lettering at Camberwell School of Art & Crafts in London, graduating with an Honours Degree.
I chose Camberwell because of their fine tradition of craftsmanship in painting and graphic design and illustration. This craftsmanship can be seen in the way I work, and is what gives a solid foundation to the picture.
Put another way, you can see the representation of a living, breathing, thinking animal. It's the familiarity with anatomy and skeletal structure that makes it believable.
And an idea of what he or she may be thinking that brings it to life!
I like the precision I can get with graphite and with coloured pencil. The drawing of Cricket the Whippet you see above won the Derwent Award for Best Animal at the 13th Annual Open International Exhibition.
I've spent most of my life either drawing or working with animals - goats, sheep, donkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs, chickens, parrots, fish, and - of course, dogs and cats.
Training and competing with my dogs brings me much joy, and I have published eleven books on dog training at Brilliant Family Dog, my international online dog training school. I spent many happy hours working with my fine prizewinning herd of dairy goats, making Tara Goats Cheese, taking them for walks along the hedgerows - the very thought brings back the delicious smell of hay